Do I need to give them

[dixaisy930]

I have swordtails, mollys, and platys in my tall 65 gallon with various other community fish. I know I have atleast 2 mothers to be (and probably more). I bought two clumps of that "breeding grass" they sell at Wal-Mart. One is on the substrate and the other is floating. I was wondering if I need to add more, or will some of the fry be able to find the two clumps quickly enough?

 

[GuppyDude]

in a well planted 65g fry will have no problem stayin alive but it is still best if u use a breeder if u want ur fry to find safty u may have to buy more and place it in various spots in the tank. id keep one floating becuse the top of the tank is the first place the lil guys will go.

gl

 

[dixaisy930]

I have quite a few other plants in the tank, but none of them were dense enough to protect the babies from all of my hungry monsters. Maybe I should get another chunk of breeding grass to float on the top since that's where they go first? (and some more for the bottom and some other plants)

 

[Aqua_Princess64]

You could get a dense live floating plant and also a dense plant for the bottom too. Breeding traps are ok, but one bad thing is that it sometimes stresses the mother out so much she aborts or dies. If you can't get any live plants and you think that the fry should have more cover, then you probably should get another breeding grass. It doesn't really have to specifically be breeding grass, though. You can just cut the bottom out of a dense plastic or silk plant and let it float.

 

[barbiya]

I've got the Walmart "breeding grass" in my 2 ten gallon tanks, and the fry do use that to hide in. I've got 4 squares in each tank, and as I've only got platties (which hid in the gravel before I installed the grass), I can say that they've done pretty well hiding in there. I've no idea how many the mother actually gave birth to, but as my signature shows, I've got 10 in one tank and 4 fry in another. I'm certain that some got eaten , but many have survived.

I really think the breeding grass is a help, as they can hide in and under the grass. I've not floated it, as I noticed the platy fry buried themselves in the gravel, so I figured they were more likely to stay low.

Good luck with your fish!