# What should I do with baby mollies?



## seemsligit (Nov 24, 2016)

I've been playing around with the stocking of my community tank and roughly 3 weeks ago i picked up some Lyre tail orange mollies. i just picked up two because i wasn't sure how well they would get along with the minnows (they get along fine, but the minnows don't seem exactly pleased, they avoid being near the bigger mollies)

now i knew when i got home i had been given one male and one female (the store employee just tried to give me two of the most healthy fish) and i thought i'd have more time to be able to set up another larger tank for any future fry. the female was obviously a female but her belly was /barely/ bigger then the males. there was no gravid spot, she wasn't huge or rounded or boxy. 

not even 6 hours after she was put in the tank, she dropped fry in the tank. i noticed when i was going to bed. Welp, okay.... maybe they'll get eaten. there's other fish, there's the two mollies and 8 minnows and 4 shrimp. maybe they'll get eaten or sucked into the filter or whatever else can happen to fry. This tank is not at all fry friendly. and yet...

i have 14 three week old molly fry and i have no idea what to do with them. Their now half the size of the minnows so obviously they're safe from that, and the mollies seem to have absolutely no interest in anything meat based. i've seen them scoop up a fry and then immediately spit it back out when it realized it wasn't floating algae.

@[email protected] 

i have no idea what to do, they're healthy and interesting to watch but i wont have space for them tank wise until at least January, and as the male and female are still in the same tank im sure she'll be dropping more fry around then as well so just??


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## Lekoguy (Dec 1, 2016)

Have you considered offering them back to the store?

Another idea is to add a Betta. It would take care of any future fry "problem."


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## seemsligit (Nov 24, 2016)

Unfortunately i got them from petsmart, and it's been over a week since i've gotten them, so i doubt they will allow me to return them. I might have to add a betta in an attempt of population control. :/ would you suggest a male or female betta for this? 










this is what the mollies look like (though many of the fry seem to be spotted like dalmatian mollies), and are a bit bigger then a fully grown crown tail betta (only size comparison i can give because that's what i have)

would these be too bright for a betta to live with peacefully?


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## Lekoguy (Dec 1, 2016)

Sorry, I didn't mean returning the adults. Many stores will accept fry from customers' tanks. Sometimes they will even purchase them.

In the past I've kept male Bettas with mollies without problems. It gets a little difficult when considering adding any salt. In a community tank I never use salt, however.


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## seemsligit (Nov 24, 2016)

I don't use salt. my city's water is already very hard and the water in my tank is so hard the test strips don't even show how hard it is (instantly goes the darkest color) I've only just now after 2 months gotten the water clear so i really don't want to add anything more then what i am to the water. The mollies are quiet happy with the water without the salt so i'm not even considering it. 

I've certainly never seen a bright orange betta before so i guess I'll have a look at petsmart again and ask about the fry and see what bettas they have in.


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## Lekoguy (Dec 1, 2016)

For the fun of it, you might search "live Betta fish" at eBay." I'm not suggesting purchasing, but you will see colors and types you usually don't run into in the big box stores.

I often check it out to see all of the variety.


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## seemsligit (Nov 24, 2016)

I have a few times (to cry about shipping costs because oh man). only orange colors i've seen have been the orangish color in mustard gas bettas and koi bettas. though im sure there /are/ solid orange/gold bettas. im sure an orange dumbo would look stunning.

I chose the lyretails because they look similar to goldfish at first glance, but aren't unreasonable to keep in a smaller tank.


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## fernielou (May 19, 2015)

With livebearers the population can get out of control and for all those people who say they eat their young, I unfortunately got parents of the year like you. Mine never ate their young. I put the fry in with bettas and and it does help, but they can get too big before the betta gets around to it. You can find a friend that has big fish and give them the fish as feeders as well. You can basically do whatever you're comfortable with, just never ever ever ever release them into the wild.


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## seemsligit (Nov 24, 2016)

oh no i'd never dump them outside. far too cold for that now and honestly i have no idea where the nearest pond or creek even is. 

I'll be trying to look into my options. i wasn't thinking an impulsive buy could so quickly get out of hand, but welp. :/ here we are.


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## Charmy (Dec 4, 2016)

seemsligit said:


> Unfortunately i got them from petsmart, and it's been over a week since i've gotten them, so i doubt they will allow me to return them. I might have to add a betta in an attempt of population control. :/ would you suggest a male or female betta for this?
> 
> 
> 
> ...


I work part time at petsmart and I can tell you we won't buy your fry but (at least at my store) many associates are happy to adopt unwanted fish so you could go in and ask if they have anyone who would want to take them for you!


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## MysticSky22301 (Apr 16, 2016)

I usually raise my guppy fry and offer them on my Facebook for 1-2 $ depending on how pretty they are I get like 5 people jumping for first dibs XD they like my crosses 


I'm actually looking around for black diamond paltys <3 I got 3 at Wal-Mart for my ex's mom and I loved them


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## seemsligit (Nov 24, 2016)

from what i can tell about these molly babies is that they likely aren't from two orange lyretails. they had dalmatian mollies in the same tank at the store and many (over half) of the babies are spotted already, though i have no idea if that will clear up or not. 

as of yet, it doesn't look like any have gotten the lyretail, though that might come with age. i don't really know anyone around me though, i moved here in febuary and i don't get out much.


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## MysticSky22301 (Apr 16, 2016)

I know how that goes, maybe look up local small pet shops near you and call around to see if they want them ask for 25-50¢ each


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## seemsligit (Nov 24, 2016)

the only local owned petstore near me is... sketchy... at best... they have a 7 foot long crocodile in a small bedroom sized room (with windows so you can look in) inside the shop as well as advertising selling baby crocs.... they are advertised as a reptile store but they also sell kittens, ferrets, and puppies as well as a small selection of fish and bettas... and apparently many puppies who are sold there get sick with parvo (likely because their puppy cages aren't designed for puppies in mind and it's impossible to fully bleach and clean the virus out... but they need to stop selling puppies instead of insisting the puppies aren't sick)

i might trust their fish and reptiles but honestly im not sure i want to support them in general :/ which is why i go to petsmart...


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## seemsligit (Nov 24, 2016)

okay some good news! my coworker said she had a tank open! she was talking about getting some goldfish for her kids to learn how to take care of an animal, and when i found out she only had a 10 gallon.... i sorta had to intervene a little bit. i mean it's bigger then some goldfish bowl but yeah. 

She came by today and picked up the two adults and (pretty sure) all the babies. mollies will be much happier in a 10 gallon then goldfish would be (especially as im pretty sure she was going to grab some from the feeder bin and... oh boy)


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