Thanks in advance to anyone who checks this post out.

Yesterday I bought 3 molly fish and an algae eater. This morning I woke up to find a single baby fish darting around the tank. I figured she wasn't done giving birth so I went on out to lunch and ended up staying out for 5 hours. When I got back there were no little fishes, no little fish bodys, just my adult swimming around as normal fish do.

The thing is, none of the fish look any different than they did yesterday. (I spent a good amount of time watching them, I adore fish) So could it be there was only 1 or 2 babies that got snatched up.... or are there more waiting to come out?

thanks again, kit

Sorry to be a bearer of bad news but most likely all the babies were eaten by the parents.

All livebearers, which includes mollies, are canabalistic and will eat their young if not seperated from the mother as soon as they are born. In nature the little ones would be swept downstream and escape, but in an aquarium, they simply become a snack for the other fish, including the mother.

In order to prevent this from happening, you can buy a fish breeder from the pet store. This device will simply float on the surface of the aquarium. Put the expected mother in the breeder. As she has the babies, they will fall through a "trap door" where they will be safe. After a while you can put the mother back in the aquarium and let the babies live in the breeder for a while, however it is better if they have their own small aquarium.

Since you just got the fish however. The mother could have just had one or two babies from the stress of a new environment. If I were you I'd get a breeder as soon as possible and maybe you could save almost all the babies!

GOOD LUCK!

Hey, a reply! Well, I have a feeling she only had a couple in the first place. Which is okay, because I have another pregnant molly in her own tank this time(wish me luck?). I did a lot more research after I posted and I'm going to try again. =] Thanks