Hi, I bought a gold molly two days ago and set it up at our office in a two gallon filtered aguarium (the store said this would be fine, but now I find out that the molly needs more space). Anyway, she has had babies. Two of them wedged themsleves down in the rocks against the glass and have dies, but I see at least 5 others swimming around. I will have to go get food for them. Will mom eat them? Can I leave them in there while I try to find owners?

Thanks

Gold molly as in the tropicle fish? or a Goldfish named molly? I have had past experiences with Mollies eating there babies, but i donno if that was the mom or the dad that did it.

Hi there,

If you're talking about mollies as in tropical fish (as pointed out by ssotek), then maybe you might want to consider purchasing an isolator for your babies? (sort of like a plastic box w. holes for water circulation that you hang on the side of the tank), where you can put the fry. I'm not an expert on the subject, but when I had guppies who are also livebearers, that's what we did and we were able to save the fry. This forum is dedicated however to golfish (coldwater fishies), so being a newbie here myself, I don't know what is the expertise of members of this site on tropical fish. Hope this helps

Rap

That shows you how much i know. I thought gold and black mollies were goldfish. On the web somewhere it said they were cold water (65 - 77 degrees) and lived in rivers. If this is a tropical fish, I am in trouble because it is in fresh water at room tempature (75 degrees).

I like the idea of the hanging separator. I have to go to the store to get some fry food anyway, so i will look for one.

I see two more who had burrowed down in the rocks up against the glass and have died. I have about two inches of gravel and they went way down in there and probably got stuck. Just information for others who may have fry like these. May not want to have them swimming around in a tank with lots of gravel in it. Poor litle guys.

From the quick research I did, they are tropical and like a water temp of about 78F, so you might want to add a heater if you don't have one, unless the room they're in is warm enough. They are fresh water fish. They like the higher pH and hardness just like goldfish. I also just read that they like vegetables like zucchini, lettuce, and peas. I can see why people would get them confused with goldfish! Other than the temp, they're pretty similar to care for.

They're livebearers (like guppies), which means they give birth to babies rather than laying eggs and fertilizing them (like goldfish and most other fish). This makes them a little more likely to survive, since most eggs don't even get the chance to hatch with their parents around. But I'd definitely separate them from the parents.

Good luck raising the babies! Let us know how they turn out!

Yes mollies are tropical and will eat their young. The babies will often wedge themselves into small spaces and stay perfectly still so they may not be dead. They usually have a lot of babies so chances are, there are more hidden around the tank. You can add some fluffy live plants like hornwort or cabomba to the tank and let them float on the surface to let the babies have some hiding spaces. Also yes you do need to feed the babies. HBH makes a fry food and so does Hikari. The babies need to be fed several times a day. What kind of filter is on there? You'll want to make sure that it doesnt have big enough openings in it to suck up the babies because they are very fragile.

Mollies do need clean water but are not nearly as dirty as goldfish so a 20% water change every other week or so should be sufficient for them. They also do prefer temperatures around 80º so you'll need to get a small heater to keep the water temperature stable as the weather cools down. Theyre really pretty fish but tend to be on the more fragile side for livebearers, so monitor your water quality. Also they are very social fish and should at least be with a few others of their kind to be happy. You usually want a ratio of a few females to one male. A 10 gallon tank would be a great size for them. Hope this helps.

yea be careful! when i had mollies and the mother had babies the enire tank had like a thanksgiving dinner massacre! so be careful!! i wish your babies well!

Its ok to have one male to say three or four females but these females could produce babies every 30 days or so and you have more than you can handle. When my balloon mollie had her second lot of babies, she ate most of them as soon as they came out (it was as if she was waiting for them to be born) I found this very distressing as I could not net them fast enough to save them. If they are lucky enough to get away, they will hide under rocks. I found it difficult to feed them in the tank with the adults. Having said all that good luck with yours. The mollies are still my favourite fish. I have only one gold one now amongst other tropical fish and she is quite happy.

Maggie.