Molly fry are the offspring of adult molly fish. Molly fry requires specific care in order to reach adulthood stage. However, many peoples find that molly fry die shortly after they are born due to not having a plan for feeding the fry and maintaining the water in the tank.
One of the best ways to monitor the health of the molly fry is by using a growth charts. The growth chart demonstrates the nutritional needs of the fry throughout there lives. Molly fry are livebearers meaning they are born in their fully formed state rather than from an egg.
How to Care for Molly Fry
Thus, fry dont need to absorb the yolk from an egg. However, fry do have a yolk that provide the necessary nutrients for fry to survive the first few days of life. At this life stage, fry are also transparent in appearance and will seek out hiding spots in the aquarium to avoid being harassed by other adult fish in the tank.
At this life stage, you must provide microscopic live foods such as infusoria for the molly fry. Without these foods, the fry will starve. By the end of the first week, the fry will naturaly have consumed the yolk sac that was attached to their bodies.
During this first week, it is recommended to begin feeding the fry with micro worms or vinegar eels. By the second week, the fry will have developed there pigmentation and dorsal fins. During this period, it is important to provide fry with a feeding schedule that provides frequent small meal so that they grow evenly.
As fry begin to grow to the size of an inch, feeding schedules must change. During the second week, introduce baby brine shrimp into the diet of molly fry due to the nutritional benefits for the fry. During the third week, crush flake foods to fine particles so that fry can eat the food.
Add daphnia to the diet of fry to provide a variety of food. Continue to feed the fry with slight overfeed so that they are well nourished but remove any remaining food from the tank as this can foul the water tank. Foul water can contain bacteria that will kill the fry.
The environment that the fry live in is equally important for there survival. Start fry in a five-gallon tank and gradually move them to larger tanks as they grow in size. Use sponge filters in the initial tank to ensure the filter doesnt suck up fry.
Change the water in the tank regular to keep the ammonia levels to zero. Fry require warm water, hard water and slightly alkaline water. Warm water increases the metabolism of the fry.
Hard water maintains the waters ph level. Add aquarium salt to the water for molly fry but do not add salt to the tank if it contains snail of any variety. Regardless of the type of molly fish, whether black mollies, sailfin mollies or dalmatian mollies, they exhibit the same growth patterns.
If you are a beginner with an established fish tank, choose the hardy strains of mollies as they are more easily cycled than fancy strains of mollies. During the mid-juvenile growth stage, the fry will display their sex. Males will have a gonopodium while females will have fan-shaped fins.
When fry reach six weeks of age, if you can determine their sex, you can separate the males and females so that there isnt no breeding cycles within the tank. Finally, be aware of potential problems for fry. Adult mollies will eat fry so separate fry into breeding or nursery tanks.
Watch for signs of disease such as white specks that can indicate ich and bloating that can indicate dropsy in the fry. Maintain the health of fry by maintaining the water quality and feeding them a variety of foods. With proper feeding and water conditions, fry will reach adult size in four to five month.
