Platy breeding issues

[Guppyman34]

Hey guys,
I have a 10 gallon aquarium with 2 female platies, 1 male Platy, a female guppy, a long finned danio, and 2 Cory cats. So up until roughly 6 months ago I had a prosperous tank of guppies, but they began to die, and eventually they almost all died. My long finned danio and Cories survived this spell. We cleaned the tank and decided to start over. To get to the point, I have these platies and they don't seem to breed, any advice? I believe I found a guppy fry about 3 weeks ago, but hasn't been seen since, so do I have a problem? Fish don't seem to live in my aquarium anymore, let alone breed,
Thanks,

 

[PoppaRyno]

Temperature and water quality is what i would check first. Is there anything for fry to hide in? Could something be eating them?

 

[PoppaRyno]

The danio could be a fry muncher.

 

[Guppyman34]

Temperature is around 75 degrees, water quality i believe is fine, and we have many plants and rocks for them to hide in, possibly the platys could be eating them? I actually found a fry today, hiding by the heater, extremely small, about the size of an ant, hard to tell if it has any colour........

 

[Guppyman34]

Possibly the Danio, but he is quite small compared to the platys.....

 

[PoppaRyno]

Also, from personal exp, sometimes they swim down in the gravel to hide, get stuck, and die. And yes platys will eat fry. Most llivebearers are omnivours and will try to eat about anything that will fit in thier mouths. Floating plants help alot. Gives them a place to hide.

 

[Guppyman34]

Yeah, I saw the fry 3 weeks ago do that, haven't seen him since...... Hmmm, floating plants, guess I'll give that a try

 

[PoppaRyno]

If the fry are dying in the gravel make sure you vaccum your gravel. The decaying fry can make the water toxic. Shaking my head, because that was a tough lesson learned. I now harvest my fry as soon as i see any, and they go into a bare bottom 10gal with 3 plastic plants

 

[PoppaRyno]

Floating at the top. Its been sucsessful for me so far. Ive got some swords, platys, & guppies of various strains if you ever need to start over again. Hope u dont though. I wld just chg ya shipping since your having troubles.

 

[Guppyman34]

Thanks, good thing I vacuum my gravel, I never knew that. Also, lately one of my 2 female platys has been basically staying at the bottom, of the tank for pretty much the whole day, is this part of pregnancy or is she sick?

 

[PoppaRyno]

Could be either. W\out looking i would just be guessing?

 

[Guppyman34]

K here is my best iPad pic

 

[PoppaRyno]

Tough to tell from the pic. I do know they will find a calmer/out of the way spot in the tank to birth. So hopefully just the pregnancy.

 

[smileyface9]

Temperature is around 75 degrees, water quality i believe is fine, and we have many plants and rocks for them to hide in, possibly the platys could be eating them? I actually found a fry today, hiding by the heater, extremely small, about the size of an ant, hard to tell if it has any colour........

It's possibly the platy eating the fry. They eat their own fry so it's possible that they could be eating the guppy fry.

 

[Guppyman34]

Yeah, hopefully the 1 we've found survives, he's lasted at least a day, still can't tell If it's guppy or platy as its hard to see....... It sux that I dont have a breeding tank or anything.....

 

[smileyface9]

Yeah, hopefully the 1 we've found survives, he's lasted at least a day, still can't tell If it's guppy or platy as its hard to see....... It sux that I dont have a breeding tank or anything.....

You could get a tiny 5 gallon or 10 gallon to keep the fry safe in? That's what I'd do. Then when they're big enough put them back in the other tank.

 

[Guppyman34]

Is there a short term solution for now until I can buy a smaller aquarium?

 

[PoppaRyno]

Breeding net possibly. Best solution is a 10 gal tank, air pump, foam filter. Bare bottom baby tank. Tank is 12$, foam filter i use is 8.99$, air pump was 8$. Breeding nets are about 10 bucks.

 

[Guppyman34]

K I'll definitely look into that

 

[Guppyman34]

Would it be ok if I kind of put a net in the tank and kept him in there? For now?