New to the forum.

[Pab]

Hi guys,

I am new to this hobbie and have had a fish tank since July, I have a tropical set up with a filter and pump.

Fish I have at the moment platty male and femal which has given birth to 15/20+. 1 neon tetra and a red tail shark.

For the past couple of days things are going fine but I think my platt female is pregnant again does anyone know of the period they get pregnant as in can it be every month or couple of times a year?

Also could I request your lovely peeps to give me advise in cleaning and what is recommended. Thanks pab

 

[Colin_T]

Hi and welcome to the forum

The gestation period for female livebearers (platies, mollies, swordtails & guppies) is approximately 4 weeks, so females can give birth once a month for their entire life.

When they breed the males impregnate the females with a number of sperm packets and the females use these to fertilise eggs. Females can carry up to 6 sperm packets and use 1 packet for each batch of eggs. If you remove the male, the female will continue to produce young for up to 6 months after the male has been removed.

Livebearers are best kept in single sex tanks, either all male or all female. This reduces the stress caused by the males constantly trying to breed with the females.

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In the wild, Neon tetras and all tetras are schooling fish that occur in groups consisting of thousands of individuals. In an aquarium they should be kept in groups of at least 6 or more, (preferably 10 or more).

Depending on how big the tank is and what the general hardness (GH) and pH of the water is, will determine if you should get rid of the 1 neon you have, or add more to increase the size of the school. The GH and pH of your water should be available on you water supply company's website or by calling them. If you can't find the information, take a glass full of tap water to the local pet shop and ask them to test the GH & pH of the water. Write the results down (in numbers) when they do the test.

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I recommend doing a 75% water change and gravel clean the substrate once a week. Make sure any new water is free of chlorine/ chloramine before it is added to the tank.

Power filters should not be cleaned for the first 6-8 weeks of their life. then they should be cleaned at least once a month and every 2 weeks is great. The filter materials should be squeezed out in a bucket of tank water, then cleaned in another bucket of tank water, then put back in the tank. The filter case and motor unit should be washed under tap water. Then the filter is reassembled and connected to the tank and turned back on.