Age of consent?

[Eyes Wide Shut]

Hi all.
Am new here, signed up as l have a question that l am bursting to ask!

I have a community fish tank where all the residents get along nicely.
Tank is 4 ft long, 3 ft high, 3 ft wide - dont know if thats important.
The residents are 2 chinese algae eaters (who have promised not to harm any other fish), one mollie, 6 White Clouds, 2 zebra daneos and 4 guppies.
l have another tank that has my baby White Clouds in it. They are now 7 weeks old and look like fish instead of sticks with eyes.
l had this silly idea that l would put the babes in the community tank to learn social skills and advance into adult hood.
That didnt happen.
l put the babes in then watched - the others all come over to look and *gasp* the mollie ate some! l grabed the net and give her a slap on the nose while madly trying to rescue the remaining babes. Catching 40 odd panicing White Cloud children isn't easy.
When l thought l were winning, the darn guppies got in on the act and ate a handful.
l've now rescued all remaining babes and put them back into their nursey tank.
What went wrong? Is this my fault as l feed my fish live food (mozzie larvae, small taddys, blood worms, etc). l know there is not a mother alive who at some stage dosen't want to eat her own young but just random munching of others offspring isn't normal or friendly.
There is live weed in the community tank and big rocks to hide in/under but those fish were hunting the babes down. Not pretty.
Advice from those who know things, please.

[firedragon92]

that behaviour is quite normal amoung fish and is increased by the fact that they are fed live food.

however unless the babies have somewhere they can get to to hide where the others cant go they will get eaten.

java or fontanalis moss is very good for this.

the other thing you did wrong was chuck the babies in in the same way you would do with food so the fish instictivly thought of the babies as food

[cichlidboy]

feeding your fish live food will slightly increase your fish's sense of whats food and whats not.
rule of thumb is that a fish that will fit into another one's mouth.....WILL.
this even applies for algae eating cats.
now, depending on the size difference, i would say that was the main problem.
just wait a little longer =]
i gotta say, thats a huge tank you have!!

[Eyes Wide Shut]

Yes, a huge tank and a pain at times.
To clean it involves standing on a chair and almost jumping in it. Arms arent long enough and my friends are the long handed egg flip and BBQ tongs if l need to reach or adjust anything on the tank floor.
No such thing as 'just move the tank over there' as the floor had to be re-enforced where it is.
And because its so large, its the main point of the room and so cannot be messy or slightly un-clean.
If l had of known what l know now, when buying the thing, l would of got a lower one. This one come with the cabinet underneath (hides all the electricals) and was one of the last made due to being unpopular (l know why now).
Still, its here now and its staying.

l'll just wait for the babes to grow a bit bigger then. Yes, feeding live food has turned my fish into little beggers that are quick off the mark.
Put your arm in to adjust a plant and they all eye off my flesh on the off chance!