We Have Babies!!

[i'm _neon_some_help]

Well, I was pleasantly surprised to find that the Platy that I thought was constipated [due to enlarged belly and feces trails] was actually pregnant! I can count 4 babies for sure but I think there are 5 or 6 in all.

I also had a swordtail in the tank and have removed him for fear that he may munch on the new additions.

Are there any SOP’s [standard operating procedures] for fry care?

Also, I have been treating the tank for Ich; the swordtail had contracted the parasite about a month ago. I thought I had it cleared up but about a week later he developed it again. I was told that the tank needed to be treated for the disease, not the fish. Should I continue treating the tank with the vulnerable new babies in there? Will they be negatively affected by the medication? Its Kordon brand “Rid Ich +” Disease Treatment, just so you know.

 

[guppygirl]

Well, the mom might eat the babies, so maybe you can take the mom out. Mods, maybe we could move this to the livebearer's forum?

 

[Tokis-Phoenix]

I would continue treating the tank even with the babies, ich or whitespot only has one visable stage of the parasites 5 growth stages so it can still be in your tank even in there are no visable signs on the fish which is why it has a habit of coming back even after it has supposedly been wiped out- i suggest you continue treatment for at least a week after the visable signs of it have disapeared just to be on the safe side as if you don't wipe it out effectivily and continue treating it and treating it while giving it chances to come back, you may end up with a med resistant strain of the parasite.
Some of the fry may die in the worst scenario, but ich can be lethal to all fish if left untreated so its worth treating the tank with them in there.
I suggest you get a breeding net to put the fry in so they are not eaten by other fish and thus you can keep the adult fish in the tank without them posing a threat to the fry. I suggest you feed the fry "first bites" by Hikari or TetraMinfry and buy some high protein foods for the mother fish like freezedried bloodworms/daphinia/tubifex/krill to help her get some energy back

 

[i'm _neon_some_help]

Thanks for the help. I removed the mom until I was able to get a breeding net.

I purchased the net and the fry food – they’re munching all ready.

Even more of a surprise though; in the attempt to transfer the fry from the main tank to the breeding net I moved everything out of the tank and all of a sudden there was this HUGE swarm of tiny fish. I lost count at 25. So much for thinking I only had 9!

I have a 5 gallon tank – it was a starter tank, I’ve only had it 6 weeks. When thinking I had 9, my plan was to keep them all and upgrade to a 20 gallon when they got too big but what am I going to do with 25 additional fish now?

 

[balasgouramisandlemontetras]

give em 2 ur lfs they generally pay u 2