My molly gave birth to 10 babies....HELP!!!

Ferret8

Yesterday i finally decided to get a molly from a pet store, golden dust female, to put in my male betta, 10 gallon tank. I know it was risky, but so far they're getting along fine. The problem is that after putting her in the tank after like 2 or 3 hours she started releasing babies. Finally i got 10. 1 is in the main tank with betta and its mom, and the rest 9 is now in a bowl, with about 2 or 3 cups of water in it and some gravel. Non of the babies died. Im planning to put them in my 2gal tank in a while. i feed them with crushed betta food, but i don't think they're eating. I don't really want more than 5 of them, and i heard that my molly will give birth 3 more times!!! Will leaving the next babies in the tank with my betta prevent the over population?? And can the babies still die, even if in good condition? I don't really want to put my present babies in tank because i don't want to lose them, but still, i don't wont any more than these...... Any advise about baby molly raising? food? Anything i should know? Please help, im really new to breeding, and thanks to any advises!!!

kald

If there isn't much hiding space, the fry will mostly all get eaten.

If you want to save them, get a breeding net.

As for food.. fry nibble at everything. My platies tended to go for the plants and nibble at them for the first week before they bothered coming to the surface... but keep crushing food just in case.

Edit: Yes, even in good conditions some fry just die. I lose two or three within the first week almost every time.

Ferret8

Thanks that really helped!!

Chicklet

Technically mollies need a larger tank, 20 gallons,
If you try and raise them in small bodies of water your going to most likely loose them,
They oft times appear to do good for a week or so then something just goes wrong and they start dying.

Christople

if they are getting close to 1 week, crushed flake is a good food source. Hikari first bites is also a good source of food. Adding floating plants will help add hiding spots if you want to keep them.

kitten_penang

i like to use old tank water from the sump to raise fry as they were born in that water the params fit them perfectly no stress

redchigh

The fry won't eat for a day or two... When they are free-swimming they'll eat. Finely crushed flake is fine for them.

GreenPlanet

How often they need to eat?

AaronCombs

I feed my babies 2-3 times a day... helps them grow faster.