Hi all, I have posted a pic of one of my tank. My platy has delivered 3 times and only 2 fry have made it..I know aome won't make it but I would have thought more than 2 would have. I thought I have many different places for the fry to go but apparently they haven't found them..Any suggestions would be appreciated..Thanks
Would you have a smaller tank, like a 10g for the platys to live in until your pregnant one is done dropping fry? Or maybe a tank divider to make a platy area? A seperate 10g would make a "fry search" easier - those little girls can hide really well and the less fish around to eat the fry, the better.
Either way, what we've done for our pregnant Twin Goldbar is taken the area around the heater and planted it as thick as we can with the tall fake plants. The rest of the tank is pretty open and I think this encourages Daisy to go into the 'forest' to drop her fry. The closeness of the plants also makes it hard for the other platys to get into the forest and go after the fry. We've covered the filter intake with netting from a fish net, using a rubber band to secure it in place so no fry get sucked into the filter. Right now we have the platy tank done with gravel because of an upcoming trip, but usually we have those flat marbles instead of gravel in their tank. They make for more tank cleaning (food & poop slide down to the bottom easy), but they also give fry a great place to immediately hide in the many gaps in the marbles.
When she's started dropping (actually when we think she's started), each day i'll carefully take out the tank decor and the marbles (putting them in a cup in the tank until it's full, then dumping them into a big bowl).. keeping an eye out for fry.. Usually, we'll remove the adult platy to a big bowl but if you had a divided platy area in your big tank, they could go on the other side of the divider even. It's amazing, even when EVERYTHING is out, fry still magically appear after i think i've found them all. It's a little more work, but we found 18 fry last time as opposed to 8 the first time.. and they're said to have less each time than the time before so we must've lost a LOT the 1st batch. We'll also take the opportunity to clean the tank, watching for fry as we do, before putting everything back.
After finding the day's fry, we'll acclimate them to the 10g nursery tank then let them in to swim with the rest of the fry.
Those are some very good ideas. My problem is catching Mama in the big tank. I tried to do it 2-3 times but to many plants. The one time I did catch her I had to take everything out of the tank to do it. If you don't net her on the first try then game-over with a planted tank. I have a ten gallon for the fry (12 in there now)...And you are right..The one time I caught the mama and put her in the 10-gal I had thought she had eaten the fry..About a week later I looked in there and 15 sets of eyes were staring back at me...Amazing..But thanks for your ideas...
Those are some very good ideas. My problem is catching Mama in the big tank. I tried to do it 2-3 times but to many plants. The one time I did catch her I had to take everything out of the tank to do it. If you don't net her on the first try then game-over with a planted tank. I have a ten gallon for the fry (12 in there now)...And you are right..The one time I caught the mama and put her in the 10-gal I had thought she had eaten the fry..About a week later I looked in there and 15 sets of eyes were staring back at me...Amazing..But thanks for your ideas...
You're welcome.. we're still learning each batch of fry - we've only had fish since jan. and didn't expect to be having fry but a tankmate of Daisy at the store had other ideas. I hope they help some with you coming up with a good plan for your setup there to get as many fry as you can.
Have you tried using her stomach to set her up to be caught? a little of her favorite food out in an open spot & our Daisy's caught, often along with 1 or 2 of the other platys. we also have a set of long wooden kitchen spoons we got just for the tanks and 1 of those helps us gently move the plants and flush Daisy out of the plants & into the open - the spoon also helps us flush out hiding fry. Good luck with your platy & the plan you come up with for her and the fry.. we'd love to see pics of them sometime - red wags are beautiful platies.
I have tried everything from baitin' her to chasin' her with no luck. Like I said earlier I get one good chance at her. After that she knows whats up. I'm gonna try the wooden spoon trick...good idea..What part of Flordia are you living...I lived in Ft Walton Beach for about 10 years ('74-'83). Red wags are nice..I am not up on all the names for them but I got 1 (the one I can't catch) That has a Yellow body with red tail. It has no other patches of color and is the best colored platy I've seen so far.
I have tried everything from baitin' her to chasin' her with no luck. Like I said earlier I get one good chance at her. After that she knows whats up. I'm gonna try the wooden spoon trick...good idea..What part of Flordia are you living...I lived in Ft Walton Beach for about 10 years ('74-'83). Red wags are nice..I am not up on all the names for them but I got 1 (the one I can't catch) That has a Yellow body with red tail. It has no other patches of color and is the best colored platy I've seen so far.
That is some nice coloring there.. If you can catch her, we'd love to see pics.. Platys are fun fish, but they really are smart about being caught and awfully slippery & sounds like you've got a real smart platy there. We live in St. Auggie, where I grew up.
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I hope they help some with you coming up with a good plan for your setup there to get as many fry as you can.
