Dervish100

Hi all. I bought 3 sunset platys about a week and a half ago. 1 male and 2 females. They seem happy in the tank, they like to swim against the bubble current at the top of the tank. I know platys are supposed to be easy to breed, yet I am not noticing any breeding behavior. They hang out at the top alot and at first I thought they were trying to get more oxygen, but I have 2 good airstones in there and a good breakwater from the filter. I feed bloodworms and brine shrimp frozen twice a week and flake every day. I am putting in some java moss in a few days to help for cover if fry ever do appear. The females are almost transparent in the light and I would think I would see a dark spot where the fry are growing, but still nothing. I have the temperature set at around 77 and all my levels are good. Is there anything I need to do to help stimulate their breeding or will they eventually come around?

Brook

COBettaCouple

What are your numbers on ammonia & nitrites? Are you using the API tests? Sometimes they'll hang out at the top a lot if they're bothered by water chemistry but sometimes they just do it for reasons only they know.

The first batch can take as long as 45 days to come along. Most likely 1 or both of the females are already pregnant but if they are stressed some by the water conditions that could slow things down. We ended up with fry even though we got only females showing NO signs of pregnancy. After the 1st batch drop, they'll come along every 25 days or so. You'll first notice her gravid spot getting dark, then later on you will see the black dots in her stomach when she's getting close to dropping the fry.

When you see the dots for the first time, I'd recommend covering the filter intake tight with netting (using a rubber band to make it totally snug) to keep fry from being sucked into the filter. We got a seperate tank for the fry and with 2 females cranking them out for you, you would want to consider it. The advantages are that they can be free from danger of being eaten and you can leave the bottom bare with some decor that they can swim and hide in. it's easier to clean up the crushed flake powder they don't eat along with their tiny poop.

Our platy would always drop at night and most on the first day, but she would drop some more in the next 3 days before starting on the next batch.

vin

Watch the male's behavior in particular....He will swim backward toward the females when trying to mate. She will either hold fast if interested or swim away if uninterested. I would watch my swordtails all of the time and noticed this behavior. After so many batches of fry, we finally donated the male and kept the female.....Too many babies!!!

But it will happen in its own time....If your parameters are good like you say and they are eating well, they may just still be getting used to their surroundings.