Zoreta

My female red wag platy is pregnant by my male swordtail (who looks like he has some platy in him).

I'm wondering whether it is better to use a breeder box on the main tank or to put her in the tank the fry are to be raised in.

I'm leaning toward using a breeder box, then transferring them afterward (as it will give me some time to get the breeder box more ready), but I'd like to know your opinions.

Emory

Are you wanting to raise the fry? If so I would move her to a breeder box or a soft net nursery. The box will keep her away from the fry and the net nursery will not, so she may eat the fry in the later option. You can then put the fry in an adult-free soft nursery net or their own grow out tank

If you don't want to raise them then just let nature run it's course and leave her out and about. We have recently started doing this because we are slightly overrun with platy and swordtail fry. (freecycle helps get rid of them)

Zoreta

I'm hoping to raise a couple of fry- if more than a couple survive, I have a couple of LFS that may be able to take them.

The only thing is that, at the moment, our grow-out tank isn't quite ready- we planned for it to be ready a little less than a week before her due-date. However, we increased the temperature to treat an ICH infection, and it looks like the increased temperature is making her fry develop more quickly than we planned- her gravid spot's growing.

If we do leave them in the box, how long can we keep them in there? I know water changes become more often, but is there a solid time frame?

Emory

I would leave them in until they are too big to fit into anybody's mouth.

Zoreta

Hokey-doke. Just in case, we also have some baby hide-out plastic plants we're going to float.

Emory

good, good, hiding places are always a plus

Good luck!

ssfwong

My blue platy had 6 fry in the breeder box three weeks ago. I though she was done so I placed her back into the main tank. One week later during my usual weekend water change I found one lonely fry. This was very exciting as only 2 of the original survived. What is fasinating is that the lonely fry found in the main tank was three times the size of the fry in the safe breeder box. I think this is an excellent example of nature. I heard some where in this forum that fry born in an unsafe environment will grow faster as this is one way to survive. This is so true. I ended up setting up a tank divider so I can have all the fry in a bigger environment with live plants to continue to grow. The adults constantly swim by the walls of the divider making the fry feel unsafe. This assist in the inducded growth of the fry.
Good luck with your adventures.

fishlover78

good luck!

oceanrose

I have a platy tank set up with 6 adults and a male betta (yes he's fine with them). Stocked the tank in October, and on Thanksgiving had my first fry spotted. The original 5 are still alive, a 6th was born a bit later, and yesterday I spotted 5 more. I have plant cover in there, including some that is similar to breeding grass and they seem to do great. Matter of fact today, I just separated out 3 of the original fry into another tank to prevent overcrowding. With the cover, I don't see them until they're big enough to not get eaten. I figure the smart ones survive

betta-cat

I stopped using the breeder box, I found the females got too agitated. I would use a divider, or have lots of plant material (fake or otherwise) for the fry. I also turned the lights off more when I felt the females were ready to pop, thinking that this gave the babies a better chance to recover and hide. I have no problem keeping a good number of fry alive.