I'm So Excited :d

[Akasha72]

Mummy platy was huge late last night and after watching her for a few minutes I noticed her bottom was swollen and she was isolating herself. I decided to be brave and try and catch her and trap her. She was fairly easy to catch and wasn't stressed in the trap this time so I turned out the lights and left her to it ...


Woken up to about a dozen platy fry in the trap



Mum is now back in the tank with the rest and I'll head down to P@H in a bit and get some liquifry.

I'm soooo excited!!


One question, mummy platy has also left behind rather a lot of poo in the trap aswell. Is it best to leave it or should I try and get it out?

 

[snake007]

Congratulations And I think it would probably be best to remove it.

 

[micko]

It shouldn't be a problem if its left in.

 

[snake007]

Yes it should be fine but if you dont like looking at it then you should remove it, Its could possibly but unlikely contaminate the water in there.

 

[Akasha72]

I managed to get a bit of it out but the fry are so tiny it's difficult to tell the difference between fry and poo lol

I've now got a breeding net around the breeding trap as I know from experience that the fry can get through the trap slots. It's also helping them to be left in peace cos all the other fish were crowding round the trap and trying to get into it. Now they can't see little moving fish they're ignoring it.

I'm still a bit bouncy ... my first babies to survive

 

[eaglesaquarium]

You would be better off to put them into a fry tank (with a sponge filter like one of these that just get attached to an air pump:

I've never heard of anyone successfully raising fry in a breeding net or trap. Generally, there just isn't enough circulation in there.

 

[This Old Spouse]

You would be better off to put them into a fry tank (with a sponge filter like one of these that just get attached to an air pump:

I've never heard of anyone successfully raising fry in a breeding net or trap. Generally, there just isn't enough circulation in there.

+1

And while I was breeding guppies, I tried several different methods of birthing them, and the best was to leave the mother in the main tank, then retrieve the fry with a turkey baster. Then again, males and females were in separate tanks so the males weren't harassing the females.

 

[snake007]

I started my molly fry off in a breeding net, they never grew, when I put them into a 5 gallon fry tank, they reached an inch in no time!

 

[Akasha72]

I'm regretting getting rid of my old 26 litre tank - it would've been perfect for the fry. I'll have to ask my neighbour if he's using it

 

[This Old Spouse]

+1

Fry are always better off in their own tank!

 

[Akasha72]

looking round my flat though, I just don't know where I would put another tank!

 

[N0body Of The Goat]

I've never heard of anyone successfully raising fry in a breeding net or trap. Generally, there just isn't enough circulation in there.

I had mixed results with raising fry in a hang-on ~8x5 breeding net in summer 2010, managed to raise five Pearl Danios out of ~8 rescued from the tank, a few months later raising one Golden Wonder Killifish from three rescued (these fry were quite aggressive to each, just like adult males are). It was tricky to find a balance between flow circulation from the tank filter and not blowing the fry too much, while the netting quickly became mucky.

On the other hand, I now have ~30 Lionhead Cichlid fry that have had free reign of the Rio240 for three weeks or so, only known death was a single predation by my male Humphead Glassfish who sadly got killed by the psychotic parents. Now the fry are already nearly 1" long (incredible growth rate), I'm considering removing the parents in the next week or two and introducing the youngsters to some friendly tankmates.

 

[eaglesaquarium]

Fry are the curse of livebearers. If you have livebearers of mixed genders, expect fry and LOTS of them. You really have two options at this point.

Option 1: Find a space for the spare tank, and start talking to folks at your LFS about whether or not they will take the fry off your hands when they reach a certain size. If they will give you store credit, GREAT. If not, at least they might take them. If you don't like them, then start to talking to ALL your friends and see if any of them will take some. (Only give them away in SAME sex groups. Otherwise your friends will have the exact same problem that you have.)

Option 2: (and this one may sound a bit harsh) Just leave the fry in your main tank and allow nature to take its course. A few may survive to adult hood. This method helps you not to have to worry about being overrun. The levels will generally find an equilibrium, because as the number of fish in your tank goes up, the number of mouths looking for a meal increases, which decreases the chance that a little fry can hide until its big enough not to be eaten.

 

[Akasha72]

I've had lots of platy and guppy fry over the last few months (all born in the tank) but none have survived. The platy fry born last night were born in a plastic trap. Mum has been removed and a breeding net has been put around the plastic trap so any fry that try to escape won't get eaten.
My lfs have already told me they will take any fry that I don't want or have room for.

Once these fry are large enough not to get eaten they will be set free into the tank and then once they have decided their sex I'll take the ones unwanted to said lfs.

Life isn't always perfect, we don't all have bags of money to go out and buy a whole new set up to house a dozen newly born fry. Even if I saw my neighbour and he offered to give me back my old 26 litre I'd still have to buy a heater. Then I'd have to find somewhere to put it in a flat with a serious lack of electric sockets and strong enough surfices to take a 26 litre tank.

Please can you all stop telling me I need to do this and that (all expensive and unfeasable in my situation). My Dad kept tropical fish for years and I took over his guppy tank at the age of 14. Plenty of guppy fry were born in a trap and survived to adulthood just fine.

I only posted cos I thought someone would be interested. Yet again I'm left feeling like I've had my legs slapped and wishing I'd kept my mouth well and truely shut *sigh* I'm done

 

[snake007]

Hmm well I did not say you have to, I just said what happened to my fry, I understand where your coming from and Ive had that happened to me to.
They will be fine in the trap, If I lived closer to you I would of donated my 5g to you with a heater and filter