5 Gallon Tank Platy fry laying on bottom of tank

Hi all,

I found 6 platy or swordtail fry in my 20gal tall tank today during a water change.

I need some help, i moved them to a 5gal grow out tank but only 1 swims around ocasionally for the majority they just lay on the bottom of the tank on glass (no substrate for easier cleaning) and sometimes in my ambuila. Im not sure if this is normal, also i think they are most likely 1-2 days old, how long would it be till they get some size and are able to swim a bit more, if a put my finger near them in the tank they will dart off then rest again, IK they can swim but idk if they are ok.

Also what can i feed them, i have Hikari micro pellets, some tropical fish food flakes, and some frozen foods, i dont have first bites or any of those tiny foods.

I tried putting some egg yoke in the tank but i dont think they ate it.

I need some help im just really considered im not doing this correctly, so what is a good starter food and how long would it be before they get any size, they are around the size of a grain of rice currently.

Thanks for all help in adavanced,

Peter

 

If they are on the bottom could be a few things - they might be 'hiding' - i found that swordtails frys hide in the bottom of the tank while guppies hide at the top - so my swordtails frys are frequently in the substrate.
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However it might also be an indication of water quality problems. Frys are extremely sensitive to minute traces of ammonia and nitrite. This can cause them to lay on the bottom and soon die. In an uncycle tank food decaying will produce enough ammonia to kill the frys. It could also be a temp issue. Make sure the tank is not too cold.

 

Thanks for your response,

I will be doing daily wc

What and how do you feed your young fry?

 

For live bearers i just take a flake or two and grind it up with my fingers and drop it in. With most cichlid (which are a lot smaller) I find them bbs (baby brine shrimp).

 

The problem is the fry don swim up from the bottom to eat the crushed flakes, they just hide on bottom and in plant, the food goes to the bottom then I have to suck it up later to not foul the water.

 

The problem is the fry don swim up from the bottom to eat the crushed flakes, they just hide on bottom and in plant, the food goes to the bottom then I have to suck it up later to not foul the water.

Yes, I had a problem with my platy fry not eating my crushed flakes. I had some shrimp pellets on hand, so I took those and crushed them into a powder. Then crushed freeze dried blood worms to a powder (high in protein) and mixed the two powders together. My platy fry ate that instantly and even my adults could smell the food (fry is in breeder box) and wanted to eat the food. Maybe try crushing your micro pellets, and feeding the fry that crushed powder. Once they get bigger they should be used to not live foods and you can feed them crushed flakes.


As a side note, if you have any algae covered decor you can add that in for extra food, maybe even a leaf from a live plant. I put algae covered gravel in my breeder box for my one fry to graze on. Hope this helps!

 

Is there much water movement? Sometimes fish will rest on the bottom if there’s too much water movement and fry would be more vulnerable.

 

Not that much water movement it's 5gal with internal filter with a stocking covering its so they don't get sucked up, I've turned to flow down its not that bad i dont think

 

Well, it's not that uncommon that fry will stay on the bottom the first couple of days. And just swim up to the surface to suck some air. But mostly, it will last for just 1-2 days. And then they'll swim (and probably try to hide).

Crushed flakes will do the job to feed them. The first 1-2 days, they actually don't need food. For they will use the nutrients that they have in there yolk sac. The yolk sac will be absorbed and then they'll try to seek for food themselves.

 

Thanks so much, I think their yolk sac is finished now becuase last night I feed some mixed frozen foods and I saw them nibbling around and I think ive seen one talk a bite at a small algae strand. I now think they are ea ing I'm going to go suck up all the waste and food leftovers then give another feed.

 

Just don't over feed; they really don't need much food and if there is algae in the tank they will eat algae when you don't feed them enough.

 

This was a spare empty 5gal so I filled it will good tank water from another tank and good filter media, no substrate and added a couple river rocks and a small ornament

Only algae is on the rocks and ornament, glass has no algae and no substrate because i didn't have time to wash sand, and with small pebbles the fish will swim in the gaps, might get stuck and hard to see and maintain