Surprise Baby PLaty

[Peteisrad]

Ok

So I just posted a thread the other night on breeding platys. Just in the last couple of nights I have been very interested in the breeding process.

As I was watching my fish just now, I spotted one baby. Now I'm wondering how the heck did they have babies without me noticing? Ive searched my tank and I can only find one...and even then its hard to find it. The only explanation I guess is that they ate the rest of them. But I watch the fish alot. How come I didnt notice them? Is it possible that they only give birth to a few or perhaps one at a time? And how come I didnt even notice one of them was preggers? I've had them for about three weeks now, and I havent seen a change in their size.

OR, perhaps the female is currently in the middle of giving birth?? How long does the birth process take? I'm really very curious now. I've been planning on getting a breeding tank, or maybe a breeding net...but now its too late, hehe. This is a big surprise. Well, any questions or comments would be great. thanks

Pete

[Peteisrad]

Right after posting, I did some more searching for babies. I actually found four behind my filter that had been sucked up. ONe was dead. So in all, there are five counting the one I saw in the tank, but one dead one...so that would be four. I'm afraid that if I put them back in the tank they will either get eaten or sucked behind the filter for a really dirty death. Instead, I put them in a small tupperware container and floated it at the top of the tank so the temp would be stable. It s really late at night now so I cant run out to the LFS. The container will be a makeshift breeder net until I get my hands on one tomorrow.

So...is it possible for them to have as little as 5 babies?? OR have the others either been eaten or not found?

Pete

[Faramir]

Probably got et.

[Bantam]

its not impossible for there to be only five but its much more likely the others met a sticky end one way or another or are indeed still hiding somewhere - they're pretty hard to spot sometimes.

the female does have a degree of control over when the sprogs pop out so again its not too far fetched to suggest there may be more to come. mind you, unless you have something to feed them to you should be happy with 4 because you'll be over run with the little buggers in a few months:D

[Alex]

My Platys had about 20 at a time and they came out at a rate of 1 every minute or so. They will eat them if you don't get the fry away from the parents. Don't worry, if yours have bred once they will probably breed again, many times.

Alex