Population Control

[RaHowe]

So I have a 29 gallon tank with 4 platy (2 male 2 female), 1 black molly, and 1 dwarf gourami. Lately the platies have been reproducing like crazy and i dont have another tank to put the males in. There are lots of babies and I am thinking about getting another bigger fish to eat the babies that survive. Will an angel fish or red tail shark work?

 

[Delapool]

Ignoring tank size, an angelfish would ime. I've had some that haven't gotten very big but no idea how to tell from young ones.

Not sure on the shark but likely to get too big anyways.

A betta also would ime but I've had trouble between betta's and gourami's (could of just been unlucky here and there I guess).

How many babies are we talking about? Usually I find lot's of babies but only some grow up.

 

[Arget]

A Betta female would work. For a time I had to merge my Sorority with my Guppies, and I couldn't find any little fry. It depends on the Betta though. A male might also work, but they tend to be much more aggressive. I haven't kept any Gourami's, so I don't know if they would cause issues. Any small fish that prefers live food, like insect larvae, should work if they mistake the fry for insect larvae. In Guppies the parents will also snack on their own fry, they mistake them for blood worms and other larvae.

 

[Bre7337]

I think another gourami would help, as long as they’re similar size as the other fish, because they are sometimes semi aggressive when it comes to dominating another. I’ve used a smaller gourami and a young cichlid to control my molly fry population in my 30gallon because for some reason nearly all of the fry always lived lol. Just make sure there’s plenty of hiding spots for the platies and Molly too

 

[coralbandit]

Re home the females and fry.
Give them to an LFS for 2 more males.
Even if you separated the males from females she could deliver up to 7 more batches of fry..Platies like swordtails retain milt in the event they don't get to so a male again for a while...