Platy Fry Help

[nikkitimp]

My black platy has given birth this evening. Having about 20 live fry. When she had finished my red platy went into labour.
I now have about 50 fry in total.

They are in a breeder net attached to the inside of the tank. With a few pebbles at the bottom for them
to hide in.

A few were dead at birth, or so I think.
There are a lot laying at the bottom of the net, is this normal?

The dead ones, do I need to remove them immediately? dotIng really want to disturb the live ones as they have just been born.
Is there any chance that they just look
dead?

When do I start to feed them? And what do
I feed them?

Any other advice would be appreciated as I am
new to this and very nervous as I want them
to survive!!

 

[OldMan47]

You should indeed remove most of the dead fry NikkiYimp. Dead fry in a breeder net are little more than an invitation to an ammonia build up.
You feed your new livebearers from the very first day.

 

[Jamepsss]

My platy's dropped 20+ fry on Tuesday. These are my first livebearer fry having previously raised a few corries to adulthood.

I've put them in a small plastic tank with a sponge filter, layer of sand and a couple of pebbles. I'm changing 50% of the water per day and feeding them 3 tiny amounts per day with baby brine shrimp and Tetramin Baby. No deaths so far and they seem to be eating well. They did lie on the bottom for a while for the first couple of hours but all swimming around now.

Oldman47, can I ask if you think they'll be ok at room temperature or will I need a heater? (Particularly in a few weeks when it gets colder). Thanks.

 

[helterskelter]

I've put them in a small plastic tank with a sponge filter, layer of sand and a couple of pebbles. I'm changing 50% of the water per day and feeding them 3 tiny amounts per day with baby brine shrimp and Tetramin Baby. No deaths so far and they seem to be eating well. They did lie on the bottom for a while for the first couple of hours but all swimming around now.

Good advice James, if the fry so lay around it may coz their born early, you can tell by looking at the belly of the fry, if it look very plump then they hae not yet absorbed their egg yolk fully and these fish will not feed anyhow, so don't feed these until the absorbed and the fry is swimming. However baby brine shrimp is good to get fry going as fry seeing something moving triggers their instinct to start feeding, if their too slow.

Oldman47, can I ask if you think they'll be ok at room temperature or will I need a heater? (Particularly in a few weeks when it gets colder). Thanks.

I keep mine at room temp in the UK
average temp indoor's in 72-75f and water is around 71f most of the time.

I got centeral heating but the water goes down to 65f or so in the winter here and their all fine. They just grow much slower and tend not to breed when it's cool.

 

[nikkitimp]

Thanks everyone for the help.

My fry are all swimming around now! Only a few deaths. And i am still finding little survivors who are happily swimming around with the other fish - however as soon as i spy one i scoop it into the breeding net for safety.
I am currently feeding the fry crushed up flakes as I havnt had the chance to get some baby brine shrimp.

Any tips on how I clear the bottom of the breeder net effectively? As there is a bit of uneaten food in there.

They are currently in a breeding net but i have just bought a new bigger tank and so am doing a fishless cycle on that and as soon as it is ok i will transfer the fish into that and then let the fry out of the breeder net and they can have the old tank to themselves.

The tank I bought has been used, the person i bought it from had only just took the water out and hadnt cleaned out the filter system so the water levels are almost perfect already, so it shouldnt be long before i can move everyone over. I am checking the water levels in the new tank daily.

 

[helterskelter]

Any tips on how I clear the bottom of the breeder net effectively? As there is a bit of uneaten food in there.

Simpley get a good length of air line, suck on one end to start a slow syphon running and hover out the wast food.

Good luck with them and the new tank.

 

[OldMan47]

As HS said, an air line siphon can be used to to remove any uneaten food or similar debris from the breeding tank's breeding net. I personally find such subjects less than useful but each of us has our own way of doing things. In my own world I find things like present chemical levels far more relevant in most circumstances. The idea that each breeding colony requires personal attention is being played out in my Betta simplex tank where typical values for a Betta genus are almost meaningless. Each species of Betta has its own tolerance to various chemical poisons, so it is treated as if no other Betta genus fish exists. On the other hand, common and even not quite as common livebearers are well known. That means that each has well defined tolerances to many contaminants. A common or even not quite as common livebearer will only tolerate as much as 0.25 ppm of ammonia or nitrite in its environment. Ultimately that limits the concentration of either contaminant that you can tolerate in your tank.