When to move fry

[livebearer_love]

Last time my blue platy gave birth I was hoping that the fry would just find a hiding place from all the other fish in the numerous plastic and real plants I have in my tank. After being born they went right into hiding but all 15 or so were gobbled up within minutes of being born by my 4 lightning fast hyper-active danios.
My platy gave birth a few days ago and this time I put her in a mesh breeding cage floating in the main tank and took her out when all 12 fry were born. I feed them Nutrafin basix fry food 3 times a day at approximately 7:15, 2:45 and 7:30.
My question is first, whether i am doing anything wrong, and also when I can move these fry back into the main tank with no worrys of them being eaten. Is there a certain age or length they should be?
Also are floating plants ABSOLUTELY nessesary for fry to survive or does it just make the fry a little more comfortable because i currently do not have any floating plants at all.
My biggest fish is about 1 3/4 inches. Any advice is appreciated. Thanks

[tikotaz]

If your fish is currently pregnant I would suggest you get a smaller say one to two gallon tank. Then a hatchery, the fry would go to the bottom. Though when she is done keep her there a couple more days just incase, though feed her so she won't go for the fry. Then after the couple days put her back in the normal tank and let the fry out in that one seperate tank until they are big enough to go into it. This is what I learned from the closest petstore. Ok so you have them in a breeding net, what I would still suggest is go get a small one gallon tank. To put the fry in until they are big enough to go back into the other tank, without worry of the others eating them. A good length for them to be is about an inch or so. Maybe 3/4 inch before you put them in, this way it's easy for them not to be eaten.