Omg! Awesome Luck!

[boost-67]

ok so... i got 2 blue mickey mouse platys today. i wanted 1 male and 1 female and after getting home i realized that they gave me 2 males. i had some things i needed to do around the house, so after a few hours i called the store and told them and said bring one back and they would exchange for a female. i went to the store and got the female and was gonna get a few other things but they didn't have them so i went across town to the other lps and got what i needed and headed home. much to my suprise when i went to acclimate the female to my tanks temps...... (deep breath) SHE HAD BABIES IN THE BAG!!!!!!!!! OMG!!!!!! these are my first fry! i have 4 preggers females and im hoping there will be some hormones or something in the water now that will make them finally pop to but anywho...... pix time

mama

babies

theres 10 in all.

 

[PaBucsFan]

Congrats! Hopefully you are ready for all the young fry! I am waiting on 2 females to pop myself.

 

[boost-67]

am i correct in thinking that there will be any hormones or whatever that might make the others pop? or is that just wishful thinking?

 

[PaBucsFan]

I cannot confirm or deny hormones or pheromones that release during birth that cause others to give birth. If you raise the temp in your tank to 80F it could encourage them as well as a diverse diet such as high quality flakes, frozen live food(thaw it obviously), and algae wafers (about 1/4 or 1/2) twice a week. When livebearers are about to give birth they do release a pheromone that causes males to want to chase the female because the pheromone tells them food is coming (again I was told this happens)!

 

[danny_sims]

dont men to be rude but is that not too much food in the breeder tank? (and too large)

 

[PaBucsFan]

It is a little to much. If you have a bakers pin put some flakes in a plastic bag and grind them into a fine powder. The fry will have an easier time eating the powdered flakes. You can feed the fry powdered flake food 3-4 times a day.

 

[fluvial]

Well at least you know that this one was definitely a Female !!!

 

[OldMan47]

The fish in your first picture are both females Boost-67. It sounds like you have managed to get a drop from your females but, looking at your fry picture, you have had a female drop early due to the stress of being moved. Those fry can survive but will be a bit more delicate than typical fry because of being born too early. From what we know, the water chemistry will not induce other females to drop fry. Instead there is some evidence that the fry themselves can produce a substance, often thought to be a hormone, that will reduce the growth rate of their fellow fry. It is the reason that many experienced livebearer keepers will do frequent water changes, far more often than indicated by the build up of easily measured bio-chemicals. The idea is to let the fry grow as fast as they can, and it seems to work regardless of the real reason for it working. Call it an empirical relationship if you wish, since we have no real world research to quote on the subject.

 

[boost-67]

ok that makes sense and btw the 2nd fish in the first pic is a reflection off the glass lol

 

[PaBucsFan]

Wow! I cannot believe I didn't see the reflection!

 

[boost-67]

just a little update its been 48 hours and i've lost 3 of the 10 fry. the remaining 7 are doing swingly ( ba dum tis! sorry could help it...)

 

[PaBucsFan]

They look good! I did not realize they were premature as I am still new to breeding as well but they seem pretty healthy. Did you crush up some flakes for them to eat?

 

[boost-67]

yup sure did, i had a bottle that was almost empty so i crushed it all up and thats theirs bottle now lol

 

[lilfishie]

great pictures i know how hard it is to catch fry, they look nice and healthy now too, congrats

 

[Kerri Gronow]

Congrats they look great!!