I've Had Fish (Platies) For 1 Week, Now One's Having Fry!

[cjeanean]

Kinda panicking a bit right now.....
 
Okay, so I got my daughter some fish for her birthday last weekend. This is something new; I haven't had fish since I was 3 (very faint memory triggered by the smell of fish food...but I digress).
 
We have a 3 gallon tank with a nice sized filter, and we have a sunburst platy, a red wag, and a mickey mouse. All females.
 
I go in there to stare at them (yes, I'm fascinated), and there's a tiny pair of eyeballs watching me from atop the water heater!!! I'm like, no, it's just 2 little airbubbles stuck to where the cord enters the heater....so I stick the net in there, and the "airbubbles" dart DOWN and away!! I scream, everyone comes running, and I have 4 other witnesses confirm that I am not hallucinating.
 
Great, so what now??? I count at least 4 of them, and I think a few of them may have been eaten. Everything I've read talks about breeding nets, breeding tanks, various degrees of isolation, etc., but I have NONE of these things, nor do I have the option of doing them! Not to mention what I'm supposed to do with the ones that have already been born...the only fathomable way to catch them that I can think of would involve slowly pouring the tank water through the tiny little net I have to strain them out.
 
Please help. What do I do??? I don't want them to get eaten, but I have no way of isolating them from the others. Oh, and there's also the tiny little problem of not knowing which fish they came from! The only distinguishing feature they have is a tiny black vertical stripe on their tails. They're transparent, so I can't tell anything else. And I've tried getting a pic, which didn't work. None of the adult fish look knocked up, except for the red wag, but only slightly, and the fry don't look red. I don't know!
 
What do I do??? I just want them to survive until I can call the LFS (I think that means "local fish store" but I'm not sure. If it doesn't, I meant local fish store) and hope that the evil fish lady that sold ME, a self-proclaimed fish ignoramus, a pregnant platy will take them.
 
How long does it take for a platy to finish giving birth? Hours? Days?
 
Thanks!!
 
P.S. I apologize for the erratic incoherence of this post (if it is, in fact, erratic and/or incoherent) but it's midnight and I don't think bedtime is gonna happen anytime soon....

 

[TallTree01]

Have you cycled your tank? If not look at the cycling section here: http/www.fishforums.net/index.php?/topic/277264-beginners-resource-center/ .
Sorry but platies are far too active and big for a 3 gallon. I urge you to consider upgrading to a 15 gallon tank.
Platy fry are easy enough to take care of. They will eat what the adults eat. The chances are that some of them will get eaten. If you want some to survive you should separate them from the adults.

 

[Blondielovesfish]

Platies are way too big for a 3 gallon, you would need a 15 gal at least and if you can, go bigger. If you can't upgrade then you should try to rehome the fish.

 

[Mamashack]

I agree - platies need much more room than 3 gallons. It is what's considered a nano tank and you have very limited options of stocking it. My platies are in a 60L (15UKGallon) The only thing a 3 gallon tank is ok for is maybe a few shrimp - even a sole betta (Siamese fighter) would be struggling in a tank that size.
Re the fry, they will get eaten by the others. They do that naturally according to how much room there is and the water quality which would need considerable attention in a tank that size. You'll need to be doing daily water changes forever if you keep them as they are. Any surviving fry would add to the waste produced (bio-load).
There's a very good thread in here about stocking suggestions for nano-tanks. I'll link the thread shortly.
 
EDIT: http/www.fishforums.net/index.php?/topic/418749-nano-fish/

 

[daizeUK]

The fry are red wagtail (you can tell by the black stripe on the tail).  If you want them to survive then your tank should have some plants or java moss for them to hide in.  But I agree with the others about tank size, the adults won't be happy there.

 

[Meeresstille]

What I would recommend for you to do is take the adult fish out and put them in a bigger tank. The baby platy can grow out in the 3 gallon until they're big enough not to be eaten by the adults anymore and join them (or you can sell them, give them, back to the store).
 
If you don't want any platy fry (babies) only stock your 15 gallon with same sex platy. Remember though that female platy can hold sperm inside their bodies and produce fry up to 6 months after having had contact with a male!
 
The LFS should never have sold you those platies for your 3 gallon tank, and should take them back if you don't want to keep them.
 
Edited to add: It would be best to take the platy back, get a bigger tank and do a fish-less cycling while you decide on what fish to stock the new tank with! You will have lots of time to plan the lay out of the tank and how you would like to decorate it!