Platy Fry?

[HasGills]

Today I did my usual weekly water change and tank clean up. I also decided to rearrange some of the drift wood and rocks..

An 1hr or so after doing the clean up..etc I decided i would site down and observe my handy work..
Out of the corner of my eye I notices some substrate move in multiple directions.. hangon a minute substrate doesnt move not like that any way.. Closer inspection I was excited to find it is a tiny platy fry about 3 mm long.. Basically looks like a sperm. I did some further looking and discovered 2 more hiding at the base of some of my plants...

I decided to probe further and wow... I found 3 more fry about 3 times the size (almost 1cm) of the ones i just spotted hiding in amongst my dense water sprite..

Im curious as to how long these guys have been swimming around.. especially the bigger ones.. Would they all have been born together? or is it more likely the large fry have been around for a while and i just havent noticed them?

 

[Betta5]

congrats, i to found a fry out of the blue. He/she was swimming around with the adult fish so now i have him in a net but hes all alone. im gonna dig around to see if hes got any brothers and sisters.

 

[donna123]

hi,
i would say they are from a batch born before them.

 

[theotheragentm]

I found the opposite. I found fry and raised them larger and then I found smaller fry, I think from the same batch. If you don't catch them and they don't get fed, they may not grow as fast. Conversely, if you don't catch them, but they're eating well, they could grow larger and faster than the original fry.

 

[HasGills]

Hmm.. Im not catching them... Ive decided to let nature take its course , natural selection is alive and kicking in my tank.. No safety nets for my fry.. There are heaps of plants to hide in and so far they are doing a great job of avoid one particular female platy which appears to spend most of its day trying to chase them done for a snack.. The other fish dont seem to interested unless the fry happen to dart into the path of the others..

By the looks of one of the other females ill have more fry soon.. So I figure I should get at least 1 or 2 surviving which is fine as I dont want 50 platys in my tank..

 

[donna123]

Hi,
i do the same thing, i get at least 1-2 per mum a month,
im happy with that as i have 8 mums .

 

[Betta5]

How is it natural if the fish are in a glass box. In the wild they would be able to get away from the adults and have millions of places to swim away. Its like putting you in a lion enclosure with a few trees evenually you will die

 

[donna123]

How is it natural if the fish are in a glass box. In the wild they would be able to get away from the adults and have millions of places to swim away. Its like putting you in a lion enclosure with a few trees evenually you will die

hi,
my tank is 5 foot long and hold 260ltrs and has lots of plants and places to hide,
the fittest survive, i think they stand a good chance, with 8 mums i could not home 200+ fry every month .

 

[Betta5]

Thats what i say the fittest survive then you dont have to cull sick/deformed babies. I was just saying in the wild the parents would be long gone and the babies would have a chance.