Clouds 'n' clouds 'n' clouds 'n' clouds

[Never2Bknown]

Got six mollies just a couple of days back; a couple of the females looked quite pregnant, but I didn't expect them to give birth just yet because they were so new and stressed out. Well, I have a salt level in that aquarium that makes the water almost brackish, measured exactly to suit mollies. Apparently, it was just right, because the mollies perked up ASTOUNDINGLY fast--almost immediately!--after being put in the aquarium.

Because of how speedily they were able to adjust, I believe, I woke up the next morning with fry from the one female I didn't think was pregnant. None of the other mollies seemed to be eating any, so I left them in. Two hours later, the second female had her fry. Last time I checked, I think another female had had her fry. Now I have quite literally HUNDREDS of fry swimming around my tank in huge clouds, and there is still one VERY pregnant female who has yet to give birth.

Apparently, none of the fry are being eaten by the big fish. SO, should I just leave them in? It is a 30 gallon aquarium, and the adults are not huge (there are no other fish in the aquarium other than the mollies) so they seem to have quite a bit of room. I heard that with guppies, fry left with the adults don't grow as fast and can get stunted because of a hormone the adults give off. Is this true with mollies?

Any advice would helpful. Thanks in advance!

 

[JeremyD]

Sadly the mollies were probably kept in pure freshwater in the store

Your water must have been heaven sent for them!



Anyways, if they are more than a couple days old, and not being eaten, I see no pblem keeping them in there.

 

[jams.alaskan]

I myself would just keep them in there - there may be a few losses doe to predation but with "clouds" of fry you will still have more then enough. I can't answer your question about the stunting issue other then to say that I most often raise my livebearer fry in the same tank with the parents and though growth may be a little slower due to the feeding issues - they never appeared to be stunted.

By feeding issues I mean that fry in a tank by themselves can be without substrate and fed quite often as they are easier to keep clean in this environment... while I would never let by parent tank with substrate get fed as much because I couldn't keep it clean enough...

ALASKA

Clear as mud wasn't it?

 

[Da_Oz]

I have always left my Balloon Belly mollies in the fry tank for at least 6 weeks before moving them to a bigger community tank. I do this mostly because of temp, light and feeding reasons. But of my last round of fry I left one set in the 55g and I did notice that after the 6 weeks time the 3 day older fry was about a ¼ bigger than the ones in the 55g with there mom and dad(s). So it could be the way they was raised with better food and higher temp or something else but they was bigger.