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I have a small tank (12 gallon nanocube) and a little over two weeks ago my mollie had fry...I am curious as to when I can take them out of the breeding net and allow them to swim freely in the tank without harrasment or death...I would put them in another tank but I do not have one...my tank has some rocks and fake plants for cover...my inhabitants as of now are 2 mollies, 5 zebra danios, 1 RTBS, 1 CAE, and the fry of course...

P.S...I know this is "slightly" overstocked...lol...but I have been doing water changes twice a week and water conditions are good...I also intend to sell all but one male to a fish store when the time comes (along with the CAE for a smaller algae eater)...

Any knowledge you can give would be greatly appreciated...

absoluterain

that red tail black shark wil get far too large, when u take back some fish, i recomend taking back the CAE and RTBS, and now that u have 2 fish in there, keep say one male or one female that u love from each batch, till u see the tank looking a little over stocked, then what i usually do is take back the largest female that gives birth to the largest batches, now that u have severaly of her offspring, and then start taking back most of the males untill the tank has the perfect look, then u can start taking back the whole lot but thats just what i do... and u can put the fry back in when they are a0 almost adults, or b) after u get rid of the CAE and RTBS

General rule is to reintroduce them when the fry are bigger than the biggest mouth in the tank. I agree... take back the CAE and the RTBS. Unless you HAVE algae, I'd forego an algae eater for now. Either that or perhaps find some algae eating shrimp? They don't add much to the bioload, so it would help balance the abundance of fry you'll have.

Personally, I had guppies in a ten gallon and as soon as I could tell which fry were male and which were female, I split them. My sister got all the males (including the father) and I kept the females. Of course, that was my choice, because I didn't intend to have fry in the first place.

I got my guppies from my sis's fiance and he insisted they were all females. You'll notice I said father of the fry. One of the fish he gave me was obviously NOT a female.

~Meow. Thus spoke the cat.~

I had mollies in a tank with a rubbernose plec, a pair of gouramis and several rasboras. Never lost a one (that I know of) to a hungry mouth. when I moved the mollies to their own tank I had up to 40 in there at a time, and only then did I notice mother slurp a few down. The fry in the big tank just sank down into the substrate (large 1 inch rocks) where there were lots of hiding places. I was still flushin them out of there for six weeks whils doing water changes, vacuuming, etc. good luck/:'

First of all, get rid of the CAE. CAE's were given a very very improper name. They start off eating algae, but later in life they become more carnivorous, and tend to snack on the slime coat from other fish, or the bodies of dead fish. This is not good for any of the other fish in the tank. You really dont need an algae eater in that size tank anyway. I would say wait til the fry are about 6-8 weeks old, then release them. But it does all depend on the largest mouth in the tank. Also, do you have any plants at all in the tank? Plants give them more hiding spaces, as even when they are too large to be eaten, they are usually still nipped by the adults.

Before you do anything else get rid of the RTBS and CAE as the RTBS will get to 6"-8" and the CAE can get up to 12" if you need an algae eater get a bristle nose or some otos.
Then you can remove the babies when they are about 2cm.

thanks...i am working on trying to get rid of the CAE but havent been able to find a lfs willing to trade or buy him...he is about 3 to 3 1/2 inches right now...

I already let the fry out and seem to be doing really well...I haven't lost one yet...

My only concern is that I only have one tank and it is totally overstocked right now...other than doing biweekly water changes is there any other way i can keep the bioload from getting out of control till the fry are big enough to sell???