platies breeding [Archive] - Aquaria Central

attiladahun

10-02-2005, 5:29 PM

hey all

i've had my 2 sunset fire platies since mid-july. one is male, the other female, and they're both healthy. the problem is that they arent breeding. maybe i just dont know what the signs are of a pregnant female(as far as i know, it's reclusiveness and a kind of bulge in the stomach). my ph is basic and as far as i know, the conditions in their 10- gallon tank are prime. also, i want to move them to a 20-gal so i can shut down my 10 gal, can i use plain old ziploc sandwich bags for moving them?

thanks

Beeker

10-02-2005, 5:42 PM

Are you certain that you have a male and a female? My platies don't seem to stop breeding. Also, how long have you had them? How big is your tank and what type of decorations do you have in it? Do you have plants? Live or fake? What is the lighting like? What are the rest of your readings on the water?

attiladahun

10-02-2005, 6:08 PM

i think my ph is about 7.4. the petco guy said they were male and female, and they have different "parts" if you know what i mean. their current tank is 10-gal, and i've ahd them for almost 4 months, and they havent bred at all in that whole time.

iamgroovy

10-02-2005, 7:12 PM

Do you have any plants? Also, it's usually better to have at least two females to one male. I've only had my platys for about 3 months (4 females and 2 males) and I have had at least 3 batches of fry. The first batch got eaten because I didn't have good places for them to hide. I added some fine leaved plants like hornwort and java moss and I have several fry from the last two batches that are a couple weeks old and a month or so old. What do you feed and how often? What is your maintenance routine? How about nitrAte levels? Usually platys breed like bunnies! Can you post pictures of yours?

I haven't noticed reclusiveness until they are just about ready to drop. They do get very round and then almost squarish but they look like they're ready to burst! They usually will have a gravid spot, a dark spot on the abdomen just above and in front of the anal fin. It's actually the eyes of the fry. They usually give birth at dawn (although I witnessed one of mine giving birth at 11:00pm...can't believe I actually saw it!)

Is there anything else in the tank with them? Does the male chase the female at all?

The Goose

10-02-2005, 7:41 PM

I thought this thread was going to be about getting platys to STOP breeding.

My girlfriend had some, and they spawned 4 times in something like 4 months, and she wasnt even trying. I think that perhaps they are both mail or female, or maybe they are expecting and you just can't tell.

A pregnant platy doesnt really have an obvious bulge, it just gets generally fat, which is surprisingly easy not to notice.

If all else fails, maybe your tank just needs the proper scenery for them to hide in. I'm no expert, but my girlfriend's tank had a sunken ship with a nice big cave. Maybe thats where the magic happens? :p:

iamgroovy

10-02-2005, 7:56 PM

A pregnant platy doesnt really have an obvious bulge, it just gets generally fat, which is surprisingly easy not to notice.

My platys did have obvious bulges. They looked like they swallowed marbles! But the females can store sperm for awhile so yours may have mated but she wants more hiding places. Get lots of plants.

wataugachicken

10-02-2005, 7:58 PM

as far as moving them, as long as your water temps are the same you can just put them in there. either use a net if the tanks are close to each other, or catch them and put them in a small container to move them from one tank to the other if there is some distance between them.

attiladahun

10-02-2005, 10:48 PM

all the plants in the 10-gal they're in now are fake. if and when i put them into the 20-gal, i will add some live plants. i dont have any cave-like spots in either tank, and i want to keep the look as natural as possible. how would pvc pipe caves work, if they would work, how would you make them, with what size pvc. the two tanks are in my bedroom, about 5 feet apart, and all water comes from the same sink, so do you think that the conditions will be equal enough for transfering the fish without a bag or floating them? there is an odessa barb living in the same tank as the platies, but they all seem to get along nicely.

anyone who answers all these questions is a saint :bowing: :bowing: :bowing: :bowing:

wataugachicken

10-03-2005, 9:31 AM

just make sure the temps are the same. most people just float the bag for 15 minutes to get the bag water the same temp as the tank water, then add the fish. if temps are the same, there's no waiting.

pvc is the least natural thing you could put in there, why not just use some driftwood?

iamgroovy

10-03-2005, 10:36 AM

They don't have to have real plants. Plastic or silk are fine, you just want lots of them. The fine leaved plants are best for the fry to hide in.

mishi8

10-03-2005, 11:21 AM

i've had my 2 sunset fire platies since mid-july. one is male, the other female, and they're both healthy. the problem is that they arent breeding.

It usually doesn't take much for platies to breed. Just a couple of thoughts on why they may not be breeding...
- They may not be mature enough yet
- The "female" may be a male that hasn't fully developed yet
- One or both may be sterile (not uncommon, especially with cross-breeding and over-breeding)

attiladahun

10-03-2005, 4:12 PM

tricksterpup

10-03-2005, 4:18 PM

Are you doing regular water changes? Regular feedings of mixed foods?

"Here is some good advice from Dr. Ted Colletti.

So in summary, keep the water calcium hard if you plan on keeping aquarium strains Mollys (or any other livebearer). Temperature near 80F is recommended for the fancy hybrid strains. Maintain weekly water changes of 30% and give them some space. I’d put no more than a trio of the larger fancy strains in a 10-gallon tank to bring them to full beauty. A 20 long is even better.

As for your fish being mutts, most fancy colored platies are actually mutts. Platies and Swords are from the same family. But if you want to see what true wild platies look like, try this link. http://xiphophorus.org/platys.htm

http://xiphophorus.org is a great site for info on platies and swordtails.

attiladahun

10-03-2005, 5:07 PM

pvc is the least natural thing you could put in there, why not just use some driftwood?

i originally wanted to put some driftwood in the tank, but my lfs doesn't carry driftwood and the petco has expensive, cheap, fake-looking dribtwood. if someone could hook me up with some bogwood thats natural and not messed up by human hands, that'd be great.

mishi8

10-03-2005, 6:48 PM

i'm still pretty convinced that i have a compatible pair of platies. i don't think theyre mutts, they have vibrant colors, and look the same species, but the male has a funny red mark behind the dorsal fin. i'll get some pics asap on my next post. also, they are both the same size-around 3/4 of an inch, probably mature enough, i think, would u?

thanx again

Hard to say, time will tell if they're both fully mature. I have heard that some breeds of livebearers are sterile though. At one LFS here, I was told that all the balloon mollys they sell are sterile. Apparently, it keeps hobbyists from breeding them. Don't know how much truth there is to that, but I wouldn't be surprised if that were the case.

attiladahun

10-03-2005, 10:36 PM

mishi8

10-03-2005, 11:40 PM

how should i find out whether petco sells sterile platies? if they do sell only sterile ones, how could i find a breeder to get some that aren't?

while i'm asking, can i get some opinions about whether i should get real or fake driftwood?

ps: sorry i couldn't get pics of the fish, it turns out my fish photography skills suck.

At this point, you don't know for sure that sterility is the problem. You could simply mention to Petco that your platies don't seem to be breeding, and ask if there could there be a reason for it. Have you done a little bit more research elsewhere about platies and breeding, to rule out all possible reasons? One other thought...could the female just be refusing the male's advances? Has he been hounding her at all?

The advantage to fake driftwood is that you don't need to sink it, it won't release tannins into your water, and will not affect (lower) your pH.

tricksterpup

10-04-2005, 12:25 AM

how should i find out whether petco sells sterile platies? if they do sell only sterile ones, how could i find a breeder to get some that aren't?

while i'm asking, can i get some opinions about whether i should get real or fake driftwood?

ps: sorry i couldn't get pics of the fish, it turns out my fish photography skills suck.
Ok, sterility is probably not your problem. I have never heard of this and feel its utter non sense. Here are some questions.
How often do you change your water? and how much of it do you change?
Water quality is more than like the reason why your fish are not breeding. Unless you do not have an actual pair.
Male platy
http://fish.orbust.net/images/male2.jpg

Female platy

http://fish.orbust.net/images/female.jpg

mishi8

10-04-2005, 1:25 AM

Ok, sterility is probably not your problem. I have never heard of this and feel its utter non sense.

Geez, you know I didn't suggest it as the answer, I just threw it out there as one of many possibilities to consider.

As an example from my own tank-- out of my 4 platies, I've got one male and three females (all added to the tank at the same time). One female has mated with the male and produced a number of broods, one female has mated with the male with no resulting pregnancies, and one "female" may actually be a juvenile male who is still developing. It is entirely possible that the female who has not produced fry is sterile, whether or not it's from overbreeding/genetics, health issues or water quality issues.

Beeker

10-04-2005, 6:54 PM

Really, if your Platies aren't breeding, something is wrong. One of my females gave birth in the bag on the way home. The babies got eaten and I had another brood a week later. It doesn't take much do breed them. Just make sure there are a lot of plants and hiding places. IMO real plants help.

TheMightyQueenPixie

10-04-2005, 6:58 PM

Count yourself lucky that they havnt bred LOL...Sterility is possible, although rare...Id look for horses before i looked for zebras.

fish_breeder_05

10-04-2005, 7:00 PM

baybe the female is alredy preagnent. they can only carry one batch at a time

attiladahun

10-04-2005, 9:33 PM

tricksterpup

10-05-2005, 12:56 PM

i guess i should change my water more often. my lfs and most fish books i've read say 25 percent change once a month. people here say 1/3 every week.
my male and female match the male and female in your pix.
Yeah after a few water changes you will notice a difference in your fish. I always expect fry when I do a water change. My females tend to drop when that happens.