Baby platty not developing

[DEBI]

I have a 2 month baby fry who looks the size of a 2 week old. He isn't able to swim very well he goes to the surface to get food but only seems to be able to swim for a few seconds and then goes to the bottom of the tank. he spends most of his time laying on the gravel. He is in a cycled tank with 3 frys that are 3 week old , they have already overtaken him in size. I am not sure that he is very happy I feed him on ground up flakes and liquifry. Does anyone have any ideas what I can do to make him grow and his life a bit happier? thanks

 

[ruffmeister]

i had a platy fry stuck in my filter and thought that mine wasnt swimming / eating properly either as it wasnt putting any weight on but however i then just left him and the next thing i knew he was fine and rulingn the fry tank, just give him time mate

 

[guppymonkey]

Do you do regular water changes? Fry tanks get a lot of waste in them and need to have water changes once a week or even more than that. I change some water every other day in my fry tank. If the water isn't changed enough hormones that are naturally given off by the fish can stunt their growth.

 

[DEBI]

I do a twice weekly water change. I took him out of the tank today so that I could clean the gravel ( scared of sucking him up the gravel cleaner) and changed the tank round. he appeared a bit more active when i put him back and also looked slighty bigger, but looks to work very hard to swim. I took the air stone away about 2 weeks ago as i thought that it maybe making his swimming to food a bit more difficult.

 

[neptuneviv]

Do you think he could have swim bladder disorder? It can cause fish to have to make big efforts to swim up or down. At this age, it could be genetic. It's the kind of disease that either clears up on its own as the fish grows or that will stay with your fish for the rest of its life. I think that you'll just have to wait and see how it develops. If it is SBD, it's not painful - just tiring for your fish to swim up and down.

Hope this helps

 

[Mamaschild]

From my experience with Livebearers, "Belly Sliders" are not uncommon. Apparently this is a underdeveloped Swim Bladder, or something to that affect, and does happen. I tend to see it in HEAVY releases with a large number of fry. It seems some just don't develop well enough inside Mom, or develop slower. I don't know which.

I believe I was told once, that the eggs are continuously being fertilized. This can amount to some of the fry released actually being older (more time in the womb to grow prior to release) then some others. I think this makes sense, as I see fully formed (almost no egg sac), and partly formed (large egg sac) fry, as well as eggs with eyes, and just eggs, all released in one batch.

I hope that makes sense???

 

[guppymonkey]

I took the air stone away about 2 weeks ago as i thought that it maybe making his swimming to food a bit more difficult.

You shouldn't have the airstone on during feedings. Livebearers will eat food even if its not moving, its actually better if the water is not moving as it makes it easier on the fry. I don't think you mentioned how large your fry tank is or if you have a filter on it. If the tank is getting a little crowded with babies you probably should put the airstone back in and you definately should have some kind of filter in there. A power filter would give the best filtration but if its a small tank than a corner box filter should work on any tank smaller than 10 gallons.

 

[DEBI]

thanx for you replies. It is a 4.5 gallon tank with a built in filter and undergravel filter he is with 3 other fry who are 3 week old. he is able to get to the top to get his food. Over the last couple of days he seems to be swimming a little better so hopefully he is now going in the right direction.