breeding platties
- Thread starter raift
- Start date
Usually when my platys are about to give birth, the females belly has been blown up like a balloon for over a week. They tend to hide in the back behind the plants. As they start to give birth they swim upward toward the surface then dart downward toward the gravel over and over again, often pausing as each baby is released. If it is a huge batch of babies the mother will often take a break between groups, and the entire process may take several hours for them all to come out. If she is frightened during this time she will often stop for a while until she feels safe again. I've seen the babies come out anywhere from 1 to 4 at a time. The smallest batch of fry that I have seen is 6 and the largest must have been about 80 (best guestimate hard to count that many). If the mother is sick, overly stressed or not quite fully mature just before she gives birth there will be a higher percentage of still born fry.
I suggest that if you are trying to keep as many fry as possible that you move the mother to a seperate tank by herself just shortly after you notice her belly starting to bulge, and be patient and wait. I strongly discourage putting the mother of any of those breeders nets/cages sold at the pet store, because they are highly frightened and stressed by the tiny cage and fight non-stop to escape. I'd use no smaller than one of those cheap 2.5 gal tanks to put the mother in with plenty of places for her to hide, located in an area of the house where she won't have a ton of external things moving around the tank stressing her.
If you do not have the means to support a large population of platys, you may simply let nature take its coarse in your main tank, where the weak, stupid or unlucky fry are eaten by the other fish and only a few of them survive. Another thing you can do to control the population is to keep the males and females seperate. Keep in mind that once a female platy has been mated she can get pregnant over and over again every month for several months even without mating again.
If you lack extra tanks, the fry can be kept in those breeder net/cages until they are large enough not to be eaten (just larger than the mouth opening of the larger fish).
Breeding platys can be a lot of fun, just be careful not to over do it, because their numbers can quickly overwhelm you, and giving away or selling the excess is sometimes easier said than done. Also keep in mind that many pet stores and other aquarium keepers are picky and don't necessarily want your ugly mutt rejects, they want healthy, pretty, colorful, and active fish. (You know the ones you'd rather keep for yourself).
I suggest that if you are trying to keep as many fry as possible that you move the mother to a seperate tank by herself just shortly after you notice her belly starting to bulge, and be patient and wait. I strongly discourage putting the mother of any of those breeders nets/cages sold at the pet store, because they are highly frightened and stressed by the tiny cage and fight non-stop to escape. I'd use no smaller than one of those cheap 2.5 gal tanks to put the mother in with plenty of places for her to hide, located in an area of the house where she won't have a ton of external things moving around the tank stressing her.
If you do not have the means to support a large population of platys, you may simply let nature take its coarse in your main tank, where the weak, stupid or unlucky fry are eaten by the other fish and only a few of them survive. Another thing you can do to control the population is to keep the males and females seperate. Keep in mind that once a female platy has been mated she can get pregnant over and over again every month for several months even without mating again.
If you lack extra tanks, the fry can be kept in those breeder net/cages until they are large enough not to be eaten (just larger than the mouth opening of the larger fish).
Breeding platys can be a lot of fun, just be careful not to over do it, because their numbers can quickly overwhelm you, and giving away or selling the excess is sometimes easier said than done. Also keep in mind that many pet stores and other aquarium keepers are picky and don't necessarily want your ugly mutt rejects, they want healthy, pretty, colorful, and active fish. (You know the ones you'd rather keep for yourself).
fishisme said:
Many people in general consider all livebearers very easy to breed.
I've never kept guppies, but hear that they can go eitherway, some are extremely easy to breed while some fancy guppies are more difficult.
I've kept mollies, platys, & swordtails, and did ok with them, but out of the three I thought mollies were slightly more difficult, because they were born in smaller batchs, seemed to have more variations, and more birth defects. It could be that I had just started poor beeding stock though. To me platys have always been extremely easy and therefor my favorite, although I've recently started with swordtails, and have so far also found them to be quite easy.
For me the fun and interesting part is when you set a goal as to what you want "your" breed to look like and work toward acheiving it. It doesn't matter if it is something completely new, or something that has been done many times in the past. It doesn't even matter if you succeed with the goal or not, it's just plain fun to try. You don't have to be a genetics expert to try it either, just pick the ones you like & breed em and if ya like the results repeat the process, if not try something else.
Mollies are pretty difficult- they need some salt in the water, need lots of veggie food and algae, high temps, etc. The mollies that come into stores are already 3/4 of the way to being dead- they almost always have clamped fins and are doing that forward and back shimmy that says "I will die soon". If they get chilled it is almost impossible to save them. They just aren't beginner fish, and discourage a lot of people from fishkeeping.
If you want to save some of the platies and don't have a spare tank, make some spawing mops right away:
http://www.aquarticles.com/articles/breeding/Leong_Spawning_Mop.html
Killie breeders use them all the time. Much cheaper than buying enough floating plants, and they will last longer if you're not a good plant grower.
Lighter colored yarn will have less dye- I'd look for a light green. Be sure to use acrylic- wool and other natural fibers will rot in water!
Good luck!
If you want to save some of the platies and don't have a spare tank, make some spawing mops right away:
http://www.aquarticles.com/articles/breeding/Leong_Spawning_Mop.html
Killie breeders use them all the time. Much cheaper than buying enough floating plants, and they will last longer if you're not a good plant grower.
Lighter colored yarn will have less dye- I'd look for a light green. Be sure to use acrylic- wool and other natural fibers will rot in water!
Good luck!
when a white string is coming out of the gravid spot. It looks like poo.
This tells you that the platy is about to or in the process of giving birth. Today, my platy finally gave birth when was at home so i finally got to see it.
This tells you that the platy is about to or in the process of giving birth. Today, my platy finally gave birth when was at home so i finally got to see it.
