Any Idea What Happened?

[Spishkey]

my prize platy ('big momma as shes effectionatly known) has been a good breeder for the^past 6 months, giving me around 60 fry every four weeks without fail. now she was due on saturday night so i put her in her breeder box before going to work, shes never had a problem before


anyhow i went to work, came back about four hours later and was horrified to see she was giving birth to dead fry. every one that was coming out was dead and deformed it was horrible. there was one live one but died within minutes.

i checked the water, all stats were fine, the only difference i could see was the temp had dropped 1 degree to 23

also instead of the usuam 60+ fry there were just around 30

any idea what could have possibly caused this?

the only thing i could think of is she mated with my 'new' male, maybe something is wrong with his genes? i worried now about breeding other fish with him??

 

[steve hart]

Hi this happened to one of my guppies about 6 months ago. When popping into my local fish shop they thought that it could of been caused due to stress on the fish.

 

[dunchp]

It happens, it could have been stress which would be most likely, it could have been that there was a problem with the set up of the breeding trap which has only just arisen through some external factor (for instance the weather may be colder, or you may just have put the Central Heating on) which has increased the stress to the fish from putting the fish into a breeder.

It could also have been that she is coming toward the end of her useful breeding life. Swordtails and Platies are Poeciliids and it is quite common that they have small broods to begin with, have large numbers of broods for a time and then as the adult gets older the fry diminish in number and quality. In some wild fish such as Cnesterodon, this is often quite obvious as they will develop an arched / curved, deformed looking back, but in Platies it is often quite a bit less obvious.

These fish do tend to have quite a relatively short breeding life, but produce loads of young in that time which is why it is important to select the best from the breeding stock and cull / pass on the rest.

 

[Spishkey]

wow funny enough my two oldest platys (the one who just gave birth is included in those two) have both been developing a sort of arched back, their back ends curve down slightly now. it was a gradual progression. could they be so old? ive only had them 6 months

 

[dunchp]

wow funny enough my two oldest platys (the one who just gave birth is included in those two) have both been developing a sort of arched back, their back ends curve down slightly now. it was a gradual progression. could they be so old? ive only had them 6 months

I am guessing you bought them from a shop? In which case they could have been anything from 3-9 months old when you bought them (I guess, although they could have been older). 9 months is probably a little young to start drooping, but if they have been dropping 60+ fry a month for 6 months then it is not beyond the realms of possibility.

It will also be affected by many other things such as temperature, diet, hours of lighting, water chemistry, heavy metals in the water etc etc etc.

However, I wouldn't be too hasty to solve the riddle. She will no doubt fall gravid again and you will be able to see how she does next time round. Much harm can come from trying to find a complicated answer when the right one is the obvious one (i.e. she was stressed).

 

[twilight_angel]

maybe she's not compatible with your new male...

or just stress...

think of it...

for six month, every month she's giving birth...

how tiredful...

 

[Spishkey]

its happened again with my marbled molly. 23 deformed dead fish and just 4 healthy ones ive managed to save. different tank (she was in a tank not a net) i cant understand it. could it be the time of year, change of seasons or just a run of bad luck??

 

[data276]

have you changed anything in their diet? have you noticed anything that could cause stress to them such as a fish being to agressive?

 

[Spishkey]

nope nothing has changed at all. i just dont understand it. the only difference is i have new neighbours who like playing loud music, could that be the problem thinking about it the sound would amplify underwater no? or the vibrations maybe?

 

[twilight_angel]

nope nothing has changed at all. i just dont understand it. the only difference is i have new neighbours who like playing loud music, could that be the problem thinking about it the sound would amplify underwater no? or the vibrations maybe?

maybe...

new change in environment, obviousely saying...

try to isolate her for a month from your males...

maybe males wanted to mate her again...

and maybe she can't stop them because of their aggressiveness...

what do you think...

 

[Spishkey]

no dont think its the males bullying. there was only one male in with her and four females for a few months, then i introduced another 2 female and male so plenty to go around and stop chasing

 

[bam_emma]

Do fish have an age when they stop breeding??