controlling platies population

S

swinneyw

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Feb 1, 2008
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about 6 months ago i set up a 29 gallon tank i put 5 platies and 3 corys in well the platies were all pregnant well 4 were i had 1 male they started having babys i ended up with over 30 platies whey too many and they were were all getting pregnant over and over 1 don't know any one to give them to and pets mart won't take them so i started doing 50% water changes it seem to be working my water supply is well water and something went wrong the water had too much clorine i allways treat the water with prime well any way as soon as i started pouring the new water in they started dying everry one of them died i now have a very clean tank my live plants are very clean and i'm going to have to start all over and get it cycled againi think i'll stock it with tetras or something that lays eggsafter it was over with my wife said the water taste bad i very seldom drink water so i didn't notice :confused:
 
Sorry to hear about your problem. In my younger days I used to keep both Guppies and Swordtails (at different times) - both had the same problems you had- with non-stop reproduction.

Getting all of one sex can be problematic- females can arrive to you pregnant without you knowing. A tank of all males can become roudy and the more aggressive males picking on less aggressive males or community tank mates. All of one sex is the only way to avoid fry though. One male + one female eventually - babies.

But- mistakes can be made with sexing even though livebearers are typically easy to sex (mistakes with some though: especially in some species, such as sword tails where non-dominant males can on occasion masquerade as females) and you're stuck with baby livebearers.

A LFS might take the young... don't give the young many hiding places and the adults will eat them... or get a Cichlid tank and feed the Cichlids the babies. ;) Good excuse to get another tank!

Having livebearers puts you at high risk of being over-run with them. I know I'll never get another swordtail, platty, molly, endler or Guppy... even though I love swordtails. Although, that's in-part because I like getting different species to what I've already had too!
 
Controlling live bearer population is very easy put a Betta (male or female) in your tank . It will keep your surviving fry level down to 4 or 5 per drop (or less sometimes) combined with what the parents eat and look fabulous while doing it!
I personally consider it a service for the poor creatures stuck in all those pitiful cups. They get along fine with the guppys adults and juvies I have kept them with and the few newborn fry that managed to survive in the tank with them were strong and smart about hiding.
 
huffmagx said:
Controlling live bearer population is very easy put a Betta (male or female) in your tank . It will keep your surviving fry level down to 4 or 5 per drop (or less sometimes) combined with what the parents eat and look fabulous while doing it!
I personally consider it a service for the poor creatures stuck in all those pitiful cups. They get along fine with the guppys adults and juvies I have kept them with and the few newborn fry that managed to survive in the tank with them were strong and smart about hiding.
Click to expand...

That's funny because my betta was in a 5 gallon tank with guppy fry and he never ate any. He is now in my 29 gallon community tank without any problems.
 
My Bettas were voracious but only on the newborns once they were a few days /week old I guess they just didn't taste as yummy. I just kept my Betta in the tank I needed population control in ( it was really an accident initially) and she took care of it only allowing a few fry to survive between her and the adult gups of course.
 
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