Feeding baby mollies

[gusmanda]

SO I did not expect Mollies to survive in my tank for long. Thought they would end up as food, however 4 of them have survived and made it to the sump. Been there for 3 weeks or so, assume they're living off whatever algae growth there plus leftover foods that make it there. At this point I'd like to get them to grow large enough to make it into the display tank without being eaten.

Anyone have experience on what to feed them?

There might be some copepods in the tank but don't think there are enough at this stage, and none of the local stores sell copepods (and the on-line stores don't ship to Mexico). The fish are about 2-3 mm,hoping to get them over a cm. I have a blue damsel, a chromis, and a royal gramma in the display tank which are not too large, so hoping 1 cm should be enough. My daughters have grown very fond of the babies so would be great if any of them can make it long term.

[ichthyogeek]

Baby brine shrimp, as well as finely ground up flake food. Treat them like any freshwater livebearer, and you should be good!

[gusmanda]

I'll give those a try, never had livebearers before but sounds straightforward. Thanks!

[eastlake]

I second what ichthyogeek said. They're a very easy to care for fish, more or less toss some flakes in the tank and they'll be happy. For the babies grind flake food into a powder and they'll be fine. There are a few people on here that use them in their display tank as algae control because they graze all day long. The one drawback is that they are prolific breeders and if you don't keep an eye on the population it can get out of control, though sometimes they'll regulate the population themselves as they tend to be cannibalistic towards the frye when they see them.

[gusmanda]

thanks eastlake. I can see where the prolific breeders comment is coming from, I'm seeing more babies now that I'm paying more attention to the sump. Assume once my pygmy angels and tang hit the tank it should help control!!

[eastlake]

Well, neither of those fish are particularly predatory, being that they are both primarily herbivores. But, most fish will also eat whatever they can fit into their mouths. Just in case, I would make sure your local fish store is open to taking donations in the event they don't begin to disappear.

[ichthyogeek]

Or...just get some LPS corals...I'm actually surprised that more are surviving, since most of the fish you have are quite predatory and like zooplankton (including fish fry). I think I read a thread somewhere about how somebody was keeping endler's livebearers in a mushroom anemone tank as a way to supplement the mushrooms. The fry didn't know any better so they would just rest on the coral, and then get eaten...

[Sounds Fishy]

Mollies can have 60 babies at a time.Back in the 1960's ,in my fresh water days,I purchased some from a department store(Woolworths),that hit the jackpot(8fry) within 24 hours,of purchase.4 weeks later she had 60.The babies are fairly big when born,so you may realize ,many were already consumed,by your inhabitants,even though there are some still hanging in.They are hardy and grow fast.The babies probably have discovered algae on the glass and rocks if there is any.I remember mine were isolated in a 5 gallon aquarium and the first few days seemed interested in tiny pieces of hard boil egg crushed to a powder,between my fingers.If I recall,(from 55years ago)there is in each baby (fry)a yolk sac that the fish(baby) consumes in the first 24 hours,it is born with.Crushed egg yolk is high in protein,and they will eat it because it fits in their mouth,even though they are herbivores.I'd only feed them that,for a few days after which your inhabitants will have eaten them,or any survivors will be big enough to eat more variety.

[Rilelen]

I keep sw mollies; they're....extremely prolific. I feed finely ground/crushed NLS flakes....babies are big enough to eat the powered flakes, and the adults will chase the ones they miss. I lose a bunch to predation, but that's okay, that's erm...partly the point. A surprisingly large number make it to adulthood even so; my adult molly population is booming...

[westohooligan]

I used to keep them in my refugium with the intent of breeding. The babies would get sucked up by the pump and released into the display. Good fun for predatory fish to chase around and good food for my nems and corals. I fed the parents a nutritious marine diet with hopes of making the offspring more nutritious.