Newbie needing bit help

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Smithymummy

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Evening all I'm new to forum & to keeping fish, I got 12 platys on Monday and have few questions if anyone could help please....
Firstly all of them except 1 are fairly big but the little one tends to go off on its own a lot of the time it comes out at feeding time and for a wander now and then but always goes back to same spot in corner is this normal ??

Secondly we also have a pregnant one and today about 2 hours after put plants in seen a baby (sadly think been eaten now),
Seen lots about birthing boxes but man at pet shop said not to bother and just let nature take its own corse that not all would get eaten is this right or should I separate her ??

Sorry if they seem silly questions and thanks for taking time to read.
 
Hi and welcome to the forum :)

Platies have a pecking order with big females in charge and smaller females lower down the order. Male platies wander about trying to breed with anything that moves. As the small platy grows it should spend less time hiding.

If you only have platies in the tank you don't have to move the females into breeding traps. In fact many female livebearers stress out when put into small breeding traps and give birth prematurely and the babies die. Or the females eat the babies while in the confines of the trap.

The best thing to do with pregnant livebearers is to have lots of plants in the tank and feed the adults well so they won't look at the babies as food. The best plants for livebearers is Water Sprite (Ceratopteris thalictroides/ cornuta). It can be grown on the surface and planted in the gravel and makes an ideal habitat for baby fish.
Other good plants include Ambulia & Java Moss.

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How long has the tank been set up for?

Did you cycle the filters for a month before adding fish?
If no, then you are probably going to do a fish in cycle, which simply means the filters will develop colonies of beneficial bacteria while fish live in the tank. If this is the case, you should only feed the fish once every second day and do a 75% water change and gravel clean the substrate 4-8 hours after feeding. You should also monitor the aquarium for ammonia and nitrite and do a 75% water change and gravel clean any time there is an ammonia or nitrite reading.
 

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