I'M Getting Kind Of Frustrated With This.

[allie95]

Alrighty, so I've had my ten-gallon tank set up for about, eh, 8 or 9 months now. I have three male guppies, two female platies and a male platy. I have been waiting for the platies to breed, but they aren't even pregnant! They're white-bodied, so I would see if they had a gravid spot. Does anyone know why they aren't breeding? (Oh, and I just added the females in October)

 

[shelaghfishface]

sure theyre females? ( i know stupid Q) what size tank is it, any chance of increasing numbers?

seriously, its only 4 weeks, let them settle in a while longer.. they tend to drop about every 6-8 wks.. chances are they did just before you got them
Edited no sorry i didnt read it properly i see the size now.. thats about plenty with any fry that will come along

 

[allie95]

Yea, I'm sure they're females lol. But okay, I'll just wait a while & see what happens.

EDIT- ANd I've actually had them for about 7 1/2 weeks. I got them on the 5th of October, and November is almost over.

 

[OldMan47]

If you actually want some platy fry from one of the new females, separate her in her own tank, at least 5 gallons, and stuff the tank with good cover like java moss or even killie mops. In less than 4 weeks, you should have some fry that need proper care. My guppy tank is getting to the point that even the cories don't try to reach the bottom because of all the java moss growth. Needless to say I can pull as many fry from that tank as I wish at a moment's notice.

 

[allie95]

The biggest extra tank I have is a 2.5 gal. fish bowl . But I was just worried that there was actually something WRONG with them, but I guess that I'm just impatient?

 

[doresy]

A question just begging to be asked why do you want the Platy to breed? You do realise that if (and it's not usually if, more like when) they do breed then you will have potentially 30-40 fry to contend with. Ok so most will get eaten but you will end up with several which unless separated will grow and breed amongst themselves (and with mum and dad).

So I am hoping you have growing on tanks ready? When they do grow what are your intentions with the newly acquired mass of mixed Platy? Most LFS will only take them when they are several weeks old and then they wont give you anything for them.

So, back to my original question.......why do you want them to breed?

 

[allie95]

WEll I don't know, really. But I think it would be a cool learning experience, and I would like to maybe study their life cycle a little bit (maybe a Biology extra-credit project?) and when I get older I want to go into maybe something dealing with genetics or marine biology. If I do get them to successfully breed, I would definitely get an extra tank or two. My sister calls me obsessed, but I just love fish and want to get the full experience.

 

[OldMan47]

It is time for one of those extra tanks right now if you want to breed your fish Allie. That way it can be cycled and set up to handle the drop of one of your females, and the fry in the separate tank can be brought on to the point where you are able to sell most of them to the LFS. If you get interested in fish genetics, the breeding of fancy platies can be a very good way to test some of your theories. It will take far more than 3 tanks to properly set up a selective breeding program but it can be done and is a great way to learn about genetics from actual experiences. You would definitely want to get a few books on breeding fish and in particular on platy genetics. Platies are a type of fish that has been well studied and their genetics are better understood than many fish, so they make a good first fish to learn with. What you learn with platies can help in the more general field of studying fish genetics.

 

[allie95]

Okay