when can the baby be introduced?

[dieanna]

A few days ago I was watching my 55 [acronym:28ea8ef87a="Gallon"]gal[/acronym:28ea8ef87a] and saw that there was a tiny, baby molly venturing out at feeding time! I immediately netted her out and put her in a net breeder in another tank. I searched for 2 hours for any siblings, but didn't find any. I had taken all the mollies out of the 55 about 3 weeks prior because the female was attacking my gouramis. So the baby must have been about 3 weeks old at the time of the find. She's still rather tiny, maybe about 1/2". I was wondering how long I should wait to let her out of the net breeder? In the 20 [acronym:28ea8ef87a="Gallon"]gal[/acronym:28ea8ef87a] I have 3 mollies, 2 cories, and 1 betta.

[cdawson]

wait until it's about 1" to be on the safe side.

[FawnN]

I personally would have left the fry alone. If the fry had survived for that long with the others in your 55, he/she obviously had found a safe hiding place and was strong enough to run from the others.

Depending on what else you have in your 55, I would wait until he/she is at least half an inch to 1 inch. I personally don't like those breeder nets. They tend to stress out your fish and the food tends to cling within the netting.

With all the feedings, try to clean the netting as much as possible.

[dieanna]

Do you think I should put her back in the 55? I have 3 gouramis, 3 red-eye tetras, 3 cories, and 1 pleco in it. I was afraid she'd become a snack.

[FawnN]

I use to try and save all my fry too, but it got to be way too many. I later let nature take it's course and let the strong survive. But that is my personal preferrence.

You can release it back in the main tank or you can just leave the fry in the net for a couple of weeks. If you decide to keep it in the net, just be sure to clean the netting often with a turkey baster to remove all the leftover food.

How big is it now?

[dieanna]

She's about a 1/2", maybe a tiny bit longer.

[FawnN]

I personally think she will be fine in the main tank. I had a krib fry less then a half inch in with my gouramis and cory's, and she was perfectly fine.

[msmonih]

We put our fry in their community tanks once they are larger than a mouthful which is about 1" to 1 1/2." We use a grow out 6 g tank for our fry. Good luck. And I agree if the fry survived that long without being eaten more than likely it would continue to do okay. We had one Molly fry & Guppy fry we could never catch and they both avoided being eaten and now both are about 1" long. Survival instincts should kick in when they are in a community tank. It does with the majority of our fry.