mollu fry home

Question
QUESTION: Hi Susan, i have 6 molly and two rosy barb in my 10 gallon tank. i don't have another tank. one of my molly had fry before i separated them in plastic jar.They all died within 6 days after a water change.  (they are 3 week old before they death but their growth is only 5%)
My another molly given a fry today my question is can i put that fry in any plastic container out side the tank ? is it OK? or the glass container is better. what can i do for them for quick growth.
plz give me advice i don't wont any of them dead.

ANSWER: Hi Hiren,
Its possible there was something toxic in the water when you did a water change. Does your local water have chlorine and chloramines in it? You would have needed to use water conditioner to get rid of these harmful chemicals when you do water changes. Since you put the babies in a plastic jar they could have also died from pollutants in the water. Such a tiny volume of water can get polluted very quickly.

Glass would be a safer alternative to plastic, which could leech out harmful contaminants.

If you do isolate the fry into a glass jar/container... Make sure when doing water changes that the new water is dechlorinated if need be and the temperature is equal to or just a little warmer than the old water. Try to do water changes on a daily basis.

Water changes will greatly speed up the fry's growth rate. As well as feedings several times a day instead of just one or two large meals. Somewhere around 5-6 small meals and daily 50% or larger water changes will help them grow a lot faster.

I hope this helps and good luck!
Susan~

---------- FOLLOW-UP ----------

QUESTION: hi, i read your answer and you seems to be knowledgeable person so i am going to ask you a few question.
Before 2 days when by molly give fry. i searched the whole tank and found 6 fry but 5 are already dead when found. i put the one remaining fry in small plastic glass which is transparent. can i put it in bigger plastic container of 2 liter water capacity? when i can put it in main tank i also have some plants there.
thanks for help.

Answer
Hello Hiren,

If the plastic container was previously made for food or water use for humans then it should be safe for fish.

I would definitely put the fry into a larger container.

Sometimes, you can also just leave the fry in the aquarium with the bigger Mollies. If well-fed sometimes the adults will not be as tempted to eat the babies. And survival rates are much higher if plenty of thick bushy plants are in the tank for the fry to hide in.

Sorry to hear you lost some of the fry. It could be just 'defective' fry. Sometimes this happens. But do make sure your water quality is very good in the main tank. Accomplish this by doing large partial water changes very frequently on the setup. Mollies really thrive when given lots of clean water.

When the fry are too large to fit in the adult fishes mouths then you can add the babies back into the main aquarium. Fry growth rates vary, so use your best judgement. Usually when fry reach half an inch they are safe from the adult mollies.

I hope this helps and good luck!!
Susan~