Platy Fry

[ladynaoko]

Just now my brother said one of the things that people tend to dread - "have you checked on your fish recently?"

The way he said it I thought a load of my fish had died so I zoomed upstairs....to find the bottom of my tank full of little black platy fry peeping out at me. There was much rejoicing

Now then...what should I feed these lil guys exactly?

I've never kept fry before so is there anything special I need to do?

 

[babyfish]

Depending on what else you have in the tank the fry should be safe with the adults after about 48 hours if you leave them in the tank, if it's well planted they will have lots of hiding places.
You can feed them on crushed flake and small live foods

 

[ladynaoko]

well when I got home from college today I couldn't find any fry.
I think the other fish might have eaten them

 

[jlschock]

You may have a fry or two in the tank still. They love to hide. If you want fry, in about 28 days, seperate the females from the males for a day or so and watch for fry. They will have fry every four weeks. The more plants you have the more places the fry will have to hide. The next time you see fry, seperate them. I have my fry in a 2.5 gallon tank with an air stone. I use a teaspoon to catch the fry since i can't find them in the net. I think platy females eat their fry to protect them if there is a male or other threat around.

 

[tuffers]

oh dear what fish do you have? i hpe that when my platy's get big enought they breed

 

[jlschock]

I only have platies

 

[ladynaoko]

I only have female platies since my tank is relatively new so I didn't want a breeding boom in the first few weeks.

But since more of them may be pregnant, plus the fact that they hold the males sperm I'll prolly have more fry in the near future. Gotta get me a lil fry tank.

As for the other tank residents...my pleco's currently in with them (I'm borrowing a neighbours tank to store them all for a week or two before transferring them to the 21.5 G)

 

[DanioMan]

I have just set up my new 55 Gal tank, and had added a few Red Wag Platies to get things going. To my surprise, they have given birth within the first week or so despite tank conditions. Man these fish are hearty!

I have gathered only about 15 fry out of the tank to a separate goldfish bowl that I had and put an airstone in with them. I hope this is sufficient. I also have crushed up some flakefood for them. I continue to scoop the little ones out as I see them poke up from in and around the substrate. Are they ok in the substrate? I worry that they will grow and get stuck!

DanioMan
Like a 55 Gallon Can!

 

[duendecillo]

I may have overdone it this time, I've bought a 15g, just for livebearer fry only...
But I guess it will be crawling with them very soon (now about 20 fry in there)
Just one question though... are the bigger fry gonna eat the smaller ones?