Molly fry never grew up

Question
I got an aquarium back in January this year and 3 days after I added fish my Balloon Molly gave birth to 15 frisky little babies. This was very exciting indeed. However, it has been 7 months and these guys are still quite small. They are very adorable as a matte of fact, but my question is, How long does it take for them to be full grown like their parents? They are just a little bit smaller than my neon, and are kind of shaped like platy. I have had my platy give birth and these lil guys grew up relatively fast to the size of their parents. Thanks for your help.
Sandi~

Answer
Hi Sandi,
Sometimes livebearer fry can become stunted by crowding, ect.. or their genetics may be responsible for their size or growth rate. I've had groups of baby mollies do this way also, they stay quite small when they are actually quite old.

The best thing you can try is to do an 'aggressive' water change schedule, which basically boils down to as many frequent water changes as you can manage to remove growth inhibiting hormones, nitrates and other pollutants that can slow the mollies' growth. Also feeding several small meals a day and including variety in the form of flakes and sinking tablets (like algae wafers) and frozen foods on occasion may help also.

Best of luck and happy fishkeeping!
Karen~