Most of the people who will reply to this have read my (many) other topics and realize I am new to having a freshwater aquarium. I have a 5gal tank with an under-gravel filter. I had at one time a platy, chinese algae eater, 2 mollies, and 4 guppies. I was told at the store that these fish would get along in that tank. However I soon saw that the tank was over crowded and returned 2 guppies. Later on, the other 2 (came from the same tank in the store) died of something that seemed like ick, as did my platy. The algae eater actually grew in the 2 weeks I had him and got VERY aggressive and I think killed one of my mollies. I returned the 2 last fish while I could, and decided to do more research before I messed up again. All this in two weeks. Now, just as I was about to clean out the tank and re-plan, I found snails. I didn't buy any snails... but they probably came on the plants. I also found fry. Where did they come from and when?!? I don't even know what they are! They couldn't be more than 2 weeks old and are between a very light brown and black and are about 1cm long. Probably mollies, but the two I had weren't the same species and I was pretty sure they were both males... Anyway, I have a larger gravel and the fry are going down to the very bottom through it and thats where the grate is for the filter... I'm used to pond fish and when mine have babies I just let them go and they are fine, but what should I do with these little guys? So far 6 fry and 4 tiny tiny snails in a 5gal. How long will it take for them to get guppy-sized?

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-Kat

Snails will come with plants. They're a pest. Get rid of them b4 they get to plague proportions. (Give them the good squish.)

As for your 6 fry, maybe get a 'fry saver' and put them in there to grow a little more. Once they're a bit bigger, they can be released with the other fish. Growth rate depends on a lot of other factors like tank size, frequency of water changes, water parameters and of course quality of food. Generally it can take a molly/platty up to 6months to reach full size.

All mollies, platties and swordtails will interbreed. Any colour will breed with any colour and u'll end up with weird looking babies. Advance lifebearer keepers will tell you that u can only keep one strain of any lifebearer a tank if you're going to breed them. (Mix up baby fish aren't worth anything.)