What that? It's a baby Platy! How? What to do now?

[bman]

OK, I was just cleaning my tank this afternoon, and after readjusting my Wisteria, I see this little thing swimming around the base to the plant. After studying my tank for fifteen minutes, I found one small mickey mouse hiding beneath the lower shoots of the wisteria.

I told my wife the other day that I thought one of the platys looked swollen, and then was sort of stirring around in the same low spot. Now, I am a proud father of one little guy, my wife named him #1 because she said we are going to have lots.

Is this true? The [acronym:e06dbf9bb9="Local Fish Store"]lfs[/acronym:e06dbf9bb9] lied and said all of my Mickey mouse platys were female. (I'm having a flashback to when my wife and I had siberian hamsters that were "supposed" to be both the same sex: 13 babies later and 6 tanks ago)

What do I do now? Do I overfeed the fish so leftovers can make it to the bottom for him? Will the others try to eat him? Will there be more? Did gravel cleaning the bottom kill any unborn little guys, or worse did I suck them up in the gravel cleaner?

Oh what to to do! My wife told me the ferts I put in for the plants are some sort of baby juice, because I am so obsessed about my tank.

Anyone please advise, Thanks!

[sudz]

from what I've heard, baby brine shrimp may be good. People at my local club just crush up flake food to be SUPER small and turn their filters on low, as the little fry get sucked up easily, and the food will too. Ideally its good to seperate him from his parents, as most fish tend to eat their young. But if hes been living there for a while, you may be ok. How big is he?

[bman]

I would imagine he is the size of a pencil point, like 1/8" long.

Yeah, I do not know how I would separate the parents from him as I have no other tanks, and I can not even find the little guy unless I stare at the tank for a while. Even now I can not locate him. I guess that may be why he is still alive.

My filter does not have "low" setting on it. I guess I could open the mid-way valve to full open to avoid too much water from being sucked up from the bottom of the tank.

Any place I can search for information about trying to keep him alive?

How many can I expect?

Should I put something in there to help them hide from the parents?

[sudz]

any [acronym:5aeb99ca38="Local Fish Store"]LFS[/acronym:5aeb99ca38] has a little mesh container that you can hang on the side of your tank, its basically a net, so the food and baby fish are safely contained, and nobody can eat them, You may want to look into those.

I've never actually BRED fish, but i'm looking into it, you've prett ymuch hit the extent of my knowledge!

Good luck! and congrats at being a fish's father :P

[Zagz]

Many livebearer's can store sperm for several months I believe. Your [acronym:2ea4edeb93="Local Fish Store"]lfs[/acronym:2ea4edeb93] didn't necessarily lie to you on the all female thing. You can feed baby brine shrimp, very very well crushed flake food. If you have plenty of hiding spots the fry may survive on it's own. They make plastic breeder tanks that float in your regular tank if you want to get one of those. Congratulations!

[bman]

How long will he need to hide to avoid becoming food? I am just assuming it would be bigger than the largest mouth in the tank (The black molly) That may put the guy in around a 1/2" ? How long will that be?

I must do some research. Any direction as to where?

[sudz]

Google. It is your friend.

[Florida8]

Hi! Many years ago I bred guppies and mollies.

You could have quite a few, or they could have already been born and made a meal. You can float live java moss and other thicker type plants live, plastic or silk will do as well, for hiding if you don't want to set up a sep. tank at the moment. You can also buy a fish nursery... they are small square net holding areas to keep them safe and sound until they get some size to them. the fit right on your tank.

For food, rub flakes between your fingers ot powder it almost and he should be fine.


[acronym:58de2a723f="By the way"]BTW[/acronym:58de2a723f], these gals can store sperm for a longgg time... no need for males ... like mice!



Congrats!

[Zagz]

I have several fry that manage to avoid being food for the other fish. also some have become food for other fish. Depending on how much he gets to eat he will be big enough in about a couple of months I would expect.

[bman]

Well, looks like he became food for the others. I guess it was not meant to be, which is a good thing since I do not have much room to accommodate that many new fish. I guess if during more of these fry spurts I may have some that are smart and quick enough to avoid being a natural snack food; and I guess I will have plenty more spurts due to the fact that I have two males and two females.

I have decided against trying to keep the fry by buying a breeding hang in tank, and let nature take it's course.