Anyone breed Platys? wanting to learn more

I am a new member trying to learn more about platy fish. Hopefully links are allowed, I found this awesome pdf that actually gives some info about fin and color pattern dominance in platy fish.
This is a direct pdf download link,

PDF: https://ephieslivebearers.weebly.com/uploads/5/7/7/9/57793349/practical_platy_genetics_1.0.pdf

 

Hi RybaBezRuki Welcome to fishlore.
You could start your own thread or continue here? Or perhaps the mods might move things around anyway ?

I will help any way I can .
I don’t want to sound like a smart donkey but the information in that link is more for someone who has had platies long enough to begin to knowing the grandparents bloodline of the fish they are breeding from. Without know what the bloodline is of the fish you have it’s a total guess what each female will drop.

I have found platy males and females very difficult to tell apart and they start breeding at about 3/4 inch long . To have any chance of getting a virgin female you really need to be on the ball trying to select males and females daily from a tank of very young fry.
I will freely admit I have not been successful In separating sexes.

What are you planning on selecting for?
A quick and dirty snapshot of juveniles not much more than fry themselves with a second batch of fry all ready.

 

Breeding platies in quite easy. Just purchase a male and two females of a strain you like. Place them in a large tank with suitable water quality. Platies are Central American fish that like water that is somewhat hard and somewhat alkaline. Have plenty of vegetation, especially floating vegetation, to allow the fry to hide. Then let nature take its course.

Platy females can produce a batch of fry every 4 weeks or so. I started with a trio in my 55 gallon tank. The population soon grew to about 50. My tank always has platies ranging in size from 1/4 inch up to full grown. Just make sure you provide food of suitable particle size for all the fish in the tank.

If you plan to breed platies for sale, be sure you have an outlet for the offspring. Because they are so easy to breed, they are plentiful in the marketplace. If you can start with a less common strain, then you might do better financially.

 

Breeding Platies is awesome. What follows is a true short story abt my platy endeavor from my teen years in the early 70s. I had numerous platy tanks and decided to try to breed up a strain of blue wagtails which were (to the best of my knowledge) not around then. With the help of my father (a science professor at Northern IL Univ.), I spent several years cross-breeding for such a strain and had actually bred a strain of what appeared to be blue wags. The 20g grow out tank had abt 50 or so youngsters just at sexing stage. I was excited and already had platy enthusiasts and pet shops lined up to buy trios for $50 which was decent money back then. Well…..as luck would have it, while I was taking a nap, that tank broke spilling all the water and fish onto the wooden floor. I was frantically trying to retrieve fish into a plastic cup while my mother was tossing towels onto the floor to prevent the water from going below where my dad’s metal shop was. I managed to pick up a few to try to save, but they were in bad shape and died. I was devastated to say the least. Even my pen written log was destroyed of my overall process. My platy breeding program came to an abrupt end as did keeping multiple fish tanks in my bedroom. I can’t blame my parents and I didn’t want to move all my tanks to the basement and start over.

 

I've been tempted to keep platies but don't want to deal with the fry.

 

Me either regarding fry. I have a tank w relatively few hiding places, silk plants, gently moving water, and the Gouramis that will help keep numbers down along w the adult Platies. In five weeks, I have yet to see a fry. if I desired to raise fry, I’d have quiet water and live plants all over, especially on the surface.

 

I am a new member trying to learn more about platy fish. Hopefully links are allowed, I found this awesome pdf that actually gives some info about fin and color pattern dominance in platy fish.
This is a direct pdf download link,

PDF: https://ephieslivebearers.weebly.com/uploads/5/7/7/9/57793349/practical_platy_genetics_1.0.pdf

The link is indeed meant for the more experienced platy breeders such as me. Unless you're very enthusiastic to read it all and to apply this to your breeding program, I would certainly totally applaud it. But it's also true what Flyfisha has mentioned, that it only works if you know the genetic history of the breeder fish. For only guessing on the phenotypes you see, doesn't say anything about the genotypes yet.

A good note: In chapter 6 they discuss the markings on the caudal penducle. One of those markings is the socalled Mickey Mouse pattern. Most people don't know that the Mickey Mouse pattern is a wild trait and not a fancy trait. I've been mentioning this quite a couple of time already. This pattern is a combination of the "moon" and the "twin spot" mark. They can be seen in a number of wild platy species (so, not just a the X.maculatus and X.variatus but also others).

I don’t want to sound like a smart donkey but the information in that link is more for someone who has had platies long enough to begin to knowing the grandparents bloodline of the fish they are breeding from. Without know what the bloodline is of the fish you have it’s a total guess what each female will drop.

Exactly! In order to set up a new platy line or to continue an existing platy line, we need to know the genetic history of both breeding fish. For phenotype doesn't always say something about their genotype. And which trait is dominant or recessive. And are the dominant or recessive genes carried by the male, female or both?

 

I've been tempted to keep platies but don't want to deal with the fry.

Another factor in keeping the fry pop down is to not overfeed your fish. I tend to keep my Platies on the hungry side, and in so doing, I have yet to see a fry in my 75g Platy, DG, Cory, and single centerpiece Angel tank and I know several females have dumped. That, coupled w few hiding places, really makes a difference. Having lush live dense plants will help the fry to hide and will provide the early microscopic food the fry use to get started, thus my silk plants. I clearly prefer to enjoy the platy activity in the tank wo having to deal with all the fry.

Platies are awesome active colorful fish that should not be avoided bc of fry issues. Just decide if you want to encourage the fry numbers or not and then tactically act w your tank set up.

 

Tank is heavily planted. I may get them some day, worse thing would be that once a year I have to net some to give away.

 

I find plates will regulate thier numbers pretty well in a species only tank.

 

I've been tempted to keep platies but don't want to deal with the fry.

I selected females only for this AquaEL 45 (45 litre/ten gallon glass bowl). My LFS wanted my males.

Keep platies in a location where kids will not tap on the glass. They are susceptible to stress causing dropsy/pine-coning and death.