Black molly fry size

[sarahtaylor]

Hiya,
My black molly recently gave birth to 10 fry (now down to 8) they've been growing well and eating brilliantly, just wondering how much longer they should stay in the birth box before I realise them? They have been in the box just over a month. Half are being placed in a tank downstairs and half are staying in the original tank to avoid over crowding.

 

[mimiheart]

Let them free. As soon as they are too big to fit in the adults' mouths they're good to go. I don't like breeder boxes, generally, I just use live plants to let mine hide in the tank.

 

[sarahtaylor]

Let them free. As soon as they are too big to fit in the adults' mouths they're good to go. I don't like breeder boxes, generally, I just use live plants to let mine hide in the tank.

They do look big enough tbh, the only reason I held back was because I've recently gone back to artificial plants, I just found that my fish were ripping the live plants out too often with only having a small bottomed but very tall tank.

 

[mimiheart]

Artificial plants work too. I have fake grass my fry like to hide in. If you use darker substrate for black mollies, they'll have a harder time seeing them, as well. Honestly though, my fish don't seem to care about fry in their tank. One of my MM platies just had 5 or 6 fry the other day and no one's gone after them despite them having no survival instinct whatsoever. (Sure guys, just swim in the middle of the tank, that's cool.) Even my big Raphael ignores them.