Platy Fry - FLBettacouple - help please? Anyone who knows?

I had gotten 2 new platy girls about a week and a half ago. The gold mickey mouse platy I named Izzy looked slightly pregnant when I got her. She had a very small patch of black dots on her belly but her belly didn't look big at all. I thought if she was prego, she would probably be having them in 2 - 3 weeks. Well, she dropped those babies within a few days of getting her home. I was doing a pwc and saw one that was a quarter inch long but it was way too fast to catch and it hid expertly in the rocks. I thought maybe it got eaten until I did another water change yesterday and there are 5 little izzys now I have in a 5.5 gal tank that has a sponge filter that is very mature and a small external filter that is newer but running with the sponge one. I have not had success at all trying to raise zebra danio fry. Of course they are small and don't really eat for a while but I am hoping these little platys are a bit more hardy. I was looking for any advice you have on how to properly take care of them. They are too stinking cute. I know you have to closely watch the water parameters and make sure they eat several times a day but is there anything else? I also put a little hornwort in the fry tank to help eat the nitrates that may build up. What else should I do? They have been in my bigger tank for at least a week but are starting to swim around more and I am not positive that they are too big to fit in the other grown platy's mouths. If they could make it a little longer and get just big enough that the other platys can't eat 'em I would put them right back in. Any feedback would be greatly appreciated! Thanks!

 

Yes live bearer fry (as you know platys are live bearers ) are very hardy and expert at surviving. They can eat crushed flakes right away Congrats on th fry!
Carol

 

Congratulations with your fry! Anyway, you should change the water more often and they should be able to be with other platies when 1 inch long or bigger.

 

Yea, when you see the little eyes it usually means less than a week at the most. We usually take everything out and carefully search the gravel for any hiding fry.. it helps if you have a 'fry spotter' to just look for them while you work.

- Reply #1 in this thread is a little guide we made after our experiences with Daisy and her fry. (Ignore the 100s of fry - you'll have less than 100 total most likely with just 1 prego)

I read to wait until they double in size to put them in, but given the voracious appetite of our Platy girls, I'll probably wait until they're 1" long to put them in (3-4 months probably). At that size, a lot of pet stores will take them also. It's sort of a judgement call on when you put the fry into the adult tank.. if you can have a separate 10 gallon for them it'd be best, since you can keep the bottom bare and clean up easier after them.. plus putting them in with the adults could overtax the bioload of that tank.. and after you're done with the fry & found them homes, you have a tank for some new fish.

Feel free to ask anymore questions after you read that post or YM me if i'm online (we're on a vacation now so i'm not on as often as I would normally be, but I'd be glad to help out any that I can). They are adorable.. very..

 

I had placed the fry in my quarantine tank on Saturday and they are still going strong today! I am so excited. I could watch them for hours. Two of them are starting to get a tiny bit of black by their tails like their mom. One I noticed has a chunk taken out of his tail fin but it looked noticably better this morning. I think something in the big tank must have taken a nibble off him as he swam away. He is swimming fine though so I am not worried. I was wondering what the general opinion of this would be..... I can definitely see that Izzy is going to drop some more in a few weeks. What would be better? Leaving her in the tank and just checking daily for fry with a "fry spotter" or putting her in the quarantine/nursery tank until she drops them? I don't want to stress her out but I don't want to potentially risk the 5 I have already. I feel like I am between a rock and a hard place. I don't want her babies to be killed but I also don't really want to be raising fry for the next year. I am thinking maybe if I just leave her in there and save what I find, that should be ok but then this poses another dilema. I have two cories in my 10 gallon guppy tank that I have been wanting to move to my big 33g L tank but now with fry in the tank, I am guessing odds are good that the fry will become some of the tasty tidbits the cory work the gravel for. If I am wrong, then please tell me.

 

I had placed the fry in my quarantine tank on Saturday and they are still going strong today! I am so excited. I could watch them for hours. Two of them are starting to get a tiny bit of black by their tails like their mom. One I noticed has a chunk taken out of his tail fin but it looked noticably better this morning. I think something in the big tank must have taken a nibble off him as he swam away. He is swimming fine though so I am not worried. I was wondering what the general opinion of this would be..... I can definitely see that Izzy is going to drop some more in a few weeks. What would be better? Leaving her in the tank and just checking daily for fry with a "fry spotter" or putting her in the quarantine/nursery tank until she drops them? I don't want to stress her out but I don't want to potentially risk the 5 I have already. I feel like I am between a rock and a hard place. I don't want her babies to be killed but I also don't really want to be raising fry for the next year. I am thinking maybe if I just leave her in there and save what I find, that should be ok but then this poses another dilema. I have two cories in my 10 gallon guppy tank that I have been wanting to move to my big 33g L tank but now with fry in the tank, I am guessing odds are good that the fry will become some of the tasty tidbits the cory work the gravel for. If I am wrong, then please tell me.

I'd leave her in the tank & in a few weeks start watching for the eyes in her tummy, then you'll know it's time to keep an eye out for her starting to drop fry and can be checking for new fry as often as you want until she's done.. Usually she'll have up to a week after you notice the eyes before dropping, but each platy is on her own schedule. I feel like it's too stressful on the mom and our Daisy refused to drop hers until we took her out of an isolation tank she was in.

So are your fry in a 33g tank with other fish or in a smaller tank? If so, I'd definitely recommend a fry-only tank (5-10g) to use just for them until your girls are done having fry and the fry are all big enough to go in with bigger fish at your place, other good homes or the pet store. I'm not sure if corys would eat them or not, but they will have an easier time growing in their own tank, plus you isolate your other fish from the chance of fry coming down with something & spreading it.

 

Izzy had them in the 33g tank but I found them and put them in my 5.5g quarantine tank. I figure she may have easily had more than 5 but that is all I found. I had thought she was pregnant when I got her and saw what looked like babies (no eyes to be seen) in her belly but it wasn't very big. I thought she would have them a few weeks later but she had them within days. I noticed the spot was gone after she had been home for 2 - 3 days and then maybe 4 or 5 days later I did a water change and I saw one of them swimming around as I disturbed the gravel. The only one I found. It disappeared on me and I couldn't find it again so een though I looked and the kids looked very closely for another week, we didn't see any. THe other day I went to change the water and found one so I thought, I wanted to save it if I could and knew it would better be able to get food if it didn't have to hide so hard from others eating it. Well, as I went about my gravel vacuuming, I found 4 more! So I was shocked that they managed to survive that long! They are 1/4" to 3/8" long. Of course, being gold and all they blend into the gravel more than if it were my red wag tail that had had them. I have been watching Izzy too now that I know she will be dropping more fry and the little orange spots in her tummy are getting bigger by the day and on one side it looks like you can see some eyes but only from one or at most, two of the fry. I will do what you said and leave her in the big tank and just watch and try to save what I can which will probably be easier for me as well than trying to raise a brood of more than 15 or so. I know I can find homes for them and my LFS will take them but it is a lot of extra work doing pwc's every or every other day to make sure that nothing builds up in the water to hurt the babies. How are all your fry doing anyway?

 

Did you get to read that post we put up on what we did with our fry? Do you have the plants to plant a thick hiding area (or even 2 in a bigger tank like yours) for them? Hopefully when it's time to drop fry, Izzy will do like Daisy did and go into the plants area and drop her fry there. Did you check your filter? We once found 4 fry underneath the filter cartridge that had got sucked in because I hadn't secured the rubber band right and the netting over the intake had a gap in it.

Those little fry can really disappear fast when you find them. My wife 'spots' for me when I search the gravel after clearing out the decor and tries to watch the fry until I can net her. I guess I'd zip around too if everyone including mom wanted to eat me.

Last time I checked with my mom (who's taking care of our fish while we're on vacation) the 12 fry that have survived everything are all doing good. She has trouble counting them all because they zip around so much but none are lying colorless on the bottom so that's a good thing. Since Daisy is done, I hope all 12 make it.. we lost as many to my mistakes as to sicknesses. But hopefully what I learned will save other fry. Best of luck with yours and we'd love to see pics anytime if you can post them.. they sound like pretty little fry.

 

I did read what you guys did and I was pretty much doing it. Good to know that I was on the right track. I just did a pwc yesterday and found two more hiding out. I netted them and put them in so I have 7 now. They are so darn cute I could watch them for hours. They all have started to get the black at the base of their tail and best I can estimate they are 2 weeks old today. The two new ones were easy to distinguish when I put them in because they were skinnier. Probably because they had been hiding and not able to eat like the others are. I have no doubt they will fatten up. They hid out in the cave I have in with them for the first part of the day but as they watched the others swimming freely around not scared anymore, they came out too and now they eat and they chase each other and from what I can tell, they play tag and play at who is more dominant or aggressive and try to be a little territorial at times. Too funny. They don't hurt each other at all but they are so cute. I am nervous about them for the weekend though. I am leaving for an overnight at my in-laws and I can feed them Saturday morning but not again until Sunday afternoon or evening. I do have a neighboor who will come over to feed them. I am going to portion the food out and they will come Saturday evening and Sunday morning so at least they will eat twice those days but I usually like to feed them at least 3 - 4 times and usually do a pwc once if not twice in a day to make sure that the nitrates etc don't build up. The one who had his tail chomped has grown it all back now so I can't tell which one he is. Do you know when you can start to tell the sexes apart? As they are now I would have to say they are all girls but I somehow doubt it. I am going to post some pics of them as soon as I can get my sister to help me get them uploaded from my camera. I don't have the equipment to do it. Izzy looks like she is going to pop any day. She looks more pregnant than she did when I bought her. I figure since it has been two weeks, I better start watching for them at end of next week. I do have a lot of plants and a big cave and some fake wood with little hollows in them where I found one of the fry yesterday. It poked it's head out to see what was going on when I was vacuuming the gravel. I grabbed the net and grabbed him up fast. Since they are very smart and fast, I am not too worried. If two of the fry managed to make it 2 weeks in the big tank, then I am positive the next batch will have some survivors. The smartest, fastest ones anyway. Thanks for all your help and for letting me share my excitement. Keep me updated on your fry are doing!

 

When we can get some galaxy rasboras we'll get more breeding experience since I think we're done with Platy fry now.. but I hope to continue to learn & develop info from what we do & what others do to come up with a good 'battle plan' for having baby fish.. we have so much to still learn and I wish i'd been smarter - we'd have more baby platys.. but I'm glad you're doing well with your platys and they are so cute it's amazing. The ones you find later on will fatten up and soon enough not be distinquishable from the others.

I found that a pinch of food AM & PM reduced the rate that we lost platys at.. I think they quickly reach an age where they can overeat. I think they have to be a few months old before they show male/female and until then they all look like females. Glad we can help some and we'll teach each other stuff i'm sure.

Best of luck with them.

 

Thanks!! I won't worry about them then. I can tell when they have had plenty to eat since their little tummies get bigger. I have actually not fed them again for several hours if this happens. I don't want them to explode and they don't stop eating and also don't have to compete for food. I can't wait to see how you guys do with your platy fry.

 

Thanks!! I won't worry about them then. I can tell when they have had plenty to eat since their little tummies get bigger. I have actually not fed them again for several hours if this happens. I don't want them to explode and they don't stop eating and also don't have to compete for food. I can't wait to see how you guys do with your platy fry.

They're funny.. you'll see the fry eating & pooping at the same time, just like the adults. I'm hoping our fry did well over the 2 weeks we've been gone.

 

hi, I had 4 platys in my tank (one male and 3 females). one of the females gave birth and we didnt notice for ages. we then noticed 5 little ones. they were too hard to catch they hid in rocks and in plants. what I did to feed them was to break up some flakes and leave on the top for the bigger fish a then break up a few more, stick my hands into the tank and let the crumbled bits fall to the bottom. so while the bigger ones were feeding the little ones would come out and feed. I still have five now, and have had to get a bigger tank!!! awww but they're sooooooooooooo cute!

 

hi, I had 4 platys in my tank (one male and 3 females). one of the females gave birth and we didnt notice for ages. we then noticed 5 little ones. they were too hard to catch they hid in rocks and in plants. what I did to feed them was to break up some flakes and leave on the top for the bigger fish a then break up a few more, stick my hands into the tank and let the crumbled bits fall to the bottom. so while the bigger ones were feeding the little ones would come out and feed. I still have five now, and have had to get a bigger tank!!! awww but they're sooooooooooooo cute!

they are. how long ago did she drop those fry? Has she had anymore since, or have you seen black dots in her stomach since then?