Babies!

[mattbond]

just found 4 baby sunset platies hiding in some riccia in my community tank! yaya

but: -1 im not sure what i should feed them (iv crushed and sprinkled some flake in the riccia?)
-2 im moving my tank upstairs to my new bedroom in 2 weeks, and how would you go about moving them upstairs? (could do with advice please for all the fish, rather than just the fry)

thanx in advance

 

[Ludwig Venter]

If you noticed 4, there could be up to 10 of 'em... They are experts at hide & seek....Since its community, ... it is also likely that you'd be moving upstairs with zero left...

In this situation (exclusively), I'd recommend that you get a breeding net an seperate them from the prowlers...

For moving, most tanks are still carryable with 2 inches of water in, with no ill effects....

 

[mattbond]

thanks very much, how long til they'll be big enuf to swim out in the open safely?
i might be able to get a net in i spose, its quite heavily planted though
wont the riccia do the job?

what would you reccomend for feeding?

 

[Ludwig Venter]

As for how long, will depend on what other fish you have in there, but normally after a month they are mature enough to fend for themselves and what to feed... Put some normal flakes on a hard surface & roll repeatedly with a roller pin until a powdery size flake is ready for feeding... (if you're not getting pre prepared baby food for live bearers)....

 

[OldMan47]

When I have a few livebearers to feed, I just take a small pinch of flake between my finger tips and grind it up right over the tank. The powder that falls in is usually enough. If you are feeding flake to the whole tank, just squeeze your fingers together a bit before you drop in the flake and some bits of it will be reduced to small enough powder for the fry. If the riccia is dense enough, some of the fry will survive but it takes a very dense clump in a community tank for it to be effective.
Moving a tank means removing most of the water and then the tank will be light enough to move. I would hesitate to climb a flight of stairs with a partly filled tank. That means drain the tank most of the way, move the fish to a bucket, finish the tank drain and move the tank. Refill in the new location starting with the bucket of water the fish are in.