Fry Size

[juliehainsworth]

I would be grateful if someone could fill me in on what the average size is for platy fry when they are born as last week i had 29 fry born in my breeding trap each was about 0.5cm which have now grown on to be about 1cm in size which to me is totally normal these fry were then put into a sepearte tank to grow on. I have two other female platies in my tank one who still hasn't conceived and another who was pregnant up until Saturday when she gave birth to approx 30 fry I say approx as she was in a trap and at least one of the fry had escaped and was caught between the tank glass and breeding trap (caught and now in the nursery tank). What I found strange is that these new fry are already approx 1cm big which seems pretty large to me. I have a feeling that she was part way through a second pregnancy as she went slim and then was showing again also noticed what look like eyes in her belly again.

Unfortunately I dont have enough room in my nursery tank to raise all 30 fry so I've had to release 14 into my community tank at least five were still swimming around yesterday they arent half brave little things esp with my glowlights on they're tail. I was also slightly confused this morning when I saw a strange looking fry swimming across my tank. I say it was strange as it still had a pretty large yolk sac think it was a premature platy but not sure as all my fry didnt have much of a bulging yolk sac.

 

[Annastasia]

Some are born bigger. Your first batch is the same size as mine are, which I'm documenting in my fry log:
http/www.fishforums.net/index.php?showtopic=122073

Your second batch seems kind of big, but it's normal for the size to vary with the size and age of the female. So they were 1cm when they were born? Because I know mine shot up from .05 to 1 cm in about 3 days.

 

[juliehainsworth]

I found it strange that these when born where the exact same size as the ones born the week before I've never had them born at that size before, but they def werent born earlier as I watched them being born in my breeding trap!

Both females are approx 1" so I'd have thought that they would have been born the same but I suppose you do get differences in each fish. I once had a platy born with 3 eyes it only survived a couple of weeks unfortunately! Not sure why it was born with three but it was.

 

[Annastasia]

Wow, that's big fry for a 1" Platy! Hmmm. It might just be a big batch, it'd be interesting to see if all her others come out big too, or just these.

 

[juliehainsworth]

I'll let you know as she is already showing again I think she was in the middle of a second pregnancy as well! As she slimmed down after giving birth but could still see a few eyes but she didnt deliver anything after a couple of hours so let her go again! Her stomach is pretty swollen again which is why I think she was in middle of two pregnancies.......

Also caught a glimpse of what looked like a very young fry (still had yolk sac) swim across the floor of the tank this morning not sure who it came from but def was younger because of the sac the others born didnt have as big a sac or look as strange! Hope it survives in the tank would like to see what fish it is from.

 

[Annastasia]

Well, usually they have a few pregnancies going in them. Let me see if I can find the thread where SRC posted a picture of what was in a pregnant Guppy's stomach...

They CAN have them over the course of a few days. Maybe some got over-developed, and some got a little under-developed. It's hard to say what goes on in there.

 

[juliehainsworth]

Thanks for your help it has been really useful