Baby Platies - How To Care Help Please

[Deleted member 107737]

Hi All,
 
I have tonight taken 7 baby platies of a guy. I think he was going to throw them down the toilet because they had babies and there were loads of them. they are tiny.
 
I took them off him saying i will care for them.
 
How can i care for them?? What do they eat??
 
He has fed them at 7pm with fish flakes but he was in a rush and i forgot to ask him what to feed them. I know sometimes he uses  a food tablet which sticks onto the side of the tank.
 
The temp is set to 25-26 C. is that ok for them??
 
How often do they need feeding??
 
any other special requirments??
 
Thanks,
 
dave
 
 

 

[westmidsgal]

crush up normal flakes to a fine powder or buy some liquifry from your local fish store.  usually i feed mine small amounts
3_4 times a day 

 

[Mamashack]

Hi All,
 
I have tonight taken 7 baby platies of a guy. I think he was going to throw them down the toilet because they had babies and there were loads of them. they are tiny.
 
I took them off him saying i will care for them.
 
How can i care for them?? What do they eat??
 
He has fed them at 7pm with fish flakes but he was in a rush and i forgot to ask him what to feed them. I know sometimes he uses  a food tablet which sticks onto the side of the tank.
 
The temp is set to 25-26 C. is that ok for them??
 
How often do they need feeding??
 
any other special requirments??
 
Thanks,
 
dave

hi Dave
The temperature should be fine. They are temperate fish and tolerate small temperature fluctations better than tropical fish. I have fry less than a week old in my tank and the temp is 25.1 C this morning. Crushed tropical flake or the liquifry no.2 is fine for the weeny fry - make sure it's the one for live-bearers tho and not egg-layers. There is a no.3 for older fry but my older ones are happy with crumbled flake or crushed pellet to be honest.
Make sure you keep on top of the water quality as ammonia , nitrite and nitrate can spike if not in an already cycled tank. They also prefer slightly alkalinic water but will tolerate anything between 6.8 and 8.2. Good luck!

 

[PrairieSunflower]

I feed mine TetraMini 3 times a day, they also nibble algae and bits of the adult food. I also do the egg yoke thing (you use a boiled egg mashed in a cup of tank water and drop a very tiny amount into the tank.... it is very messy so I only do it on days before I am going to change the water). When they are older I also give some algae wafers as a snack (not a meal).

 

[crmpicco]

I currently have about half a dozen platy fry in my hatchery tank with my guppy fry. They are doing well and hopefully next month i'll move some of them out the hatchery tank and into the main tank, the others i'll have to try and swap at a pet shop.
 
As for diet, I feed them the same as I feed the fish in my main tank (flakes, discus granules etc) - just crushed up as much as I can and a lot less.
 
I have also put some live plant cuttings and a small handful of gravel in the hatchery to make it more interesting for them.
 
As I say, they seem to be thriving.