i've bred guppies but now i want to breed platys. any advice?

[sairagh]

i've bred guppies and i like them but now i'm thinking i want to breed platys. i have heard that mollies in a lot of pet shops are low quality and sword tails take a good long time to mature. i dont have a lot of time to get overly involved in the breeding process which is why i like livebearers. can i keep my guppies and platys together in a 10 gallon tank or is that too cramped? and does anyone have any other advice?

[devon 88]

well if i was you i would stick with guppys bec there easy to breed but yeah you can keep guppys with platys in a big tank but

[SnakeIce]

guppies take 24 days gestation and the 10 to 40 young sexually mature in three to four months.

Maculatus platies(more common) gestation of 24-30 days and the 20 to 80 young reach sexual maturity after four to five months.

Variatus platies same as above, up to 100 young, but males take 1 to 2 years to reach full coloring.

helleri swordtails gestation 24-30 days and the 20 to 200 young reach sexual maturity after 8-12 months.

Unless you get wild fish from the boondocks, aquarium trade mollies tend to be crosses of Poecilia latipinna, petenensis, sphenops, and velifera with other species possibly in there as well.
Gestations of those species, 28 days. young matureing in 8-9 months though possible as early as 4 months due to one contributeing species.


Based on the above you can get an idea of how much faster guppies are at reproduceing than some other common livebearers.

[TheMightyQueenPixie]

Always breed the best stock you can afford, regardless of species...No sense in puttin all your energy into a bunch of grade fish...A nice trio of Guppys start at about 30 usd and their easy breeding makes them a worth while endeavour...

[ronnfive]

sairagh, yes you can keep them without having any problem. But the question is do u have any other tank? 10 gallon is way too small to handle lots of fry plus their parents. if u can provide bigger tank that's the time you may decide to get platies and breed them. regular platies can get 3-3.5 inch long FYI.

ronn