Molly Fry - When Safe To Release Back In Main Tank?

[coolie]

My molly fry are now about 12mm - 13mm long and have grown that big in just 30 days through feeding varied diet 3 times a day.

A new brood has come along which needs the keep net.

Also the original brood are starting to fight as they are couped up in the net.

Can they be released without being eaten by parents? The only other fish are Siler Tip Tetras and Corys?.

I did let one out the other day and it swam right into the middle of the pack of adults who all looked stunned - then something happened like a commotion, and the fish dispersed, and the little fry was found at the top of the tank where OOI re-captured him and put him back in the net for safety.
Can someone move this to Tropical please?

 

[Lillefishy]

As long as they're big enough not to fit in the adults mouth then they can go in with them., the adults may chase them at first but once they realise they can't be eaten they'll ignore them

 

[coolie]

Fantastic news!

 

[coolie]

They are enjoying their freedom!

 

[spencer_41188]

a good rule to go by that I was told, is when the fry are bigger than the mouth of the biggest fish in your tank i.e to big to be dinner, you can let them go good luck with the new fry!

 

[coolie]

They  grew extremely quick in the keep net, but are now enjoying their life free of that restriction. A few days of swimming around, they are all still healthy and look great (like miniature Mollys). At 35 days, you can just see which will probably turn out to be males and females. The new 10 fry that we needed the net for are doing well.

 

[blueboy1]

a good rule to go by that I was told, is when the fry are bigger than the mouth of the biggest fish in your tank i.e to big to be dinner, you can let them go good luck with the new fry!

Do plecs count?

 

[spencer_41188]

i have a clown and a rubber lip pleco in my 55 gal community tank, they mostly come out at night and haven't bothered any fry so I wouldn't worry too much about them, if your asking about breeding plecs, im not the person to ask as, I haven't done that yet

 

[coolie]

OK, Here is my Molly Fry release video. It's only 2 minutes long and half way through you see the Molly Fry almost "line up" which is quite unusual.
They are just released and sticking together for safety.
Let me know what you think?

PLEASE NOTE - you don't see the babies properly until half way through the video. : https/www.youtube.com/watch?v=h446hyqM1Zc&feature=youtu.be

 

[coolie]

Here's an interesting thing: if you freeze the video at 0:06, you will see a female Molly at the top, my original male in the middle (the only Male I had) and now the largest female I had at the bottom, having only given birth a few weeks ago, now showing larger top (dorsal?) fin and gonopodium, has turned into a male.
 
Although she, sorry I mean he, hadn't done so at the time of taking this video, within a week, he is starting to flex that large dorsal fin, in other words, to "display", and so taking on the full characteristics of the male.

 

[coolie]

I hadn't seen proof with my own eyes until now that Mollies could change sex, what is astonishing is the speed at which the transformation occurs. I wonder why males don't turn into females? Maybe because males are more "advanced" than females so they can't evolve backwards?