Found baby platys!!

invisible1130

invisible1130

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Feb 18, 2006
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Last night my son spotted what he thought was "poop" and it ended up being a tiny baby platy. I have spotted about 3 so far - they are hiding among the plants and the rocks on the bottom of the tank. I just got 3 new platys on Saturday and I suspected the female may be pregnant b/c of how round she was. Now I have these little platy fry...what do I do now? I know they have a chance at being eaten b/c they are in with 3 platys, a male betta and 6 neon tetras. They seem to be hiding pretty well though. I want to get a new tank today (maybe a 2.5 gallon) and make that the fry tank. What is the easiest way to go about getting these little guys out and into the safe tank without hurting them??? HELP...very clueless on this topic!
 
If it was me I'd skip the 2.5gal tank and just get a 10gal. Around here 10gal tanks are actually cheaper than the 2.5gal. The maintenance on a 10 would be easier than the smaller one. For a fry tank you really don't need anything special a sponge filter and a heater would be all you really need. I'm not sure how to remove the fry if they are alive and hiding I'd just let nature take its course.
 
I'm not sure if there is a better way, but the one time I saved some fry I netted them and they were fine. However I would imagine this would be hard to do, I only caught mine b/c I was emptying out the tank and got down to about 2 inches of water and saw them moving, they were really tiny!! And I agree about just getting the 10g too, you can even use it for a QT tank then after the fry
 
They seem to be hiding pretty well. I've got some bushy plants on the bottom (silk) and they seem to be zipping in and out of the rocks and even getting some food. do you think they would be better off if I just left them in there for the time being? And once they get a bit bigger so they would be easier to net would it be more beneficial at that point to move them to the 10 gallon? I actually have a 29 gallon cycling now. I have some fish in a 10 gallon that will be moved to the 29 gallon once it cycles. (Hopefully it will only be another week or two) I could use that 10 gallon to house the fry. That way its already cycled as well.
 
Yeah, I think I'd just leave them where they are for the time being. If you want to give them a better chance at not being someone's lunch, maybe you could try adding some more hiding places for the little dudes. It seems like you've already got some good places for them, though, so maybe that won't be necessary. Moving them to the ten gal when they're bigger sounds like a good plan. :)
 
For right now, though, I would put a piece of panty hose over the intake strainer on your filter to keep the fry out. One time I woke up in the morning and noticed that my filter cartridge was full and that my platy was smaller. She finally had her babies, but my Whisper had gotten them before I did. I pulled out the cartridge and noticed all of the 'chopped up' fry in the cartridge. Please learn from my mistake.
 
fishieperson321 said:
For right now, though, I would put a piece of panty hose over the intake strainer on your filter to keep the fry out. One time I woke up in the morning and noticed that my filter cartridge was full and that my platy was smaller. She finally had her babies, but my Whisper had gotten them before I did. I pulled out the cartridge and noticed all of the 'chopped up' fry in the cartridge. Please learn from my mistake.
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Oh, I never even gave the filter a thought! Thanks so much for that heads up!!! I hope the little fellas are getting enough to eat! I've been feeding the other fish as normal and crumbling some flakes for the babies. I hope they are getting enough!
 
1. like was stated, don't waste your time with 2.5g tanks, get a 10G for 10 bucks and a heater, sponge or filter, i'm using a penn plax 100 for filtration and even the one day old fry don't get sucked in, i will cut the flow back if their under 2 days. we currently are breeding Molly and Platy fry and have over 100, and only lost two due to me adding them in my brackish tank (salt didn't get them, bigger fish did). they are fun to raise and my LFS will give me a good price for them when they get bigger. they sell for $3.99 a piece here. If you plan on keeping them, feed them 3+ times a day and do frequent large volume water changes :) good luck
 
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