Too many platies!

[H20girl]

I have a 20G tank with 5 grown platies... one had babies and 9 survived in the tank with the adults... they are about a month old now and the adults really don't even chase after them anymore.

The 3 grown females all look very pregnant right now, so I think there will be even more babies soon.

Trouble is, I'm attached to the fry... I don't want them to go just anywhere but I can't keep them. One thought was to keep a few females and take the rest of the fry and the adult males to a fish shop. Do you think they'll take them (and not use them as feeder fish)?

I responded to an ad on Craigslist written by someone looking for fish, but didn't hear back. Maybe I can post an ad and find them homes that way, but again, I am worried about what will happen to them.

My remaining idea is to get another tank and separate the boys and girls... Is a tank full of boys a bad idea (i.e., would they fight)? My boyfriend would not be happy about me getting another tank (Him: "WHERE are you going to put it?!"; Me: "Your office?"; Him: "Uh, no."), but I'm still considering it!

Any idea how old the fry have to be before you can tell their gender? They all look like girls right now...

 

[Kunsthure]

Around 3-4 months is what I've been told for when sex becomes apparent. I'm still waiting on my fry to show theirs.

Some LFS will take fry. One around me will give 1/3 retail value in store credit, but since livebearers are like $1 it's not a lot. I've read of people on here taking their fry to Petco, but no money or store credit is given. You may or may not be able to find a store to take the adults. Petsmart told me that there is no way in heck that they will take back a fish after the 14 day guarantee period, even for free.

You'll still have fry for several months even after separating the boys and girls, but it's still a long-term solution. I had four platy boys but three ganged up on the fourth sensitive one and he died of stress. . But the three now all jockey back and forth and it's ok since they have similar personalities. So it can work.

-Lisa

 

[Marc M]

I have had many fry in my main tank. I even bought a 10G fry tank and a floating breeder to save them. My LFS takes them and sells them as Native Born Platies. If you plan to kep livebearers you can't get attached to the fry. You could try segregating them by gender but the males may fight. If you can find an LFS that will take them you may find yourself enjoying breeding them. I just saved about 12 new fry tonight!

 

[Kunsthure]

"Native born platys" huh?

-Lisa

 

[H20girl]

Ha, that's interesting about the "native born"! I imagine most platies are native born, but that's funny they are advertising them as such.

I was kinda thinking that nature would take it's course and all but maybe one or two fry from each batch would get eaten, but it looks like we have too many hiding places in our tank. *Although, maybe we could get a gourami or something else that would go after the babies more aggressively.

I was clueless when we got these fish and had no idea how to tell the boys and girls apart... if I had thought this through more we would have only gotten females. The fry are super cute though and I am looking forward to keeping a few to watch them grow.

I will call up some LFS and see if they will take them. Unfortunately the majority of the non-chain stores near me have closed in the last year or two due to the economy.

 

[ranga97]

Hello, welcome!!
The best thing to do is try to give them away if you don't want them, please don't flush them down the toilet!
If your lfs is a chain then most likely they won't accept anything, they might, but in most cases they don't... But if it is, it could be worth a try.
Maybe your friend, family or someone else would love to take them!
When I had mine, five survived the first two months, but only two survived the first 5 months.
Maybe you could invest in another tank (8 gallon minimum) and use it to raise platies or as a quarantine? As they grow from fry, and if you have sufficient filteration (biological) you probably won't have to worry about ammonia, nitrite and nitrate. But if you do this than you platies could start to become aggressive toward each other.
* the gouramis would definatley eat the fry although I'd rather keep them. That's in my opinion! You can do whatever you wish as it is you tank! The gourami might even add a spice and dash of colour to your tank, just remember to add only one specimen to decrease risks of aggression. This is only really important for males!

Do whatever you can, and best of luck!

Ranga

 

[H20girl]

Update: I posted an add on Craigslist and someone came and picked up the 2 males and a few of the fry. I felt guilty letting them go, but the man claimed to have a 40G community tank, so i'm hoping for the best for them.

 

[Marc M]

That's the best you could do. I am confident someone who was willing to make contact and drive to you is not using them as feeders. You could buy feeders mega cheap.

 

[Aquarist]

Good morning,

I have moved your thread to the Live Bearer/Platy section of the forum.

Thanks!
Ken

 

[H20girl]

Thanks, Ken - I thought that was where I'd posted it! Whoops!

Marc - Thanks for your comment, it made me feel a little better. I think you are probably right.

 

[ranga97]

So what ended up happening????????

 

[H20girl]

ranga97 - I put an ad on Craigslist and a man and his daughter took the 2 males and most of the babies. They said they have a 40 gallon, so hopefully they're doing ok there. Now I have the 3 females, 4 babies, and 3 new cory. When the babies get bigger, I will find homes for the males. Eventually I'll get a few more cories.

 

[konstargirl]

Hi! Your females will still give birth for at least a couple of more months. I think your should take the remaining fry to the petstore. I take the fry that my females gives, but they don't give me a store credit or anything.. They should though. And don't add anymore fish at this time until your females will not give birth anymore. Do your females get along with each other or do they fight? My two females do not get along with each other and now I have a tank divider and they seem to enjoy their space.

What kind of cories do you have?

 

[H20girl]

Yeah, I figured there'd be more babies for awhile longer. I just found a pretty good LFS (yay!), so I'll see if they'll take them (assuming they have more).

One of the girls has been harassing the other two females ever since the males left, but things seemed to have improved since I added the cories. I think they're ok though... she hasn't nipped anyone's fins yet and they all still want to swim together (nobody hides or anythihng).

Oh, my cories are C. Trilineatus ("false Julli"). They look like this:


( from )

 

[Jas123456]

Hello, I'm in a bit of a sticky situation. All of a sudden my platties had babies, which was fine but now there are at least 60 almost fully grown in my 120litre tank! As much as I love and wish I could keep them, more and more keep coming... so many that my tank cannot handle it anymore and it's not fair on the other fish. I've introduced another larger filter thinking that might solve the waste problem.. it has helped but has not resolved the problem. You can literally always see waste at the bottom of the tank even tho I vacuum the gravel as much as I can, and the filters fill up straight away. There are too many fish in the tank. I've called up and asked in fish shops if they will take them for free but no one seems to do that, especially as they're 'only' platties. My only choice is to euthanise many of them (separate container) with clove oil but I can't bring myself round to doing it without approval from pro's in this forum. I look at them and think wow how beautiful. Friends have said they will take a few but nobody's going to take even half of them. What do you guys recommend? I live in the UK. Cannot get another tank as this is in my parents house. Is it ok to euthanise because they're simply ruining the once healthy environment in the tank?

 

[SM1199]

Ultimately, euthanasia is your choice and I doubt you'll find a lot of backlash from the pros here. You can always try putting up "free fish" ads in your local fish/pet stores - many around me have boards specifically for things like this, where you can just tack a piece of paper there with a brief description, maybe a picture, and your phone number or email.

 

[Jas123456]

Ultimately, euthanasia is your choice and I doubt you'll find a lot of backlash from the pros here. You can always try putting up "free fish" ads in your local fish/pet stores - many around me have boards specifically for things like this, where you can just tack a piece of paper there with a brief description, maybe a picture, and your phone number or email.

Thank you for your response. I will most likely go for this option then.

 

[Kaitlynn]

You could try putting them on Facebook yard sale groups I got a lot of my guppies from Facebook

 

[Guanchy]

Keep researching and try to contact as many stores in your areas as you can, put ads online etc... Honestly I don't think that to euthanize the fish is a solution, they will just keep reproducing and then what would you do? lol keep euthanizing fish? I would just try to get rid of all the females first and then just keep a small batch of males in the tank.

 

[Jas123456]

Keep researching and try to contact as many stores in your areas as you can, put ads online etc... Honestly I don't think that to euthanize the fish is a solution, they will just keep reproducing and then what would you do? lol keep euthanizing fish? I would just try to get rid of all the females first and then just keep a small batch of males in the tank.

Ok tomorrow I will keep looking for places that will take the majority. Has to be somewhere.

I

If you want to ship them, I may be interested in a good few depending on their max size. What variant do you have?
Edit: just saw the pic. How long and how tall are the adults?

Would liked to have shipped them but don't really have the equipment to do it. Going to look for more stores to take them.

 

[Cea22]

your platys will most likely keep having babies for as long as you have a pair able to breed.... do you know anyone with larger cichlids that like live food? I used to give my platy babies to my friends with large cichlids to use as feeders.

 

[Rtessy]

I


Would liked to have shipped them but don't really have the equipment to do it. Going to look for more stores to take them.

No problem, just wanted to offer

If it doesn't pan out, I could help walk you through how to ship fish. Bit better than euthanizing them.
I do think that some store near you would be able to take them though. Chain stores like PetSmart and Petco can't buy from private sellers, so you'd have to find family owned ones.

 

[Shelaty]

Hello, I'm in a bit of a sticky situation. All of a sudden my platties had babies, which was fine but now there are at least 60 almost fully grown in my 120litre tank! As much as I love and wish I could keep them, more and more keep coming... so many that my tank cannot handle it anymore and it's not fair on the other fish. I've introduced another larger filter thinking that might solve the waste problem.. it has helped but has not resolved the problem. You can literally always see waste at the bottom of the tank even tho I vacuum the gravel as much as I can, and the filters fill up straight away. There are too many fish in the tank. I've called up and asked in fish shops if they will take them for free but no one seems to do that, especially as they're 'only' platties. My only choice is to euthanise many of them (separate container) with clove oil but I can't bring myself round to doing it without approval from pro's in this forum. I look at them and think wow how beautiful. Friends have said they will take a few but nobody's going to take even half of them. What do you guys recommend? I live in the UK. Cannot get another tank as this is in my parents house. Is it ok to euthanise because they're simply ruining the once healthy environment in the tank?

There has got to be people that would take some off your hands you just got to get the word out. Post on all social media and tell all your family, friends, neighbors, co-workers, even employees at the places you shop at.

I am jealous! My platys won't give me any fry

 

[Jas123456]

If it doesn't pan out, I could help walk you through how to ship fish. Bit better than euthanizing them.
I do think that some store near you would be able to take them though. Chain stores like PetSmart and Petco can't buy from private sellers, so you'd have to find family owned ones.

Ah ok that's probably where I was going wrong because I only asked the large stores. Will go to smaller ones. Thanks!

I am jealous! My platys won't give me any fry

Ah I was also excited with Fry but now they are too big for the tank didn't work out too well.

 

[ColmC]

Jas, I’m from the UK and have the same problem. My tank always full.

I found advertising on your Facebook area group worked or taking them to fish shops which are not the big brands like a self employed one. Try those

 

[Jas123456]

Jas, I’m from the UK and have the same problem. My tank always full.

I found advertising on your Facebook area group worked or taking them to fish shops which are not the big brands like a self employed one. Try those

Will do thanks! It seems the more popular answer is to take it to the smaller fish shops.

 

[Hunter1]

You really need to get rid of all of one sex.

Or a second tank, one for males and one for females.

 

[Pescado_Verde]

My solution is keeping other fish with the Platies. I have 5 Gouramis now in my 55 gallon tank and the Platie explosion has been neutralized. The fry become feeder fish.

 

[Tyler Young]

I feed my fish on a 6 say schedule, because I have issues with guppy and platy fry. So I feed my fish two small meals a day for six days, then on the 7th day I let the fish pick through the tank. This keeps the fry numbers controlled, I cannot tank care of the numbers of fish that are being produced and my LFS won't tank platys and guppies so I think the most humane way is letting the bigger fish pick them off in the tank.

 

[Thunder_o_b]

Keep only males or females. I keep only male guppies and generally keep only female mollies.

Add Bolivian rams to hunt the fry. After several months without males/ or females the fry will stop.