How Long Do You Separate Fry For?

[Alaine]

I've had my first ever aquarium for a month and I already have babies! My female molly gave birth to about 15 fry yesterday. I have partitioned off a third of my four foot tank so that they don't get eaten but I was wondering how long I need to separate them for. I have 2 mollies and 7 neons (all starter fish you see!)and my tank holds about 37 gallons. Do I separate them for a month or just a couple of weeks till they are a bit bigger?

Thanks in advance

 

[BigC]

By enlarge Mollies dont worry their fry too much but to be on the safe side I would keep them seperate until they reach about 3/4 - 1 inch in size.

 

[thefishykid]

By enlarge Mollies dont worry their fry too much but to be on the safe side I would keep them seperate until they reach about 3/4 - 1 inch in size.

i keep my fry away from any adult fish for about 4 weeks just to give them the chance to get food and save any fighting between fry and adult fish. crushed flake food is cheap to feed the fry i use sera micron this is already crushed and has all the needs for fry. if you feed them little and often they will grow out to be healthy little fish good luck

 

[Annastasia]

The general rule of thumb is when they are too big to fit in the biggest fish's mouth.

 

[Alaine]

lol, thanks for the advice. I have got some liquid fry food and all seem to be doing well, although my partition can't be that good as some fry keep on escaping into the other part of the tank. I have noticed the mollies don't worry them, but my neons do, so I'll keep them away for a few weeks at least!

Thanks again guys!

 

[fishing4exotics]

Hi Alaine, you might try putting some fake or real plants for the fry to hide in. Something with a dense branchy kind to keep the fry safe. The real plants I use for my fry tanks are riccia ( a floating branchy plant ), wysteria ( larger leaf floating plant that grows quickly with enough lighting ), java moss ( an easy plant to keep and is very dense for fry to hide in ), and anachris ( a fast growing feathery plant ).