Sam Livingston

Have 2 Mickey Mouse platies that are practically balloons. Set each in their own breeding box hanging on side of tank. The aquarium has 11 fish, all platies. I have read both advice to put them in breeding boxes and advice to stay away from them since too small for the platies. I have 6 plants in the tank, but they are all skinny plants and not thick enough for babies to hide in, also the fish love to nibble on the plants so obviously the plants wouldn't keep them safe. So for those who have bred platies before, looking for advice on whether I should keep in breeders box, get something else for them, or just let nature go untampered with and let the survival of the fittest take its place. Until I hear differently I'm going to keep the pregnant platies in the breeders box, though hope they have soon because the box is awfully small for them. Also I'm wondering how soon I can expect the babies, the two pregnant platies and a male were just purchased tonight, so have no idea how long were pregnant for. But the two pregnant fish are twice the size of all the platies so I'm guessing will be coming very soon. Any help would be appreciated.

Sam Livingston

The Red Mickey Mouse platy that is pregnant has very light yellowish color on bottom of stomach, normal for pregnant platy? Also still looking for advice on whether to keep in breeders box or let loose into tank, been over 24 hours and still no replies or babies, hate to see her in the breeders box doesn't give her much room to move. Although all my plants are skinny I'm thinking about putting them very close together in one corner of tank and let her give birth in tank, good or bad idea? Like I said they nibble on the plants, but with all 5 stacked together may give the babies some hiding spaces, please reply.

COBettaCouple

if you could get a tank divider for the tank, that would be better than breeder boxes.. when we had ours, we used flat marbles for the substrata, covered the filter intake with netting and put in all the plants we could to give the fry the best chance of hiding. then each morning during the time they'd be dropped we'd take all the stuff out and transfer the babies to a smaller tank.

Radcliffe

I have always just kept the parents and babies in the same tank and not had any eaten, but that varies a lot from fish to fish. What I would probably do is wait till I saw babies in the tank, then put the babies in the breeder box to grow a bit before letting them out with the adults.

--R

Sam Livingston

K thank you both, the tank divider is a good idea, having the babies on the side without the filter won't require filter netting so will probably put them on that side. I'm pretty confident they will get eaten by the other platies if just left in tank with them. Don't have the funds for smaller tank for at the moment. Around how long does it usually take until the babies can mingle with rest of platies in tank?

Sam Livingston

Also is it normal for pregnant platy to not eat? I know after pregnancy hormone is released which causes them not to eat much, but is it normal not to eat during the pregnancy? One more thing should I keep her in breeding box until I get chance to get tank divider or let her into tank with others? (either tomorrow night or monday) Sorry questions keep popping up, if I do put her in the tank for time being would it be best to move a few fish to the other tank, to reduce chance of them eating babies if she happens to give birth while with others? Or will this cause too much stress?

COBettaCouple

once they get big enough to not be thought of as food, the fry can swim with the adults.. that's something that just depends on the rate they grow at.

if she's in the box, she might be too stressed to eat.. any way that you can have her drop fry with as normal an environment but as few other fish will help her.

Sam Livingston

She started eating late last night so that was relief, I'm going to get tank divider, few more plants, and marble rocks tonight to put her in.

COBettaCouple

cool.. if you have a Dollar Tree store, they usually have the bags of flat marbles & can save you some over getting them at a LPS or even walmart's crafts dept.

Sam Livingston

Just went to Jacks Aquarium and picked up tank divider, ton of plants, and marble rocks. I gave her about 20-25% of the tank, so she seems much better with room to move around. Theres over 10 plants in the section so hopefully the babies will be comfortable. Also saw lots of snails and about 6-8 tiny almost microscopical fish that I think best characterize shrimp (they were in curled shape) that came with the plants. Thought about purchasing a 2.5 or 5 Gallon tank that I saw at Jacks for the babies so the adults can have full room in tank back. Is that a good idea and would a filter be necessary for babies in a smaller tank?

COBettaCouple

if you have any snails and/or eggs, get rid of them as fast as possible. those little buggers turn into a plague fast!

a tank of their own for the babies would be good and a sponge filter or HOB filter with the intake covered in netting would be needed. the bigger the better as you potentially could have 100s of fry.

Sam Livingston

I was planning on keeping the snails because their pretty cool; though will take eggs out when see them. Are snails bad for the tank or just nuisance because A-sexual and reproduce fast? I don't know the filters you mentioned, but would a submerged filter work? That came with my last tank but didn't care for it so replaced it with above the tank filter.

COBettaCouple

the snails can and usually are deadly to the fish.. we've had members here lose fish to the snails consuming all resources and covering the fish, suffocating them, eating away at them, etc... and once they infest something, it's a real paint to clean it of snails and eggs.