What Fish Will Eat Baby Mollies and Excess Fry?

Last Updated on June 27, 2022 by cmoarz

Mollies love to breed and they are known to have a high survival rate for their fry, or baby fish. This is good news for those who want to maintain a molly population in their aquarium, but it can also be bad news if the aquarium is already overstocked.

If you find yourself in a position where you have many mollies always giving birth and have wound up with too many fries, don’t despair. There are a few different fish that will eat molly fry as a live food source.

Molly’s parents will eat their own fry

Adult mollies are known to eat their own fry if given the opportunity. Most people try to avoid this by separating the fry from the adults as soon as they are born, or overfeeding the adults to try and curb this behavior.

However, in the case of overpopulation, it might be necessary to let the parents eat some of them.

You can better facilitate this by feeding less food to your mollies so that they are hungrier when fry are born.

Some other common fish that will eat molly fry

Adult mollies aren’t the only fish that will try and eat molly fry. Other common aquarium fish are known to eat fry include:

• Bettas
• Dwarf Crayfish
• Freshwater crabs
• Cichlids
• dwarf gouramis
• Guppies
• Angelfish
• Neons (sometimes)
• Plecos (sometimes)

Any fish on this list will happily chow down on molly fry given the chance. Nature is cruel but it’s also the survival of the fittest.

Alternative options

Not everyone has the heart to let their fish eat fry, no matter how many they have. If this is the case for you, there are a few other options you can try to get rid of excess fry.

Rehoming

One option is to find new homes for your fry. This can be done by giving them away to friends or family.

Selling them

Not only is this a better option of just letting the fry get eaten, it can also help fund your aquarium hobby.

There are many online forums and classified ads where you can find people looking to buy fish fry.

You can sell them online, Or you could even sell them to your local pet store (usually for credit rather than cash).

Selling them as live food

Pretty much the same as letting your fish eat them, but you get paid for it. People who keep snakes or reptiles or larger fish as pets will usually buy fish fry to feed their animals.

While it still leads to the death of the fry, it might be much easier to have an out of site out of mind attitude if you sell them rather than letting your own fish eat them.

What not to do

Don’t flush live fish

Not only is it arguably crueler than just letting your fish eat the fry, it’s also really bad for the environment.

Many fish actually survive the trip through the plumbing and end up in local waterways where they can wreak havoc on the local ecosystem.

Don’t compost live fish

Don’t let them starve

Don’t just let them starve to death. This is a slow and painful death for the fry and should be avoided if at all possible.

Don’t release fish into local ponds or streams

Not only can it be terrible for the local ecosystem, but it’s also illegal in many places which could get you slapped with a huge fine.

Releasing non-native species into the wild is a major problem and something that should be avoided at all costs.

If you must get rid of your fish fry, find a new home for them or sell them as food for other animals. Do not release them into the wild.

Bottom line

There are many options to get rid of excess fry. From using them as feeder fish to the more humane selling or rehoming them.

The best option for you will depend on your personal circumstances. But whatever you do, don’t just flush them down the toilet or release them into the wild.