Pregnant Platy

[pascados]

hello my female platty is pregnant and I dont know the first thing about platies or rasing fry

what should I feed them?

should I seperate the fry?

how long will the pregnency last for?

how long will the fry take to grow?

any help would be greatly appricated,
thanx

 

[donna123]

Hi,
your platy will give birth roughly every 4 weeks,
signs of a platy about to give birth are, mainly hiding, being a bit more grumpy than usual, eating more / or less, if you would like to save the fry imo the mum is best to give birth in the main tank, make sure you have lots of hiding places for the fry, plants are ideal, esp if you let some float on the top of your tank, as the new born fry seem to like hanging around in it, then you can scoop them up and in to a breeder net that hangs on the side of your main tank, feed them really fine crushed up flake a small amount 3-4 times a day, as they have little stomachs, then you will have to think about getting a small fry tank, you cant keep them in the net to long esp if you have 10 or more, they take up to 3-4 months before you can tell what sex they will be, depending on what other fish you have if the mum has them in the main tank and you decide not to save any sometimes the odd one will survive. hth all the best donna x

 

[pascados]

thanks so much. The platty just gave birth and there are roughly 5 fry swimming around in the tank.
I added some java moss and the fry semm to like swimming around in it. I just have one more question:
should I seperate the male platty?

 

[xostrawberryox]

Nah that rule doesnt apply that the father will eat them.... anything will eat them, the mother included! They just wanna eat everything!