Last week my mollie had babies and they disappeared so I thought they had been eaten. I cleaned out my filter today and found them all in the water, still alive, so I caught them and put them into a box in the tank. i would like to let them loose again, but as they got sucked into the filter, I covered the filter basket in a bit of pantie hose and fastened it on thinking that it would save the babies. Now all the stuff is floating around the tank and not going through the filter. It is sticking to the bit of stocking. What will I do? will the filter not work properly with this stocking tied to it? Should I take it off. Is it polluting my water with the bigger bits not getting through thte filter? PLEASE SOMEBODY WITH KNOWLEDGE HELP ME.

Ye gads...

Seriously though, the only real long term solution is to set-up another small tank until the fry are large enough to be re-released back into the main tank. Adult Livebearers have been known to be quite partial towards their own young.

I'm not keen on the use of breeding traps to hold fry. While there is no problem where water quality is concerned as they have slots in the sides to allow tank water to pass through, I do feel that they are a somewhat crude and cramped form of housing.

Thanks so much for your advice, but can you please tell me if my filter is in danger of not working properly with the filter covered with this bit of stocking?
I will be giving the fry to the fish shop when they are up a wee bit. I just want a short term solution, but yes I may get another small tank for them. there are a few more little ones in the big tank who have survived,, so I would prefer them not to get sucked into the filter.
AND --- if i buy a little tank to put them into, can I add a heater& filter to any of those little plastic kids ones, which would serve the purpose?

It's not gong to make much difference to your water quality if the stuff's floating round in the tank or floating round in the filter. What will make a difference is if it is floating round in the tank it will eventually settle somewhere and not be removed when you rinse the filter out. Also if you have a stocking over the filter that is going to clog fairly quickly and the flow rate through the filter will drop. So take your stockings off.
If you are going to move the babies to a seperate tank get the filter now and set it up in the main tank to mature it ready for the new tank

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Thanks very much for the advice. I have never set up a tank before this one and it all came with the filter and heater.
If I buy a small kids tank for the fry, can you advise what I should get?
Can I just add a small heater.
Will there be a place on the tank for it to fit onto?
What sort of filter do I get, just a sponge and what do I do with it?
I HAVE NO IDEA !!
I sound like a right plonker but I am a complete beginner. Can you explain in 5 year old kid's terms please?

If it is just going to be for raising babies I would look for something around 2ft.
If it's going to run continuously glass or acrylic, if you are going to use it just for odd batches and put it away inbetween I would go for acrylic.
For filters just use 1 or 2 sponge filters and if you break the tank down betwee batches put them into your other tank to keep them biologically active.
The heater you can stick anywhere.

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thank you.