Molly fry question.

[Somethingclever]

I have about 20 dalmation molly fry in a small net breeder in my tank. They are a little over two weeks old and i thought they were growing pretty fast but as ive looked up pics online ive noticed they should be bigger. Will them being in the net breeder slow down their growth rate?

 

[kaiofcanada]

Fry need higher temps and more frequent feeding than their adult parents in order to grow up big and strong. I raise my fry at 80-82F. They need to be fed every 2-4 hours, although that is alot of work if you have a full time job. Also, obviously because they eat more, they poop more and thus need more frequent water changes. I do 2 50-70% water changes per day with my fry.

For all of the above reasons I usually separate my fry from the main tank. It is just easier to feed them without polluting the main tank, and easier to do water changes every day on a smaller volume of water.

 

[Somethingclever]

Thankfully at the moment i am able to feed them whenever they want lol. I have a pleco that usually sucks on the bottom of the net breeder and gets the waste out of it for me so it works out pretty nice

 

[kaiofcanada]

you can slowly raise the temp in your tank a degree or two depending on where you are now to stimulate their metabolism and growth....so long as it won't be detrimental to anything else in your tank.

 

[Somethingclever]

Oh man i had actually done that, i did a water change a couple hours ago and BAM my heater broke . my home is set to 80 degrees, hopefully they will be ok.

 

[kaiofcanada]

Awww drats about the heater. They will be fine eather way. The higher temp just helps them to grow faster and support their metabolism.

 

[Somethingclever]

Thanks a lot for your help