dancerhas

5 of our Mickey Mouse Platy fry have bent spines. Some worse than others. They also seem to have stunted growth. And our 1 and only Sunburst Platy fry is blind in one eye (we think)...he has one bright healthy looking eye...and one smaller kinda crushed looking one. He gets along fine...it's just sad. I'm wondering if these kind of defects are common...I guess with so much inbreeding going on it'd be hard to avoid. Heidi said maybe it'd be humane to euthanize them, but I can't bring myself to kill an otherwise healthy fish because of physical defects. Our 10G quarantine is now semi-permanently set up as a safe haven for "Special Needs" baby platies.

Amanda

I'm sure over breeding has something to do with it, especially if the stock wasn't great to begin with i.e. from Petsmart/Petco/Wal-Mart etc.

Shawnie

bent spines could be caused by disease, environment(water conditions), genetics or diet ....alot lately have been interbreed so much im wondering if thats whats going on? what do you feed them? I have a betta with a bent spine and he does amazing ....I wouldnt kill them if they seem to be acting normal otherwise..id baby them

ray_sj

I had few bent spines in my first batch of guppies, but not a single one in the second batch (from the same mother).. The mother was carrying the first batch when they got shipped to me, so I wonder if it was travel stress.. If it's genetic, wouldn't I see some in every batch?

My bent spines are also stunted. I just keep them with other 1-2 month old fry.

Nick G

Interbreeding does have a lot to do with it, but sometimes you just get deformities, it just happens. One of my best Platy breeders gave birth last night to 15 perfect, healthy fry, one fry with a horribly bent spine, and one set of conjoined twins.

MizRamzi

Watch out for more in breeding.

Martinismommy

I've experienced the same deformities with my Betta breeding..I have a girl right now with an eye just like you described..I'm a big softy about hanging on to the "special needs" fish...

Jonah

As Plattys are livebearers like Guppys and Mollys when the fry are born they are folded in half! As they drop into the tank they then flip open to their normal shape.

Unfortunately even without inbreeding and other genetic reasons sometime the fish do not always fold out corrrectly and they then end up with bent spines.

They are otherwise normal fish.

I am with MM when it comes to 'Special Needs' fish. I have Zig and Zag in my community tank as if I had taken them to the LFS with the rest of thier spawn I knew they would end up in the feeder tanks so they are living happily as members of our family tank.

They will have shortened lives probably but they seem happy and healthy enough at the moment.

catfishlover123

I couldn't bring myself to killing live, healthy fish either!

dancerhas

She was impregnated at the store...as we have no male Mickey Mouse platy's and the fry are pure MM, So moving may have had something to do with it. Also had one set of conjoined twins. We fed the growing fry Omega One Flakes and Freeze Dried brine shrimp. 8 of them developed just fine...the other 5 didn't. It seems to just be one of those sad realities.