Breeding Platies

I have a Biorb which is now about 9 months old. I have 2 pearl danios, 1 female swordtail,  4 neon tetras, 2 glowlight tetras, 3 rummie nose tetras and about 7 baby platies. Originally I had just the one female platy, but she died a couple of months having had her. A couple of weeks after she died, 1 baby appeared which has now grown to maturity, a month or two later 3 tiny fry appeared from under the gravel in the bottom of the biorb which have all also survived and now I have another three or four tiny fry also.

I presume the female platy that died was pregnant when I got her, but I don`t understand where all the other babies are coming from!

Can anybody help ?

Thanks

 

Your babies have probably been hiding. You have quite a few fish in that tank that would have loved to eat them as a snack. What's a biorb?

 

A biorb is a tank from Reef-one ()

Understand what you are saying, but what I don`t understand is how do I get one baby platy, then a month or so later another two, and then a month later another 3. All are different size and therefore (I presume) different ages. The first one to appear is now approx 3/4 inch, the next two are about 1/2 inch and the last three are now about 1/4 inch long.

In my local aquarium shop, the guy there told me that platies can give birth in 4-5 batches, which would make sense except that the original platy I had died about a month before the first baby appeared. What is the gestation time for a platy ? Is it possible for the platy to be interbreeding with the swordtail ? I can`t think of any other explanation.

Many thanks for your help!

 

its about 28 days gestation. That sounds weird. I can only think that the original babies started mating pretty quickly and had more babies.

 

Platys and Swordtails will interbreed since they are from the same family(Xiphophorus).
Carol

 

I think livebeares can start breeding from the age of 3 months so maybe the first lot were breeding

 

I have figured out the sex of my three platies, 2 males, 1 female. the female is definitely intested in both males, but the larger of the males keeps going for the smaller male. is this normal?? If they are sucessful in mating how long before the babies are born??

 

yes tis is normal for lager male to go after smaller male , the ratio should be 2 femails for every one male.

 

How big is your tank? If you have enough room you need to get more females. THe males will eather kill each other fighting over the femal of kill the female because of stress.

 

I have a 20 gallon and I just figured out how to change my profile so you can see what other fish I have. I read that there should be 2 female platies for every male-- is this good to go by??? if I buy 3 more females will I be alright for the size of my tank?then what happens when there are babies/fry? this is new to me-- but so far the tank has been up and running for like 2 months, 0 problems-- thanks so much LILA

 

Yes the 1male/2 females is a good idea. It keeps the male from picking/ harrassing one female all the time. Your tank should be able to handle a few fry if the rainbows and tetras don't eat tehm first
Carol

 

If you do not won't the fry LFS will take them

 

getting more females today!!! now... when and if I have fry--- do I need to transport them to another tank until they are large enough to not be eaten?? or will a net work just as well?? I also read that turning the temp down a little bit will keep them from harassing the feamle until we havemore in there. Is this true?? LILA

 

I don't think that will work but you could try. Since you have males theywill become preg in a few days or probaly are alredy preg because they where in with males.

A breeder net works fine

 

My platy had babys and sha had six that survived bit I did not see themnall at the same time. I saw the first one and then a few days l8r saw the next and then it was about 2 weeks be fo I saw the nex two and then another week befor I saw the last 2. they are all grown up now and breeing. ;D. not together obviously because then they may be deformaties. I used to just keep them in my comunity tank but my cold water fis died so I cleand that out throughly and pit a heater in. it already had a filter and a light. now that tank is my breeding tank.

I hope to breed many moore platys in there lol

 

Hello!
I have a tank filled with platies, tiger barbs and black-skirt tetras along with three plecos. My friend moved and had to get rid of his micky-mouse platy and gave it to me. She is the only of that type in the tank, the rest are all dark red/black and just under 2 inches(full-grown). However, over the last week or so, the yellow micky-mouse platy has nearly tripled her stomach size and there are small black strands visible in her stomach region. Is it possible that one of the red/black platies got her pregnant? I will try to get a picture, but she is hiding in a densely planted area, so that's challenging and I don't really want to yank her out.
Any feedback is greatly appreciated!


List your water parameters from your test kits - Ammonia, Nitrite, Nitrate, pH, Temperature, etc. Ammonia = almost 0.0
Tell how long your tank has been setup, brief history if you think it is important for your current problem. Tanks has been set up for 4 years
List all tank mates: Platies, Black skirts, tiger barbs and plecos
Detail your maintenance procedures - tank cleaning, filter changes, water changes, etc. How often do you do perform these tasks? What kind of foods are you feeding your fish or inverts? Tank cleaning, filter changes and water changes - every other weekend. I am feeding Marineland Tropical
List tank size, equipment used and any other important details. 75 gallon heavily planted freshwater using marineland filtration system
Do you know about the aquarium nitrogen cycle? If not, click that link and read that important article. If your tank is cycled, how did you cycle it? yes the tank was cycled for 3 months with cheap fish.

 

Welcome to Fishlore, Platyfish!

From what you're describing, there is a good chance she's pregnant. Can you post a pic?

 

welcome to fl, platyfish.
It is possible that she was already pregnant when she came to you. Also, I don't see why she wouldn't breed with your existing platies.

 

ok, I am going to try to get some pictures of her. BTW, is there a setting I have to change to get email notifications of new replies on my posts?




do you see those black areas in her stomach? I know that guppies get a black spot because of the frys' eyes, is this the same case in platies?

 

I'm no expert but I believe she could be pregnant, most if not all Livebearers have a gravid spot which will be visible when pregnant and that certainly looks like one to me.

 

In the pic, the little thing to the right of her looks remarkably like a baby platy lol.
But she is definitly pregnant

 

HI I am trying to breed platies I did all the research but want to no if anyone has any helpful advice for me? I have a ten gallon tank at 75 degrees Fahrenheit. x

 

Put a male and female platy together...they'll breed.

OK. Serious time. It's really not that hard for platies. As long as males and females exist together they'll breed and breed and breed and breed. I screwed up and put a female in my tank about a month ago and she's getting ready for her first batch of fry.

some tips though:

1) Make sure the females outnumber the males at least 2 to 1, or the males will harass the females literally to death.

2) Have something set to catch the fry (breeding net) or the adults will eat them.

3) Have a Fry tank setup and cycled. You'll want to move the fry here so they can grow without getting harassed or eaten.

4) Once mature DO NOT re-home the fry into the tank with their parents. They will interbreed and cause deformities and mutations.

If your going to try to do this on a professional level, you really should have several tanks set up before you even begin so you can avoid interbreeding between parents and offspring as well as closely related batches of fry. The laws of genetics still apply.

 

Going with what @wthmex said They breed almost as fast as Guppies so be prepared.

All the best!

 

A few more tips:

Use a sponge filter in your fry tank to avoid them getting sucked into a power filter. You can pre-seed your sponge filter with helpful bacteria by rinsing the filter media from your existing tank in a small container of tank water. Then submerse your new sponge in the dirty water and give it a few good squeezes. In most cases your can instantly cycle your tank this way. (But be sure to monitor your ammonia and nitrites just in case.)

Move your female into the nursery tank as soon as she starts getting a big belly. This is less stressful than using a breeder trap and also prevents the male from pestering her. Add a bunch of bushy floating planets like hornwort or water sprite so the fry have a place to hide and forage once they are born. With the plants in the tank you can let the female recover for a few days before moving her back to the main tank and the fry will be fine.

One of the best foods for livebearer fry are decapsulated brine shrimp eggs. All of the protein of live baby brine with none of the hassle of hatching them. Also they float when first added which makes them ideal for fry feeding at the surface.

Good luck with your breeding - keep us posted!

 

I like the red ones but find that the next generations are progressively more orange.

 

Thanks for all your Help

 

Hello Ocean101 and Welcome to Fish Lore!

I have moved your thread from Freshwater Beginners to More Freshwater Aquarium Topics/Breeding Fish section of the forum. Maybe it will help you to receive more responses.

I hope you enjoy the site!

Kenishy10

 

I use to have a tank with platties growing up...I started with four and ended up with zillions... be prepared that they will breed like crazy...

 

yea I have a 20 gallon that has tons of platties. I honestly didn't want to breed them but I can't get rid of them fast enough. I have approx 10 babies swimming around in there right now and about 14-16 adults. I don't have any extra tanks and no extra money to buy breeding tanks so I just let nature run it's course and trade the surviving babies into my lfs for credit. use them to buy food and filters

 

Is there a way to get my platys to have fry? Or do they just do it on their own

 

You just need males and females in the same tank. It helps to have some plants or something in the tank for the fry to hide in though so that they don't all get eaten by the parents and other fish

 

You just need males and females in the same tank. It helps to have some plants or something in the tank for the fry to hide in though so that they don't all get eaten by the parents and other fish

I'm going to be putting them in a separate tank. My LFS said he'd give me store credit if I brought them in when they are about an inch long. I was just wondering if there were any tips and tricks to getting them to breed faster

 

let me know if you find the secret cause I have 1 male and 3 females, and he only services 1 but the other 2 are new so hopefully soon he will realize there is more fun to be had

 

Just keep them happy, healthy and their tank clean and you will have more platy than you know what to do with. I think mine took at least 6 months to grow to that size...

 

I need to get 3 more females here shortly as I only have 1 female to 2 males but the female does look a bit more fatter than the males. I'm hoping that in the next few days I can clearly see her bearing baby's.




And as far as how long it takes for them to get that size. I don't mind the length of time. Plus it gives me more fish to watch, it's how I pass my time. Haha

 

I know its frustrating, ive been waiting 40 days for her second batch of fry she was smaller than her mate when I got her, then she got fat, then she was thin, now I swear she's going to explode, if she doesn't realease them soon I worry for her health, I don't care if she eats them I just want her to not be so big for so long, I got the other 2 females in hopes that it will take the males attention from her.

 

The females usually have fry about every 4 weeks

 

she's literally double his size in length and girth

 

The way to get them to breed is to have a female. They come from the store pregnant and if any males are present or they have male babies in the tank with them that grow up, they will be pregnant pretty much nonstop for their entire lives.

You're going to have hundreds of platies every month for the next 5 years if you get three more. I suggest just getting one more female and leaving some of the fry in the tank with the adults so there are more fish for the males to interact with.