need help w/baby mollies

[maigen]

my mollies just had babies & i need to know how to care for them. i have got a separate mesh enclosure for them at my lfs so that the rest of my fish don't eat them. what do i feed them? & how often?

[travelinman1969]

Ok, I'm assuming you have them seperated by your description. Give them places to hide, floating plants are great, and feed them crushed flake food. Crushed so much its like powder. Then take a toothpick, wet it in the aquarium and get a small dab of food on the end. Put it in and watch them. Make sure they eat all of it and adjust the amount accordingly. They won't eat much at first. X-mas eve babies. :cool: Merry X-mas!!

[Prometheus]

Since we're on the subject... how do you seperate them... or is that done by seperating the momma then removing her once the babies are born?

Also, if she gives birth while I'm at work for 8 hours... will there be any left by the time I get home ie: will the mom eat them?

[mcvancleave]

Some people like to feed them cooked egg yolks i am more into crushing flake food. I do allways start them on brine shrimp if all possible. If you can find some frozen those are fine 2. I get good response from brine shrimp and have dropped one or 2 siking pellets. Feed them at least once a day but try to feed them twice. Feed them until they are full but of course try not to overfeed them. I am on my first set of baby mollies since i set up a tak again in over 7 years. Got a guppy now ready to drop you can see the little fish tail now haging out :D.

Good luck

[mcvancleave]

It is allways better to remove momma. She could take more stress if there should be some, plus the fry could be hurt by the net. She will not eat all of them. I have seen in the past the female eating them faster than she can drop them and i have see older ones not eas the first one.

Hope for natural selection if you are at work chances are as bad as it may seem the weak will be eate ad the strod will survive.

[travelinman1969]

I've never had any trouble netting fry. You have to be quick though. I've never tried brine that early. I usually wait about a month before trying to give them food that large.

[maigen]

my female was fat for the longest time & i had no idea that she was about to give birth. my step daughter phoned me while we were out to let me know that we had babies. i guess if you were at work, you'd have to take your chances that they would still be there when you got home.

i had a bugger of a time catching 2 of them to get them into their new home.

they seem to be doing well & are eating the crushed up flake food. maybe i'll try some brine shrimp tonight.

thanks for all your help & have a merry xmas

here's an almost half decent pic of what the enclosure looks like