Will they eat the babies!?

[gmac]

I have just been told over the phone that my balloon molly has had a fair few babies, about 15+... unfortunately the male black molly who I believe was the father has passed away recently and the mother seems to be hanging out near the top of that tank while they are on the bottom. Will she usually stay away from her young? And I have 10 neon tetras and a 3 or 4 inch common pleco in there... will they touch the babies?

Thanks.

[Fishyfanatic]

The Pleco shouldn't, but they have been known to eat fish. You need to get a breeder net or something along the same lines. This seperates the fry from the rest of the fish so they are easier to feed and keep safe. Or, you could get a 5 gal tank, seed the filter with media and gravel from your current tank, and raise them in there until they get larger.

I had mollies that reproduced like crazy, be prepared.

[gmac]

Thanks, I have a breeder net already but the last batch wasn't so successful, we had about 7 fry in that batch a couple of months ago and through no fault of our own they seemed to die after a couple of weeks... I heard a lot of fry can die though just the way things go?

Would trying to leave them in the tank be alright or would you recommend if we can catch them to put them in a net?

[Andos99]

I have always just let my fry handle there own in my 55 galloon tank with the fish that you can see below in my signature. I throw in some floating plants and it basically turns into survival of the fittest. A few get eaten but I always have a few make it and grow into successful adults. That's just what I like to do.....it's a lot less work and fun to watch. With the fish you have right now, I highly doubt many will get eaten if you just left them in the tank as is.

[Fishyfanatic]

If you want to keep them, I would put them in a breeder net. They may be fine out in the tank, but if it were mine, I would net them out. I was always afraid that they wouldnt' get enough food being out in the tank. What kind of food do you feed them?

[gmac]

It's called Liquifry I think, you just squirt it in from a bottle. I believe it can be absorbed by them through the water even if not directly ingested through their mouths.

[Fishyfanatic]

I've heard of that before, but have never used it. We smash up flake food to where it's almost a powder. At one point we even got the specific flake fry food, but realized that it was a waste of money because it was the same thing as the smashed up stuff.

[greenmaji]

you have fairly safe fish in this tank.. I wouldnt worry too much.. as long as the fry can hide they should make it.. molly fry care pretty tough.. my grandmother had tons of mollies after about a year and she had no experience..