My platy tricked me! “He” is a she

Hey all.
So i have some potentially exciting (?) news…
I just got 2 platies on friday, and i thought i got two males. turns out i got a male and a female, her fin was tucked in initially and it tricked me!
i think she might be pregnant as i see a dark spot. I also only have the two platies in the community and i feel like if I added another female i’d be overstocking. Should i return the male and get another female? the male is a high fin and i love the way he looks so it would break my heart but i don’t want the female to be stressed. The tank itself is pretty well covered and she doesn’t seem bothered by him too much.

Anyways, back to the potential pregnancy. I’ve never raised fry before and i’m excited but also nervous because i don’t have another tank set up so i’m not sure if i’m equipped to look after baby platies, i also don’t have much information on raising fry.
Any advice?
She’s pretty quick and i’m having a hard time getting a photo of her at the moment.

 

Hey all.
So i have some potentially exciting (?) news…
I just got 2 platies on friday, and i thought i got two males. turns out i got a male and a female, her fin was tucked in initially and it tricked me!
i think she might be pregnant as i see a dark spot. I also only have the two platies in the community and i feel like if I added another female i’d be overstocking. Should i return the male and get another female? the male is a high fin and i love the way he looks so it would break my heart but i don’t want the female to be stressed. The tank itself is pretty well covered and she doesn’t seem bothered by him too much.

Anyways, back to the potential pregnancy. I’ve never raised fry before and i’m excited but also nervous because i don’t have another tank set up so i’m not sure if i’m equipped to look after baby platies, i also don’t have much information on raising fry.
Any advice?
She’s pretty quick and i’m having a hard time getting a photo of her at the moment.

What is your stocking? You don't need a whole different set up for fry, just a breeder box (Maybe net if holes are small enough?) so the platys and the other inhabitants of the tank can't eat them, to feed the babies you can use fish food meant for the baby fish, or you can just grind up fish food pellets so that they are small enough for the babies to eat. I would use a turkey baster to the fry since chasing the fry with nets will stress your other fish, disrupt the plants, and potentially hurt the babies. When I had guppy babies in a breeder box they made a lot of waste! I used the turkey baster to suck up all of the waste and old food that built up on the breeder box bottom and put it in a jar, to help keep the Breeder box clean for the fry. I myself never tried putting the fish in my multi layer breeder box (If you order one it might not have a level meant specifically meant for fry) until I was sure they were the ones having the babies, so I didn't stress other fish unnecessarily, but you can always just leave the fish alone in your tank to have the fry and turkey baster them out. As your fry get bigger (Or big enough to show color) You might think about rehoming, selling, or moving them to another tank so they have more room to grow (But beware of keeping older and younger age groups together since the older babies might try to eat the youger babies!). Good luck!

 

What is your stocking? You don't need a whole different set up for fry, just a breeder box (Maybe net if holes are small enough?) so the platys and the other inhabitants of the tank can't eat them, to feed the babies you can use fish food meant for the baby fish, or you can just grind up fish food pellets so that they are small enough for the babies to eat. I would use a turkey baster to the fry since chasing the fry with nets will stress your other fish, disrupt the plants, and potentially hurt the babies. When I had guppy babies in a breeder box they made a lot of waste! I used the turkey baster to suck up all of the waste and old food that built up on the breeder box bottom and put it in a jar, to help keep the Breeder box clean for the fry. I myself never tried putting the fish in my multi layer breeder box (If you order one it might not have a level meant specifically meant for fry) until I was sure they were the ones having the babies, so I didn't stress other fish unnecessarily, but you can always just leave the fish alone in your tank to have the fry and turkey baster them out. As your fry get bigger (Or big enough to show color) You might think about rehoming, selling, or moving them to another tank so they have more room to grow (But beware of keeping older and younger age groups together since the older babies might try to eat the youger babies!). Good luck!

Thank you so much for that advice! I’ll go pick up a breeding box when i’m more certain she’s preggo.
i’m at 11 glowlights and 2 platys in a 10 gallon
- I don’t know if i’m overstocked truly, but not sure if i should add any more fish since it would mean more bioload, and i’m busy in the student life already so i’m not sure if i have time to do water changes more frequently or to do any more maintenence. platys produce quite a bit of waste themselves.

 

Thank you so much for that advice! I’ll go pick up a breeding box when i’m more certain she’s preggo.
i’m at 11 glowlights and 2 platys in a 10 gallon
- I don’t know if i’m overstocked truly, but not sure if i should add any more fish since it would mean more bioload, and i’m busy in the student life already so i’m not sure if i have time to do water changes more frequently or to do any more maintenence. platys produce quite a bit of waste themselves.

Indeed, how often do you water change? How much? And what kind and size is your filter?

 

Indeed, how often do you water change? How much? And what kind and size is your filter?

Water changes done once a week between 25-50%.
Filter is a tetra whisper, don’t know the size but it’s one of the ones meant for a 10 gallon. it’s got a good amount of flow to it, and i’ve added some additional media besides just the filter pad

 

Water changes done once a week between 25-50%.
Filter is a tetra whisper, don’t know the size but it’s one of the ones meant for a 10 gallon. it’s got a good amount of flow to it, and i’ve added some additional media besides just the filter pad

You probably are cutting it a bit close, but I would still try to add another female and do a bit bigger water change, or get a bigger filter, maybe one meant for a 15 gal.

 

You probably are cutting it a bit close, but I would still try to add another female and do a bit bigger water change, or get a bigger filter, maybe one meant for a 15 gal.

sounds good. Ill do water changes around 50% from now on, once a week
If i can find a bigger filter that’s gentle or adjustable i’ll definitely get one… I probably wouldn’t go for a bigger whisper since they aren’t adjustable and this one already pushes the fish around sometimes, especially when the water gets low.
If i upgrade to a 20gal, these fish will only be in this tank for a couple more months anyways
Thanks for the tips! I’ll update on the platy and any questions about fry in this thread. Part of me hopes she is pregnant so i can go on my first fry-raising journey

 

i also don’t have much information on raising fry.
Any advice?

My first fry were molly fry and none of them died maybe because I had java moss for cover and the moss grows micro organisms for the fry and I feed the adults daily so they would not be so hungry that they would go after the fry maybe the same can happen to you? I recommend java moss because it provides shelter and food for newborn fry and when the fry get older you can try crushed flakes or BBS.

I also only have the two platies in the community and i feel like if I added another female i’d be overstocking.

Plants can help by "eating" the nitrates so maybe with java moss you can add anubias or java fern\


Good luck on raising your first fry!

 

My first fry were molly fry and none of them died maybe because I had java moss for cover and the moss grows micro organisms for the fry and I feed the adults daily so they would not be so hungry that they would go after the fry maybe the same can happen to you? I recommend java moss because it provides shelter and food for newborn fry and when the fry get older you can try crushed flakes or BBS.

Plants can help by "eating" the nitrates so maybe with java moss you can add anubias or java fern\


Good luck on raising your first fry!

Hi!
I actually already have anubias and they’re doing extremely well. i also have 3 moss balls in there, the rest of the coverage consists of decor and fake plants…
My nitrates have been great, never getting over 20ppm before doing the next water change. it usually stays around 10ppm…
My concern isn’t so much with water parameters but is more with bioload and crowding…
I don’t want my fish swimming in a ton of waste and detritus even if the nitrates are low, and i also still want them to have space to swim. I’ll probably only get one more female platy so my current one has less chance of getting stressed out around the male.
Thanks for the advice!

 

Could you rehome the tetras by any chance? Once the fry grow up its gonna get really crowded

 

Could you rehome the tetras by any chance? Once the fry grow up its gonna get really crowded

I actually plan on giving the fry to my local fish store once they’re too big for the breeding box, they breed platies as well and i’m sure they’d be happy to take them.
I might end up giving them the female in exchange for another male since i’m not sure if i want to constantly be raising fry lol.
This experience should be fun though

 

If you cannot add any more fish then remove the male before the female gets WAY too stressed

 

If you cannot add any more fish then remove the male before the female gets WAY too stressed

Or keep the male and remove the female...

 

Or keep the male and remove the female...

I was thinking about doing this. As much as i love how the female looks, high fin platys are so hard to come across where I live, i was really psyched to have found the male. I don’t think i could get rid of him so easily.

 

Then remove the female. The male could be your centerpiece fish

 

Removing the female guarantees you of no surprise fry...

 

sounds good. Ill do water changes around 50% from now on, once a week
If i can find a bigger filter that’s gentle or adjustable i’ll definitely get one… I probably wouldn’t go for a bigger whisper since they aren’t adjustable and this one already pushes the fish around sometimes, especially when the water gets low.
If i upgrade to a 20gal, these fish will only be in this tank for a couple more months anyways
Thanks for the tips! I’ll update on the platy and any questions about fry in this thread. Part of me hopes she is pregnant so i can go on my first fry-raising journey

Good luck!

 

A little update for you guys:
So i’ve pretty much decided to get a 20 gallon and upgrade from the 10 once my semester is over, so with that said i think i’m gonna keep both platies.
All seems fine except that i’ve noticed at times my male kinda swims in one place as if he’s swimming against a current, but the current isn’t strong as the female and the other fish are swimming normally.
I wasn’t sure whether to put this here or in a separate thread, does anyone know what is causing this behaviour?
sometimes he’ll just decide to swim normally.

 

Also: my female is definitely pregnant. Picking up a breeder box and ceramic rings in a couple days, the ceramic rings are to put in the filter to establish BB, and use them to set up and quickly cycle a 5 gallon for when the fry get too big for the box
Once the fry are old enough to transport, i’ll give them to my lfs!
I’m excited yet also nervous to raise my first batch of fry!