Platy Fry - and raising them

[pthalobluebetta]

Hey all,

My platy was pregnant for a while and this morning I just noticed some goggly eyed fry swimming around when I went to feed them. It must have happened in the last 24 hours because I didn't see them yesterday morning.

I fished them out and put them in my water change bucket with about a gallon or 2 of water, some moss and plants. I didn't want the parents to eat them =)

These are my first fry since I just bought the platys about 2 months ago. It's pretty warm today so I'm not worried about temperature, but will the fry be okay in the bucket and for how long?

I have an empty 2.5 gallon w/ a filter, heater, moss and plants, but testing the water this morning, the ammonia was at 2.5ppm since a fish had just recently died in it, so I put the fry in the bucket instead.

I'm in the process of setting up a 30g so I could put the fry in their once its up, but what to do in the meantime? The original tank was a pretty well planted 6g with 4 fairly young platies that are now about 1" - I think they are sunset colored. Did most of the fry get eaten? I'm not sure how many are usually born in one go.

thanks for any tips!

 

[jm1212]

how many fry did you find?

the bucket will not be adequate for long. move them into a filtered tank ASAP. you should set up the 30 gallon for the adults, and then put the fry in the 6 gallon for growout.

change the water in the bucket frequently. once daily or twice daily.

 

[pthalobluebetta]

I found 4 this morning, maybe some ended up in the filter, or were eaten before I discovered them. They seem pretty large already - about 1/4" long. 2 orange ones and 2 pale-ish ones. I may have to jump start the 2.5g as my 30g is nowhere near ready.

But if I stick them back in the 6g at their current size, will they be eaten by their parents? They seem to be very quick and strong swimmers based on what I observed this morning.

I have 1 cory, 4 platies and 3 amano shrimp (1 pregnant) in their right now.