BABY!!

[arj]

One of my platys has had a baby, it's extreeeeemely small, and i just about noticed it swimming around in one of the plants. It's sort of semi see-through, seems like it hasnt developed any colour yet...

Just wondering if there was any special treatment that it needs, i.e. tiny food or something? I've never had a baby fish before.

 

[Tempestuousfury]

Try getting a breeding trap for it. You can get it for $4 from Walmart or rather cheap elsewhere.

You should either get a brine shrimp culture going or buy frozen baby brine shrimp. It might be too small to eat flakes, by what you say, so that can wait for a week or two.

 

[arj]

what is the purpose of all this stuff?

 

[Tempestuousfury]

What stuff? The brine shrimp? That's food.

 

[arj]

what about the breeding trap? btw i'm from the uk.

 

[Tempestuousfury]

A breeding trap is just a couple of sticks in the form of a cube with nylon netting around it. It keeps the fish from getting to the fry, and you can feed the fry easier and keep an eye on it better.

There are other models, as well, but those are meant for use to save fry when the female drops, not to protect the fry if they have been dropped in the tank.

 

[arj]

ok thanks. i'll try and get one tomorow, but what can i do in the meantime for it?

 

[CathyG]

Just get a plastic breeding trap, they cost about £2.50, and some Interpet Liquifry No 2 (liquid food for live bearers) Once the fry are big enough, you can start feeding crushed flake. A trap will stop the fry being eaten by other fish. My Platies had two babies a while ago, I let nature take it's course in a well planted tank and one survived. I recently found two more babies that I now have in a trap.

 

[arj]

Will there actually be a problem of other fish eating it? we don't have very aggressive fish, we have 2 cory's, 2 guppies and 6 platies (+baby).

 

[CathyG]

The Platies will eat their own. The Guppies will eat the fry, too, if it will fit in their mouth...it is not aggression, it is nature

 

[arj]

i see. thanks for the help guys and guyettes.

 

[Cheese Specialist]

If you have plants, the platy should be fine without a trap. Also, a mature tank has natural micro-organisms in it for the fry to eat without you having to add food. When it/they get bigger you can feed crushed flakes.

 

[arj]

i do have plants, the baby seems to be fine hiding in them. also, the tank has been in action for just over 2 months... this isn't really mature, is it?