First Lot Of Platy Fry In Tank

[sussexgirl]

My platy has dropped her first batch of fry and so far I have found and captured 4 of them into my breeder net from the main 130L tank. I've put some plants in the breeder net for them to hide in and I've been and bought some fry food to feed them 3-4 times a day.

My question is: how long should I keep them in there before I introduce them back into the main tank? I don't want the other fish to eat them but on the other hand the salesman at the LFS today told me that they won't survive too well in the breeder net and that I should just re-introduce them to the main tank and give them lots of moss to hide in. The fry are approx. 5mm and I'm not sure exactly how old they are. My initial feeling was that I'd keep them in the net for 2-3 weeks and then introduce them back. What do you all think?

 

[Spader]

what i used to do is keep them in the net for 2 weeks, then give them a 5 gallon tank and after 2 months they are big enough not to be eaten. Now i just put the preg female in the 5 gallon and when she gives birth i remove her back to the main tank.

 

[sussexgirl]

what i used to do is keep them in the net for 2 weeks, then give them a 5 gallon tank and after 2 months they are big enough not to be eaten. Now i just put the preg female in the 5 gallon and when she gives birth i remove her back to the main tank.

Well I figured today that I should buy the Aqua One 320 aquarium which is 28L and that would do the trick nicely and would also provide me with a quarantine/hospital tank when the fry are introduced into the main tank. My only concern is that I'm going away for 2 weeks at the end of July and am not sure whether I can trust one of the disolving feeding tablets to feed the fry. I'll have to look into my options because I don't have anyone who can come in and feed them for me while I'm away.

Also, if I buy that tank, do I need to cycle it before I put them in or can I just take gravel out of the main tank and also the water and then just put them in? Not sure how I go about it but obviously want to do it the best way possible.