20 living fry...now what?

[irishfishlady]

Ok so Saturday the 26th we woke to find 5 fry in the main tank. Since then they have been caught and we had a known Molly that was pregnant and she was in a net. So 2 nets in my 30gal tank. Well this morning (the 30th) we woke to find she finally gave birth...she had a total of 21 fry by the time she was done but only 15 are still alive.

Because they were all only a few days apart they are now all together. Now what do I do? I have been feeding them at the same times I feed the rest of the tank....basicaly every meal time (3 times a day) I don't feed a whole lot each time for the fry as not all are REALLY up and moving. The 5 older ones are VERY active...and seem to have taught the others what to do at meal time.

Some of the fry have a very black eye and a regular eye..is this normal?
How long till I can let them swim freely in the main tank?

They are in the net with in the main tank right now as they are small and I don't want to move them around too much till they are all swiming better. But how will I know if they are going to make it or not?

[Etunes]

Sounds like you are doing everything right. You can stick them back in the main tank when they are too big too eat. As for your question about the eyes, what do you mean? Do you mean 1 eye is black and 1 eye is white or what? Is it in all the fry?

Also make sure you watch them, because keeping fry in a net while they grow can stress them out. Better to put them in a temporary tank.

[irishfishlady]

What I mean is that for some one eye is significantly darker than the other. To describe it almost looks as though some have black eyes...like they were punched or something. The other eye is normal....the white black that all the others have...it is just a few of them that have this 2 different eye thing.

Here is a picture...hard to see I know but if you look it almost looks as if some only have 1 eye and it is black...but that is just the darker one...

http://www.facebook.com/photo.php?pi...&id=1159322858

Thanks for the adivce though...it makes me feel a little better....it's my first babies. I had fish as a child and have had many betta's over the years but as an adult and as a mother this is a first.

Beleive me between me and my 6 year old those fry are kept under close watch. She is the one that found the origional 5 in the main tank. I don't want to move them unless I have to as....the other tank I have is a 2.5gal and my son loves to stick is little 2 year old hands in it...

Any idea how long it will take them to NOT be fish food?

[thesixis]

I did not understand about the eyes, so I have no opinion. I would feed the fry powered flake food about 5 times a day. excess food will fall into the main tank so don't worry about overfeeding. I would add salt if the tank has fish that would tolerate it. mollys like salt (about 1 tsp./gal) also they like vegetable matter, if you have alge growing, scrape it off and put it into the net. Change 10 -15 % of tank water weekly, as this will improve growth rates. If you can purchase frozen baby brine shrimp that would be very helpful, 2x a day. Good luck

[Etunes]

Depends on there growing rate. Guppies grow rate is pretty fast. Do you have all the fry in the net? If so how big is it? It might be too small for 21 fry. Just to warn you guppies are breeding machines and will have hundreds of fry in the future. Feed the fry crushed flake food (Really crushed) and soke it in some of the aquariums water. Be careful of not overfeeding but you feed 3 times a day which is what you should do.

Lol about your son. When i was young my parents said i had my hand in a turtle tank all the time.

*EDIT*
As for the babies it sounds like that there going through color variations. Or that is the only thing i can come up with, i would just watch them.