How Old To Breed?

[amylw1]

hi,

how old do platys have to be in order to breed?

i have 5 8week old platys in my tank along with 1 adult. tonight 1 of my kids noticed a baby in the tank (and i foudn 2 more). i cant see that they are from the fry of the 5 babies as they are about 1/2cm long and the 8week old ones are about 2cm.

any help greatful.

 

[KittyKat]

They can start breeding anywhere around 6 weeks normally (so giving birth at 10), I think it is possible for them to start earlier.

 

[amylw1]

They can start breeding anywhere around 6 weeks normally (so giving birth at 10), I think it is possible for them to start earlier.

ok, thank you. for some reason i thought it much laster - 12-14weeks!

 

[lilfishie]

chances are that if the adult is female (asuming thats where the fry came from) then she has dropped again

 

[OldMan47]

As Lilfishie said, your chances are that the drop has come from a more mature fish in your tank. Although it is not impossible for an 8 week fry to produce a drop, it is highly unlikely. It would be far more likely that an 8 week old juvenile will be approaching adult status and maybe even be able to become pregnant. That would mean that she could possibly produce fry about 4 weeks later, at about 3 months of age. Even that would be very early for a platy to be producing fry. I would look instead to the adult female in your tank producing fry from an old contact with a male.

 

[softtouch]

is it safe to change the water with young fry in it ? i was told this was harmfull but would like a 2nd opinion , also , is it safe to use interpet biosafe tapsafe with them ? i have 2 male platys and 3 females , and have managed to rescue 2 babys .

sorry, i meant bioactive tapsafe.

 

[OldMan47]

It is actually a very good idea to change water on a fry tank quite often. Fry seem to be quite sensitive to water quality issues compared to adults so water changes are even more important for them than for the adults. That does not mean you can do an indiscriminate water change without good technique since that same sensitivity to water quality will come through there too. Instead it is important to ensure that any new water from a water change is properly dechlorinated and is of about the same temperature as the tank water.
The optimum situation for fry growth is that you feed to satiation daily and that you do enough water changes to keep the feeding regime from causing any kind of build up. That means you are changing water every couple of days and the fry are growing like weeds.

 

[softtouch]

thanks very much , i find that very helpful , what percentage of water do you suggest i change ? as i have been told everything from 10% to 25%.

 

[KittyKat]

When raising livebearers, 15% per day (from the bottom of the tank) worked best for me. For normal tanks, I usually do 10-15% per week.

 

[amylw1]

the adult in the tank is male so there is no way the fry have come from the adult.