I have in my community tank 3 female orange platties and one male, they have been in there for about 4 months and as yet i don't think they have bred or at least i haven't seen them.

I have a spare 75 ltr tank and am wondering if i set it up just for the platties if this will increase their chances of breeding?

I've read that it is best to increase their feeding to make them breed but this is difficult in a hungry community tank.

What do you guys think?

Are you sure you have males and females? And what is the temperature?

Your platies should breed in a community tank, once again make sure they are males and females

are they young? If so normally they will produce small batches which could go unnoticed if they get eaten by the other fish

Well I have 3 larger fish with the larger anal fin and one quite a bit smaller with a smaller pointed anal fin.... I have noticed the smaller one chasing the other three around quite alot just lately so i assume I have one male and three female.

Water temp is a steady 26 degC.... good water circulation and plenty of air being introduced




I've had them for about 4/5 months and they have probably doubled in size since i got them so i'm guessing they were juveniles when i got them... making them 6 mnths max?

it's possible that her batches are small and they are getting eaten before you get chance to look for them

can you get some pics up of them?

I'll have a try... might not be the best quality cos quite frankly my camera is next to useless lol..... be back in a few mins

That was fun lol... couldn't get a decent shot of them so thought i'd try a quick video on my phone

Fingers crossed that it works

Only 2 females made an appearance but i think it's clear that the smaller one of the 3 is the male (the one doing the chasing)

I can see 2 pregnant females and a male their

Oh, so you think they are pregnant? .... they do have quite large tummies but i can't for the life of me see a gravid? spot... the other female looks exactly the same to me

they look quite boxed off when viewed from head on so that says they are ready too drop

but jjust incase, do you see any scales spiking off? Are they losing colour? Are they not eating a lot? And how long has the tank been set up?

Can't see any signs of spiking scales... they do seem a little paler round the widest part of their tummies when i catch them in the right light but nothing really noticeable and they are eating very well..... they are probably the most active in the tank at feeding time.

The tanks been set up for about 6 months now without any problems whatsoever

I'd say they are both prgnany too. Keep an eye out for young in plants and hidding places in the tank.

OOOH... I'm getting quite excited now lol.... best get my breeding net out at the ready.

Would it be best to transfer just the fry into the net or would you put the mother in there too for a start? (assuming I manage to see any of them)

You could put the mother in there now, the only problem with that is that you don't exactly know when shes going to drop and so she could get stressed in the trap if shes in the for too long. When i was breeding my guppies i just used the trap to hold any babies which i found.

Once i noiced a pregnant female i did a really good look around the tank around 5 times a day and use to find up 20-30 fry each time. It save the mum being stressed and the fry from being eaten.

Also when removing the fry i did not take them out of the water because the lack of oxygen can cause them damage... so to get them out the tank i used a soup ladel.. work suprisingly well. but you could use any kind of holeless net to remove them.

Good luck!

i divided my 20gal with a tank divider and i use i'd say about half a foot of space for any pregnant fish to drop their fry when they are ready. I find traps really stress my fish out no matter what. They do not like small boxed in homes lol. Since i done the divider i never had a stressed fish or a fry lose

Thanks for the help and advice guys.... the main problem I have is that i'm out of the house for at least 12 hours each day and then again sometimes later on, so i suppose it's more than likely they could give birth and all the fry could be eaten within that time... maybe a divider would be the way to go.... I'll see what happens in the next few days

You could try putting some java moss in there, ideal hiding place for fry as they can wriggle right inside it and be safe from the adults. I have had good survival rates with my last few platy drops and I see the fry hanging out round the java moss all the time, ready to dart back in if any of the grown-ups come too close.