Okay, I made the wire mesh for my mollie breeding; Sketch of set-up.

Anyway the concept is for the babies to fall thru the bottom, while the parents can't get them in case I'm away at school etc.

Well before I put this in my pregnant female tank, I want to know if anything harmful can leech off and harm my fish from my screen?

Thanks in the future for your help.

As a rule I never put metal in my tank. I know for amphibians it's toxic, but I always assumed it was bad for fish too. Did you think about buying a seperator from a pet store? They can be pretty cheap and their made of cloth mesh.

Also, I'd worry that the fry would swim back up and make nice snack for their parents
I had mollies breed once and the fry could hide among the river rocks I kept on the bottom, but in the end none survived.

Um, okay how about this idea? Picture


Okay, this is an idea I had, the baby fish (since they mostly fall down and stay at the bottom a few hours) will be forced to slip down the sides of the glass to the bottom.
The odds of them swimming back up the way they came is rare to happen, and since momma can't really fit through, no more missing babies!

Sound good?

Hmmmm..looks like it could be ok, would the water still circulate? Looks like a lot of work too, but it will be good if you can get some nice mollies out of it

I forgot to ask this before, do you have an extra tank you could use? That's the simplist solution, but I know a lot of people don't.

Also, you can use pantyhose as a barrier, just cut them open and stretch them out. Don't know if you could somehow figure out something using those.

Well my problem is that if I'm not here and at school, etc. The mother will eat some if not all of the babies if I'm not here to rescue them.

For sure, you can't be expected to sit in front of the tank all day watching them

Have you come to any decisions about what to do? Are you going to build something or try another tank or tank seperator?

Well I will try my little glass setup, for when I'm not around. But the moment I have a chance, I will seperate the babies into their own tank.

I have another question too, where can you get a sponge filterhead thingy for baby safety?

Anyone else that can give me breeding tips also?

For the filter, you could just use some filter media or cover it with mesh/a net, just secure it with a rubber band or something.

As for breeding tips, in my experience for mollies all it really takes is a male and a female..then away you go!
But I'm sure someone else may have tips. I think there are a few threads about this as well, if you search the forums.