Growing Platy

[Fishiegoddess]

hey how long does it take for baby platy to grow big enough to be put into my 10 gallon with the rest of my platys?

 

[Def]

platy fry will normally be ok to go with adults after a week or 2. To be safe, if they're ok where they are, wait a month. Normally platy adults will leave fry alone if they survive the first few days.

 

[yhbae]

At 1 month, they are definitely going to be ok with the adults. I've been observing the mixed platy tank (see my 15g link) and I too believe that after about 2 weeks or so, they seem safe. They don't try to feed with larger ones until they hit about a month or so, but at about 2 weeks time, larger ones ignore them...

 

[Sasha]

When the platy fry is big enough to not fit into any of the fish's mouth, you can introduce it into the main tank. It usually takes around a month.

 

[Tempestuousfury]

However, some fish have bigger mouths than you might think (protrusile) and some fish will kill the fry but be unable to fit them in their mouths.

 

[willywonka099]

If you have no aggresive adults they should be ok wants they reach too big to ft in the mouth

 

[Def]

They don't try to feed with larger ones until they hit about a month

yhbae is right about that. You'll notice that all the adults and large fry feed from the surface, all the small fry feed close to the bottom. The easiest thing to do to make sure they get fed (if you have a lot of them) is scoop some tank water into a jug, crush some flake up and put it in the jug. Swirl the water round a bit to waterlog the flake, then pour it back in the tank. All the flake will sink straight down and the fry will eat it. Needs to be very finely crushed. Don't put too much in, for some reason platy fry don't like to feed directly off the bottom - they'll follow a flake as it floats down and nibble at it, but as soon as it touches the bottom they ignore it. Wierd.

 

[yhbae]

Feeding is pretty each in my platy tank - just crush (not even that finely) and some float, some sink. Really small ones get eaten by the small frys, while larger ones get eaten by the larger ones. I rarely see any food at the bottom.

I have to admit, platies are one of the easiest species to breed and keep them alive...