baby mollie fry

[elliewibbs]

Ive not had my tank long probably about 2 maybe 3 months and my molly was very big shes just literally given birth and i wanted to protect the smalll fry from being eaten i manged to catch 6 or 7 i put them in a large glass vase within the fish tank with a few marimo moss balls will this be suitable until i can sort something, how long will they survive without filtration, will the moss balls provide enough oxygen and what do small fry eat??

 

[Ian086]

Yeah you'll be fine until you can pick up a trap or breeding net. Both should be widely available at your LFS. For food, try and get Hikari First Bites(available online), excellent food for fry. It's basically a powder, with all the ingredients that fry need. If you can't get the first bites quickly, crush up some of your regular food into a powder and feed them tiny amounts, 4 times a day... They should be ready to be released at about two months, but can vary. The rule is, if they are bigger than your largest fish's mouth, then they'll be fine. If you have a hob or a canister filter, it would be no harm to get a pre-filter sponge for the intake. It stops the little guys getting sucked up....

 

[elliewibbs]

Okay thanks ill get down to the pet shop tomorrow then

 

[Ian086]

Okay thanks ill get down to the pet shop tomorrow then

Your welcome, just to add. Losing some of the fry is pretty normal, so don't stress. With livebearers, they spend most of their lives pregnant. It would be useful to a take note of the date of birth because she will give birth again in 4wks, almost to the day....

 

[elliewibbs]

Really?! Thats weird....

 

[Ian086]

Really?! Thats weird....

They are little fry producing machines. The rabbits of the Aquarium World....haha