bbfeckawitts

Hi, I have decided to get platies instead of guppies. I have a few questions.

I want to set up a 10 gal fry tank, does it need a heater?

How do I know when a platy is about to give birth?

Anything else you think I should know?

Thanks, I plan to get 2 females, 1 male.
Brianna

COBettaCouple

Yes, you'll definitely need a heater like http://www.drsfostersmith.com/Produc...&N=2004+113767. We keep the fry at about 80-82.

http://www.fishlore.com/Forum/10-fis...-platys.0.html - here's a post we did on our platys. Check reply #13 and reply #15 for a lot of info that we posted to another fishlore member about setting up the adult tank for fry being dropped and setting up a tank for the fry to live in.

You'll know she's getting close when there are black dots in her stomach and the back end squares off.. but she still could be days from dropping.. they have a tendancy to surprise.

After you read those posts, feel free to ask any more questions you have. Good luck.. it's work and sadly a lot don't make it, but they are adorable, tiny & fun to watch.

Stradius011

Well...I wouldn't keep the temperature that high. The higher the temperature, the faster it'll grow but it will shorten their life span.

COBettaCouple

What we read when we were surprised with fry was that higher temps do increase the life cycle some, but fry need more warmth to help their developing immune systems. A number of sources online suggested 82-84 even just for the fry until they reached 1", but that seemed to high as we keep the adults at the standard 78, so we went with the middle ground of 80-82, mostly 80 but it'll warm up to 82 over 12 hours of tank lights being on until we get the 10w fl. bulbs for the tank. With our fry at first we kept it cooler when they were in the 1.5g since the heater was crap & only kept it 76-78, but they died at a faster rate from sickness since platy frys commonly have a lot of swim bladder problems. Feeding them crushed pea instead of flakes powder for some meals has helped with that too.

bbfeckawitts

Thanks for the response.
How big are the fry when they are first born?

atmmachine816

A few centimeters, able to see them though.

vin

Actually a few millimeters.....

COBettaCouple

How are things going with your platys?

kirk

yer u need a heater i had 3 molly fry in my spare tank without a heater now there all DEAD

bbfeckawitts

They are doing great! Brianna

COBettaCouple

have you posted pics of them? i need to take new pics of ours, they're getting bigger but are still super-cute.