HELP! Unexpected Molly fry!

Question
QUESTION: Ok so this is retarded.
I decided to get a few tank mates for my betta today, I got two mollies. One silver and one black.
The black one looked a bit lumpy, but I just assumed it was fat...
Anyways. JUST then, like 5 minutes ago, it gave BIRTH.
They're both girls (Yeah, I know how to sex them..) umm and What I did as soon as it happened was removed the betta and the silver molly from it and put them in seperate bowls and then i did my best to CAREFULLY remove them, there are 9 molly fry. 1 of them is a lighter color witha reddish stomach and a bit chubbier, is he unhealthy or diseased? or just a different color/type?
I only have dixie cups, so I put two in each cup, i haven't gotten them all out of the bowl yet... but i have 5. I needed a break, its stressful, not trying to hurt them.

OK.
What do I feed them?!
How do I care for them?! Should they stay with their mother?! Will they die??

Thanks =]

ANSWER: Hi Candace,
I'm so sorry for the delay... :(:(

Congrats on the new babies!

It's very easy to care for molly babies. They can eat powdered flake food as well as little treats of baby brine shrimp (you can either hatch these yourself or go the easy route and buy frozen baby brine shrimp) they will also nibble on any other types of fish food. Variety is best for them, like with almost all fish. Water conditions will get pretty poor in those little cups. Is there any way you could move them even into a 1-2 gallon tank? Until they gain some size where they can be returned back to the main aquarium. Usually once they've doubled their size they are usually safe with other fish.

Actually I have found mollies aren't that inclined to eat their babies much. But its other species of fish you have to worry about.

The most important things to remember with raising the babies is to feed them several small meals a day and change their water as often as possible. This insures they grow  nicely and don't become stunted or develop physical deformities. Changing 20% of the water everyday in their rearing tank would be excellent.

Best wishes and everything seems fine so far!
Karen~

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

QUESTION: Haha, Thank you soooo much!

I have a couple smaller questions though.
Umm. With mollies what would you normally feed them? Like, I have goldfish food and I've been giving them that, but I really dont think you should feed them that, and I haven't gotten to buy / search for anything different.

Also, my female silver molly is just lying/resting on the bottom of the gravel and sometimes she tips a bit, but she flaps her fins and pulls herself up.
it doesn't look very nice... is she sick? I've only had her for like a day.
Anddd.
1 out of the 9 fry died.
And one isn't looking that great.
He's kinda lying on his side... and he's alive though...
but.. do you think he'll pull through? is there anything I can do for him?

thanks so much. =]

candace

Answer
Hi!
Mollies do best on variety and they have a tendency to do best if their diet leans more towards vegetable-based foods. They can have a staple diet of good quality flake food supplemented several times a week with vegetables such as romain lettuce, spinach, zucchini, green peas, as well as algae wafers. Frozen foods such as worms, brine shrimp and other meaty foods is good for variety. You can give them freezen dried versions but make sure to reconstitute them in a cup of tank water before feeding.

As for the Silver molly. I have found that mollies don't live very long, especially those that produce babies frequently. You can try doing a water change and repeating the water changes for several days to see if it helps her. Sometimes adding a bit of aquarium salt helps them feel better. But its no guarantee. Mollies have the tendency to be delicate. It also wouldn't hurt to test the water and check and make sure that the ammonia and nitrite levels are both ZERO and nitrates are 20 or less.

The little fry that is acting sickly is just a normal occurence that happens with fry. Only the strongest will survive and weak ones naturally die off. :(

Best wishes as always,
Karen~