So Many Red Platy

if anyone has any idea how to possibly help with too many platy's please help because I legit didn't sign up for 23+ of them. I understand that when getting fish this is possible but when I was getting into the hobby, my family decided to want these guys because of their color and I hadn't done enough research to find out that they are live bearers and give birth constantly and never quit and are SUPER hearty (and petsmart, of course, never warned me about this issue). I started out with what was 6 platy (2 red, 2 sunset, and 2 mickey mouse) and I kid you not, I went through a spell of ammonia issues and the 2/3 that survived were female and now I have at least 10 in each of my 20 and 29 gallon tanks and have put 4 (of what I know is) pregnant platies to try to establish more consistency of this issue. (I even went out and bought this 20 gallon solely for the platies so there wouldn't be overstocking issues, or AS MUCH overstocking issues.) although I can very clearly tell that there is ~at least~ 2 more females in both the 20 and 29 based on the stomachs already increasing in size compared to the ones that HAVEN'T increased. and I do not overfeed so I know it's pregnancy and not just eating good. it has gotten overwhelming and i'm not about to kill them because that's cruel but I also don't think i'm into the whole ebay thing or trying to give them away on facebook bc idk what people will do to them or what their intentions are and I can be a bad judgment of character sometimes. I plan to upgrade my 29 to hopefully at least a 65 so I can fit all of the fish in both of these tanks in that ONE tank but this can't happen until at least December and when I finally am able to, I hope to at least be able to add some ~new~ fish that I don't have, since all I am seeing is RED in those tanks, at the moment.

maybe this makes me a bad person, and I get it. but this is all overwhelming. i'm hoping at this point that the 4 I put into my 75 gallon don't cause an issue because then i'm doomed. my
I LOVE fish, i'm obsessed with mine, believe me. but enough is enough here. i've tried to go back to petsmart, where I got them, to see if they'd take them back or something and they refused. i'm almost desperate here. I can't afford to upgrade until December, and that's a maybe even then.
I don't mean to sound super awful, rude and ignorant but I really don't know what to do. I got fish to help with my anxiety, not cause MORE.

 

You might try and sell some, or euthanize some and keep only the good ones, or maybe give some away

 

I'm sorry to hear you are having such issues.
Fist thing to do is to sex and separate your fish by gender. Make sure the 4 in your 75 gallon are all male, then split the males and females into the 20 and 29 gallon tanks. Also make sure to separate the fry once they are born so that they don't breed.

As for rehoming, I believe petsmart, petco, etc are required to take back fish, but they won't pay you for them - they will only do it for free. If you want money, then try posting on craigslist or find a privately owned fish store in your area and discuss it with them.

In the meantime, you could try lowering the temperature a bit and feeding less to lengthen the pregnancies. If you are good about keeping the genders separate then you'll stop getting fry in a few months.

Good luck!

 

You might try and sell some, or euthanize some and keep only the good ones, or maybe give some away

I would rather give them away than sell them mostly because you can already buy them for cheap at any pet store as it is, but I also don't trust online selling for many factors. and for the euthanizing, I HAVE thought of it. but I think i'm against it because as far as I can tell, they are healthy and it may not be similar to putting down a perfectly healthy cat, dog, bear, tiger, etc but it's also kind of similar. I know a lot of them have nipped at fins, most of them, because of the indian pea puffers they were placed with and gouramis but that's not "unhealthy"...just harmed. since I've sorted the ammonia issues out, none have died and they clearly won't be any time soon unless they're REALLY picked at but i'm not ROOTING for that to happen, either.

I'm sorry to hear you are having such issues.
Fist thing to do is to sex and separate your fish by gender. Make sure the 4 in your 75 gallon are all male, then split the males and females into the 20 and 29 gallon tanks. Also make sure to separate the fry once they are born so that they don't breed.

As for rehoming, I believe petsmart, petco, etc are required to take back fish, but they won't pay you for them - they will only do it for free. If you want money, then try posting on craigslist or find a privately owned fish store in your area and discuss it with them.

In the meantime, you could try lowering the temperature a bit and feeding less to lengthen the pregnancies. If you are good about keeping the genders separate then you'll stop getting fry in a few months.

Good luck!

I can try to ask Petco, but I did ask a manager at petsmart and he said "unfortunately we cannot take them..." which was only frustrating because I also heard they were required to. I don't care about getting money for them, they're cheap fish to begin with. I have turned the temps down, they're already at 77-78 and previously was 80, and I haven't exactly seen MANY fry lately but I have seen one or two. but as for the sexing them and getting them separated, it's so difficult for me to be able to distinguish the difference, let alone catch them when I DO tell the difference, as easy as everyone else says it is. I only know for a fact that the 4 I have in my 75 are female is because they are overly large and 3 of them were the original ones that survived (2 red, 1 sunset). also just seeing you said make sure they are male in the 75 but I want to clarify, I put the female in there so that the angel, shark, dwarf gourami's, and other fish I have in there might possibly eat whatever fry does come out. because again, determining the sex is difficult for me so I went with what I knew

so I am just reading now that petsmart typically DOESN'T take unwanted fish but Petco typically DOES. so maybe I will try this, I live close to many so hopefully at least one will take them

 

I know that it sounds cruel to some but in the wild fish eat fish. If that weren't the case the lakes, streams and oceans would be over crowded. My Danios kept my molly population down to manageable levels. Two survived in my 55 gallon tank. The only others that did survive were the ones I removed and put in a grow out tank.

If you want to limit the numbers I suggest you have other fish that will hunt down and eat the fry. Be sure to give them a fighting chance with lots of hiding places though.

 

I have the same issue as you. I have about 20+ platies in my 29G (6 adults + ~14 fry of varying age).

I am working on doing what the previous poster suggested in that I'm separating males and females right now (trying to catch them in a planted tank is... interesting...).

The problem is that the fry won't stop for like... 6 months. That's how long livebearers such as platys remain pregnant after being inseminated. You'll still be picking them out.

My current attempt is to put them into a tank with my congo tetras and hopefully the fry will be "removed" by the 6 tetras and 3 swordtails in there. It seems like when my female swordtail in the 29G became ill that they actually started to populate uncontrollably, so I found the fry hound...

Most LPS will NOT take the offspring because they're quite small and not of a sellable size. Even then, the local store's rules vary.

My temps are at 75 btw and I still have more offspring than when I had it set to close to 80

 

I know that it sounds cruel to some but in the wild fish eat fish. If that weren't the case the lakes, streams and oceans would be over crowded. My Danios kept my molly population down to manageable levels. Two survived in my 55 gallon tank. The only others that did survive were the ones I removed and put in a grow out tank.

If you want to limit the numbers I suggest you have other fish that will hunt down and eat the fry. Be sure to give them a fighting chance with lots of hiding places though.

at this point, my 75 gallon is stocked. my glo danios don't seem to be surviving so I'll most likely have a little more space if they die off (I don't plan to replace them at this point since I don't seem to be having luck since I've replaced a good 5 already)...but as previously said, all i'm seeing is red so i'm trying to deter from putting MORE in the 75 gallon. I got the 75 to have more variety, not more platy. the issue with having fish to hunt them down is that I can't move them to another tank AND their tanks are already stocked as it is and I'm not about to stress a large fish out for the sake of my sanity

I have the same issue as you. I have about 20+ platies in my 29G (6 adults + ~14 fry of varying age).

I am working on doing what the previous poster suggested in that I'm separating males and females right now (trying to catch them in a planted tank is... interesting...).

The problem is that the fry won't stop for like... 6 months. That's how long livebearers such as platys remain pregnant after being inseminated. You'll still be picking them out.

My current attempt is to put them into a tank with my congo tetras and hopefully the fry will be "removed" by the 6 tetras and 3 swordtails in there. It seems like when my female swordtail in the 29G became ill that they actually started to populate uncontrollably, so I found the fry hound...

Most LPS will NOT take the offspring because they're quite small and not of a sellable size. Even then, the local store's rules vary.

My temps are at 75 btw and I still have more offspring than when I had it set to close to 80

my tanks are semi-planted as well and it's even difficult with that to catch them. the fish I have at this point are mostly all adult size, minus a couple exceptions of being half the size they will be. there's only one or two "local" pet stores that aren't petsmart and Petco but I don't really think they will accept them because I've been in the stores before and they seem kind of stuck on what they have and what they don't. so Petco is kind of my last option to get rid of these guys. I DO have other fish in the tank, so 77-78 is the lowest I would go, since my pea puffer likes higher 70s and this temp seems to be best for my gourami, too, since he was inactive for so long and now is more active since changing the temp down (plus I live in new England so i'm worried that when it gets cold, the heater won't work as well, since my house is ALWAYS cold no matter what, so 78 is what i'd like to keep it at)

 

my tanks are semi-planted as well and it's even difficult with that to catch them. the fish I have at this point are mostly all adult size, minus a couple exceptions of being half the size they will be. there's only one or two "local" pet stores that aren't petsmart and Petco but I don't really think they will accept them because I've been in the stores before and they seem kind of stuck on what they have and what they don't. so Petco is kind of my last option to get rid of these guys. I DO have other fish in the tank, so 77-78 is the lowest I would go, since my pea puffer likes higher 70s and this temp seems to be best for my gourami, too, since he was inactive for so long and now is more active since changing the temp down (plus I live in new England so i'm worried that when it gets cold, the heater won't work as well, since my house is ALWAYS cold no matter what, so 78 is what i'd like to keep it at)

Hah me too. In NE. There's a few places in MA that will rehome fish, so that's what I'm planning on doing once they start reaching an "adult" size. I'll probably just start a 3rd grow out tank with no cover and something like 1 or two swordtails to hunt.

 

I have wild guppies that breed like crazy as well, and I put my betta in the tank where the babies were. He ate all of them within two days. I already have so many that I can’t deal with more. It sounds mean, but I am glad he ate them! Like a previous poster said, get something that will hunt the fry and eat them.

 

at this point, my 75 gallon is stocked. my glo danios don't seem to be surviving so I'll most likely have a little more space if they die off (I don't plan to replace them at this point since I don't seem to be having luck since I've replaced a good 5 already)...but as previously said, all i'm seeing is red so i'm trying to deter from putting MORE in the 75 gallon. I got the 75 to have more variety, not more platy. the issue with having fish to hunt them down is that I can't move them to another tank AND their tanks are already stocked as it is and I'm not about to stress a large fish out for the sake of my sanity

I understand your problem. I've never had the glo danios. I do have zebra and pearl danios though and they seem to be fairly healthy and are great hunters.

 

Hah me too. In NE. There's a few places in MA that will rehome fish, so that's what I'm planning on doing once they start reaching an "adult" size. I'll probably just start a 3rd grow out tank with no cover and something like 1 or two swordtails to hunt.

I did that, and somehow ended with 5 fish tanks, 3 of them with mostly just platy. I just finally was able to get rid of one last night by adding the pregnant ones I had to my 75...although I don't prefer to keep them there...I may want to keep a few but i'd need to make sure they were male so not to get into this situation again. I just want the smaller tank gone (20 gallon) so I don't have to do as many water changes a week. I haven't called Petco yet but i'm really hoping they take them because if they do, it will solve most of my issues (I could have worse issues, I suppose, but i'm also tired of hearing it from my family about so many tanks - at least my mom is fine with them )

I have wild guppies that breed like crazy as well, and I put my betta in the tank where the babies were. He ate all of them within two days. I already have so many that I can’t deal with more. It sounds mean, but I am glad he ate them! Like a previous poster said, get something that will hunt the fry and eat them.

I have a betta, but I was worried he wouldn't be OK with the platy. i'm not trying to torture them. but i'm also sort of glad I never did put them with my bettas because I actually had one of them die last week and I didn't find him for 2/3 days so that would've caused ammonia and that's also torture (they have/had their own 10 gallon tanks). for now, i'm going to try Petco and if anyone else has an idea, but if that doesn't work, i'm gonna try my best to separate them and whatnot. crossing my fingers Petco take them

 

I haven't called Petco yet but i'm really hoping they take them because if they do, it will solve most of my issues (I could have worse issues, I suppose, but i'm also tired of hearing it from my family about so many tanks - at least my mom is fine with them )

There's places other than petco! Seriously, just google around for a bit and give them a call.

 

so just "live chatted" with someone at Petco and they DO accept them, I just need to call my local one before bringing them in.

 

There's places other than petco! Seriously, just google around for a bit and give them a call.

well let's hope that Petco takes all that I have and if they don't, I will definitely research another place. I wonder if they have a limit that they can accept at a time...….well here's hoping at least 20.

I understand your problem. I've never had the glo danios. I do have zebra and pearl danios though and they seem to be fairly healthy and are great hunters.

maybe it's the glo's… not sure. I've never had any type of danio, so I thought they were hearty. maybe i'm just doing something wrong. either way, they're obviously not for me. I like the glo tetras enough anyway. the danio was just to throw in a different fish, sort of.

 

maybe it's the glo's… not sure. I've never had any type of danio, so I thought they were hearty. maybe i'm just doing something wrong. either way, they're obviously not for me. I like the glo tetras enough anyway. the danio was just to throw in a different fish, sort of.

Sorry I couldn't help. Hopefully you will find a way to deal with so many red fry.

 

i'm SO EXCITED that I may be able to get these fish off my hands...… man I have SO MANY IDEAS I could do with this tank now that I have a better understanding of fish-keeping