Babies!

[altselgreen]

Hi guys,

A few days ago I noticed one of my female platys acting strange, I thought nothing of it, probably pregnant, got a week till she drops. But boy was I wrong. I noticed about 2 or 3 days later something moving next to one of my plants. So, I scoped it out, as we all do. And right there was a tiny little fish. He or She was about 1cm, it looked too big to fit into my adult fish's mouths, so I decided to leave him in there. (I also had many attempts to get him into a net, that didn't work out too well) I didn't see him again until 2 days later when my dad got home from the US. I said 'I saw a baby fish right there... OH THERE HE IS AGAIN!' I kept an eye on him for a while, he passed every single one of my adult fish, they all saw him, and they didn't bother to try to take a bite. A few days later (again) me and my dad were peering into the tank watching him. My dad then said 'Look there's another one! There's 2!' Unfortunately, I didn't manage to see the 2nd one, they both swam off. But yesterday, for the first time, I saw both my little baby fish, swimming together, both about the same size. I am hoping there are more... but I'll have to wait and see. They always come out now, they aren't afraid of the adults. They just pass by.

Now for my questions...

They are both grey at the moment, does anyone know how long it will take them to develop their colours?

And, as I said above they are about 1cm. How fast do they grow? I try to give them food, by letting small flakes sink. They do get a bit sometimes. The majority of the time they just munch on tiny algae hairs.

Thanks

 

[tropicaltink81]

hey there dont worry about food for them there is enough food sinks to the bottom that our eyes dont see plus they will find sorce of food i have fry in my tank nearly every week i have lots of live bearers and i was curious like you when i started,
may i sugest if you want to keep the fry to buy a breeding tank to put your pregnant fish into then fry will drop into the bottom and then moms finished you take out the divide and u have a little fry tank,

this is what i do after about 3-4 days in the breeding tank i move the fry to my fry tank 30litre they thrive i fed them liquid fry no 2 for live bearers for the first few days

then i crushed up flakes to a fine dust and they are happy on that.

hope this helped

 

[penguin22]

It shouldnt take long at all for them to develop their colours esspecially if the parents are the same colour, also I would keep an eye on the tank you will probably find a few more babys soon. Good luck with them.

 

[chibi]

As soon as my platy had a baby (yes, one little fry!), it had black markings. The mother was a black tuxedo. I haven't had color and it's been a week, so I can't tell you exactly when.