It seems that one of my mollies is pregnant, she's getting bigger all the time and she's seems to be getting that square belly. I had set up a small 30 l/8 gal tank to act as a quarantine tank and it's had a few neons in it for a few months. I've tested the water and all is good - pH is 7.5; NH4 is 0, NO2 is 0 and NH3 is 10mg/l. So all the parameters are good and the filtration and aeration of the water is also good.

I want to put the pregnant molly in there so that she can relax because the other mollies and tiger barbs are stressing her out and I'm concerned it may cause her some problems. I think if she's in the smaller tank she may be more relaxed and the fry would not stand much chance in the big tank - I lost a whole batch of fry and a good part of another in the big tank.

Would the neons pose a risk to the fry once they are born? Any idea? Would there be other tank mates I can include in the tank which would be suitable? (guppies for example?) At the moment there is not really much in the tank in the way of hiding places for fry either, just a plastic plant and the filter. What would be recommended for providing hiding places for the fry?

Last question: When I transfer the molly to the 30 l how should I do it? I thought I would put her in a bag and float the bag in the tank for a while (like you do when adding fish)? Any other recommendable method?

Thanks for reading!

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45g pentagonal
4 Swordtails, 2 dwarf Gouramis, 5 Mollies, 1 Rainbow Shark, 6 Molly fry 6 zebra danios

88 gal Malawi tank
4 Yellow labs, 1 Baenshi, 2 Borleyis, 3 Trewavas, 2 Livingstonis, 1 Venustus, 2 Green Terrors

When I transfer my pregnant platy, I fill up my dip and pour with tank water and scoop her in it, then let it sit in the other tank to acclimate and then tip it over and let her swim out. I wouldn't worry to much about the neon's, as they have small mouths and I haven't seen one yet eat any of my fry. If you can run out to the store, try to get a mat of breeders grass and put some on the bottom of the tank and some floating up on top for the fry to hide.

I have my fry in a 1.5 gallon nursery tank, I keep them in there for about 1 month and then I move them to the 5 gallon for a few months, then when they get even bigger they get moved to the 20 gallon.

Good luck on being a Fish-Grandpa!

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Never under estimate the power of an empty fish tank