My Locas Fish Shop Says I'll Have 100's Of Fish If I Save Fry&

[jaimeg]

Last night I went to by a breeding trap for my pregnant dwarf platy. The man at the shop (PetSmart) said that a platy can have 30-70 fry every 28 days and that I would have 100's of fish if I saved the fry. Is this right? I only have one 10 US gallon tank and don't have the means to have more. Right now I have the pregnant fish and 2 fry in the breeding tank. I have sevearl questions...
1. how long to keep her in there once she has started to have fry. I can still see black gravid spots.
2. What do I do with the fry? Just let the other fish eat them up? The guy at the shop suggested I get a couple ghost shrimp for " birth control!" I don't think I'm up for having a bunch of baby fish, just to let them get eaten all the time. (this tank is in my 6-year-old son's room and I think that would be disturbing to him).
3. Why haven't I heard of this before. I've met tons of people with tropical tanks, and noone ever mentioned having problems with baby fish...I assumed it must be hard to breed fish if you don't know what you're doing (like me!!). The pet store sure didn't tell me...until last night when I went to get a breeding tank!
4. I was also told the the females could go on to have 2-3 pregnancies even if I get rid of the male platy because of retained fertility. ...then I have the concerns of male fry...ugh! I'm thinking of trying to trade the male platy for a (non-pregnant) female at the store and hope for the best.

What do others with one small, tropical tank do???

Thanks,
Jay

 

[Miss Wiggle]

Last night I went to by a breeding trap for my pregnant dwarf platy. The man at the shop (PetSmart) said that a platy can have 30-70 fry every 28 days and that I would have 100's of fish if I saved the fry. Is this right? I only have one 10 US gallon tank and don't have the means to have more. Right now I have the pregnant fish and 2 fry in the breeding tank. I have sevearl questions...
1. how long to keep her in there once she has started to have fry. I can still see black gravid spots.
2. What do I do with the fry? Just let the other fish eat them up? The guy at the shop suggested I get a couple ghost shrimp for " birth control!" I don't think I'm up for having a bunch of baby fish, just to let them get eaten all the time. (this tank is in my 6-year-old son's room and I think that would be disturbing to him).
3. Why haven't I heard of this before. I've met tons of people with tropical tanks, and noone ever mentioned having problems with baby fish...I assumed it must be hard to breed fish if you don't know what you're doing (like me!!). The pet store sure didn't tell me...until last night when I went to get a breeding tank!
4. I was also told the the females could go on to have 2-3 pregnancies even if I get rid of the male platy because of retained fertility. ...then I have the concerns of male fry...ugh! I'm thinking of trying to trade the male platy for a (non-pregnant) female at the store and hope for the best.

What do others with one small, tropical tank do???

Thanks,
Jay

sounds like the guy at the fish store was pretty much spot on i'm afraid.

livebearers like platys can have loads of fry.

it's really up to you what to do, some people will keep the babies, grow them on and sell them back to the store, but you'd need a bigger tank for this and it wouldn't get you much money. some people use the fry as food for larger fish, some will leave it up to nature and let the other fish in the tank to eat them, a few will survive but not many.

unfortunately being overrun with fry is one of the main problems with livebearers. if you just have females and let all the fry get eaten she will only be pregnant 3/4 times at most and then will stop as there's no males to make her pregnant/ or you could just swap her for a male and take all the hassle out of it.

 

[jaimeg]

I have 2 females and 1 male (as suggested by the pet shop at purchase time...no mention of being overrun by fry !). Any ideas how 3 male would do together with no females? Would they fight? I don't really think I'm up for babies again. If the males wouldn't fight, I'd just have three of them and call it a day!

 

[Miss Wiggle]

I have 2 females and 1 male (as suggested by the pet shop at purchase time...no mention of being overrun by fry !). Any ideas how 3 male would do together with no females? Would they fight? I don't really think I'm up for babies again. If the males wouldn't fight, I'd just have three of them and call it a day!

you should be OK, there may be some agression but i don't think enough to make you worry over it. just make sure there's plenty of hiding places so they can get away if need be.

 

[Annastasia]

1. how long to keep her in there once she has started to have fry. I can still see black gravid spots.

If you're talking about an actual seperate tank, then she could stay in there for a bit. If it's a breeder trap or net, I would take her out now. You don't want her to get too stressed.


2. What do I do with the fry? Just let the other fish eat them up? The guy at the shop suggested I get a couple ghost shrimp for " birth control!" I don't think I'm up for having a bunch of baby fish, just to let them get eaten all the time. (this tank is in my 6-year-old son's room and I think that would be disturbing to him).

Survival of the fittest is one option. You could get a seperate fry tank, and grow them up, then possibly give them away or sell them. But you could easily get overrun with them in the time being. Livebearers are hard, they just have SO many fry!

3. Why haven't I heard of this before. I've met tons of people with tropical tanks, and noone ever mentioned having problems with baby fish...I assumed it must be hard to breed fish if you don't know what you're doing (like me!!). The pet store sure didn't tell me...until last night when I went to get a breeding tank!

Well, most tropical fish are harder to breed than Livebearers. Livebearers will breed every minute of every day, given the chance. And unfortunatly, most LFSs are not the best. I wouldn't get all of my information from them, it's always good to double check in a book or two, or on a few websites.

4. I was also told the the females could go on to have 2-3 pregnancies even if I get rid of the male platy because of retained fertility. ...then I have the concerns of male fry...ugh! I'm thinking of trying to trade the male platy for a (non-pregnant) female at the store and hope for the best.

It's pretty hard to get an un-pregnant female Platy. You could try your best, but be aware...it's unlikely. And yes, the females can have up to 6 pregnancies without a male present.



So, your options.... survival of the fittest,take the Platies back, possibly get all males, or all females (Though you'd need a place for the fry), or you could go for a bigger tank, with room for fry.

Also, we have some FAQs on Livebearers, if you'd like to read them.

Livebearer FAQs