Miracle Platy Birth In An Unstocked Tank!

[Maehlice]

In a 10-gallon tank which has been cycling but unstocked and unfed for 6 weeks, I just found two Platy fry -- each about 3/4" long!
 
We've named them "Adam" and "Eve".
 
 
Six weeks ago in mid-December, I moved from a 10 gallon tank its last inhabitants -- two Platies (male & female).  All that remained was a small plastic plant and a thin layer of pea-sized aquarium gravel.
 
I left the heater and pump on but turned out the light.  Only once about 2-3 weeks ago have I even touched the tank.  I dropped a small handful (maybe 1 tbsp) of fish flakes and pellets just to have decaying matter in it for the nitrogen cycle.
 
The tank is on a ledge near our front door, so we walk by it every day.  We don't really pay a lot of attention to it, but we walk by it, nevertheless.
 
Well, my wife paid attention to it today and saw two small fish swimming it.  She came back to my office ready to lay into me for stocking it again, but I assured her I've done no such thing.
 
 
It's some sort of a miracle to me.  How is this possible?  The fry obviously escaped our eyes for this long, but how on earth have they survived in a tank with no appreciable food source?  Has anybody experienced anything like this?  Can anybody explain how this is most plausible, because so far, I think it's nigh to impossible.
 
EDIT - At what point can I move these platies into the main aquarium?  It's lightly planted with a few decorations and stocked with Tiger Barbs, a Pleco, two Bolivian Rams, & a red crawfish.
 

 
(Sorry for the poor image quality.  It's the best I could get with my cell phone.)

 

[jocie1976]

This was the tank that your other platies were in? If so, they were probably hiding in the fake plant. As for food, they will pick off any algae they could find on the plant and the gravel. Also the food that you had put in would have helped. If you want to move them to the other tank, I would wait until they are too big to fit in any of the other fishes mouths. Just keep them there for now, they are probably helping with the cycle.

Congrats on being surprise fishy parents!

 

[PrairieSunflower]

Poor fishies, rough start to life! (Obviously not your intention at all).

Platy fry are awesome hiders. I'd blame the plant. They probably were newborn when you moved the plant and resting on it somewhere.

Where are you with your cycle and what are your water stats? If it were me, and your tank isn't stable yet (despite they are survivors obviously), I would move them to the other tank (even if only in a breeder net)... surely that would be better all around for them.

 

[snazy]

Yeah, platy fry hide really well. There might have been more but died. They are quite small for 6 weeks old platy so I'd move them to a cycled tank, breeder box if you have to with some plants not to stress them and feed them well from now on and maybe in a couple of weeks they'll be big enough to put in the main tank. Even now they are quite capable of surviving at that size but not sure with your current stock.

 

[Maehlice]

Also the food that you had put in would have helped ... Congrats on being surprise fishy parents!

 
Thanks!  It was a great way to start the weekend.
 
I'm starting to think they just barely existed without growing until 2-3 weeks ago when I dumped all that food in there.
 
 

Poor fishies, rough start to life! (Obviously not your intention at all).

Where are you with your cycle and what are your water stats? If it were me, and your tank isn't stable yet (despite they are survivors obviously), I would move them to the other tank (even if only in a breeder net)... surely that would be better all around for them.

 
 
The 10g tank's cycle is "well established".  The filter media and gravel was in a cycled 3g tank since Feb 2012.  In Late summer, I moved its contents to the 10g tank.  Then in December, I felt bad [again] for them not having more space & tankmates and so moved them to the larger aquarium.
 
I stopped measuring the levels on the 10g tank until just yesterday.  The alkalinity was high (it always is for me), but its NH3, NO2 & NO3 levels were all moderate (high side of 'safe' -- low side of 'do a water change'.).  Due to evaporation, I had lost almost 3 gallons, so I refilled it this morning and now have perfectly safe levels again.
 
I'm nervous to move them at all.  They've somehow managed to survive, so I'm afraid doing anything other than resuming water changes and feeding might do more harm than good.
 

They are quite small for 6 weeks old platy ...

 
How big should they be for 6 weeks old?  Under better conditions, how old would a fry that size normally be?

 

[PrairieSunflower]

Mine turned 1 month old on the 22nd and are really close to 2cm in length including their tails.

 

[Maehlice]

Oh dear.  Those poor fish of mine.

 

[snazy]

How big should they be for 6 weeks old? Under better conditions, how old would a fry that size normally be?

 
The picture you provided could be deceiving but mine would be looking like that at around 2-4 weeks max.  I've got 8 week old fry at the moment and some are around 3cm from what I can measure. Here are a couple of very poor pictures I just took. You can see the size in comparison to my adult female guppy. She's not the biggest because she's half endler/half guppy.