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Nope, this is NOT the permanent solution! There are currently 17 fry in the tank, and yes, it is way, way too small for that many adult platies! This is a just a more-stable next step. If all the fry currently surviving continue to survive, I have promised the owner of this aquarium 2-3...

An Update There has been, in my classroom, so much drama around these little fish! And with the drastic weather, long weekends, and daily 100% water changes, I have felt in the past few weeks that I've been eating, sleeping, and breathing fish. (In fact, they regularly feature in my dreams.)...

I'm preparing a series of lessons on basic fish husbandry, particularly since several of my students have asked about taking home and keeping some of the surviving baby platies. My intention is not to go into much detail about SW aquariums, but just to explain the basic differences between SW...

When I was first cycling a tank I found ammonia at my local hardware store. It's very important, though, to make sure it's 100% ammonia, with no other cleansing additives.

The platy fry are active, growing, and our actual total is 28! With daily water changes their ammonia level has been kept at .5 or lower. Their pH is 7.4 and I haven't lost any more than those original three who died within a day. (Well, one might have been fed to a betta, but that was purely...

I have gone on a testing spree of every tank in the school, now that I have the kit. (I'm putting it in the science budget and am going to do a few lessons on the nitrogen cycle!) So, in the main aquarium, where the guppy, platy, and adolescent platy reside, the parametres are as follows: pH...

Fishkeeping is wonderful, joyful, and exciting. But sometimes it's exhausting and unexpected. Have you ever gotten a fish you weren't prepared for? An aquarium? Gotten in over your head (so to speak?) I was always overly conscientious, researched extensively, and talked a lot with people...

In brief: I am not new to fishkeeping, but it has been 15 years. In the past month I unexpectedly became a full-time homeroom teacher and in the process inherited a relatively new (2 months?) established fish tank populated with some species I have never had before. Thank heavens it wasn't a...

All the fish are back at school (and thankfully out of my bathroom) and the fry seem to be thriving! The students, while disappointed about the mothers, are very enthusiastic about the babies. Thank you for your help!

My fishkeeping obsession began 18 years ago when my daughter, whom I was homeschooling using the Montessori method, was ready to move on from studying invertebrates to vertebrates. We had done catch-care-and-learn-and-release for a number of invertebrates at that point and she had proven...

Give me time to learn to care for fry before throwing more baby fish at me! :huh: As I said, I'm in damage control phase, not yet to long-term plan phase. Here's what I've got planned so far: 1) Clean water, stable temperature, and frequent feeding until they are large enough to safely...

"Should you try this again..." Nope! Nope! No way! This is not something I ever intended on trying in the first place and my plan upon returning to school was to give that adult male platy to another teacher with a platy-free aquarium so there would be no more surprise pregnancies. Back...

I currently have at least 26 platy fry unexpectedly swimming in my bathroom. And if that isn't a cry for help, I don't know what is! Three weeks ago I "inherited" an aquarium with two pregnant platy females. They had recently given birth, based on the fact that the aquarium also contained two...

Hello Everyone! 15 years ago I was an avid Aquamaniac. (If any of you have been in the fishkeeping community that long, you may remember said website.) I had two cycled aquariums and two (or three - it's been a while) uncycled aquariums. I had bettas, corydoras, tetras, snails, and many...