Pregnant platy

[HausMaus]

So I have two expectant mums, a tri mickey mouse platy and a sunset platy. "Minnie" is much bigger and one of the males is nipping at her flanks, presumably at the fry eyes?? When should I put her in the fry tank?


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[Shickley]

Congrats on the platys! I am by no means an expert, but when my platy had babies I left her in the main tank with the and some floating moss. In my case I used hornwurt but java moss would work fine too. After the fry are born, try to catch them and but them in the fry tank. I used a turkey baster to suck them up and put them in. I will tell you I had about 30 in my first batch, and it took me 30-45 minutes to get them all and transfer them. It was totally worth it though watching them grow up!
What size are the tanks?

 

[HausMaus]

I moved her into my 12L/3g fry tank (which has four 8 week old guppy fry).
Once she gives birth I'll put her back in the main tank (35L/10g). There's plenty of java moss fin the ry tank.
Then, I have no idea what I will do with them once they've grown!

 

[Shickley]

Sounds like a good plan although if it is an option, I would try to get a bigger tank for the fry as there will be a ton of them. Anyway as to what to do with them when I had my fry I ended up selling them to my LFS for in store credit of 50 cents each. It was definitely a fun adventure! Let me know if you have any more questions!

 

[HausMaus]

Ok so Minnie is still pregnant and huge. The other sunset platy that wasn't as big seems to have had her fry in the main tank!!
Last night I noticed she didn't seem pregnant any more. I looked for fry in the tank but couldn't see any. Oh wellI thought.
This morning I noticed fry behind the filter wall compartment!! What the?!!
There are only about 4, one inside the heater block, and I'd hate to think how many got sucked inside... Guess what I'm doing later today...


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[HausMaus]

Minnie had her fry overnight.
I can only account for 6 so far, I've just put her back in the main tank this morning, hoping the babies will come out of hiding if there are any more.

 

[Shickley]

In my experience I about 30 fry from one platy and only saw 4 at one time. They are extremely good at hiding, and if they are in the main tank then it will be a survival of the fittest situation. What kind of plants do you have in your main tank? What other fish are in the main tank?

 

[HausMaus]

They are in the fry tank, there's java moss and duckweed and some drift wood, so they have hiding spots top and bottom.
There are three fry in the main tank but they are behind the filter compartment (its an all in one tank with a rear wall that holds the media and pump, but with small gaps on the side) so the adults can't get to them. I'm going to have to entice them out when they're bigger.


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[HausMaus]

Fry tank has four 8 week old guppy fry. Main tank has 5 platys and 4 pygmy corys.


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[Shickley]

Sounds like you have a great setup for them in the fry tank! Much better than what I had and I had about 30 of them survived. I would try my best to get those three out of the filter wall somehow. I don't know what it looks like but maybe you could use some kind of wire to scare them out?
Also I'm not sure if you already know this but you can feed them powdered flake food (grind it in between your fingers) or if they are too small make boiled eggs and dissolve the yolk in tank water and they can eat that. Sounds like you are doing great!! Good luck!

 

[HausMaus]

Unfortunately I can't get to them without taking the whole thing apart.
I tried unsuccessfully to suck them out with some airline, but with no luck.
I had placed pieces of sponge down the gaps (to stop the pygmy corys from going in) and I'm not sure how the fry got in, they must have wriggled through the air pockets.
I'm feeding the fry at one end so they hopefully get familiar with that side, and I will make a space for them to swim through to the main part once they're big enough to fend for themselves.
That's the plan anyway!

 

[Shickley]

That sounds like a good idea. Good luck! How do you like the pygmy corys? I've thought about getting some.

 

[HausMaus]

I love my corys! I've had them for almost five months and they've outlived 11 guppies and 2 platys, a huge ammonia spike and almost ODing from parasite meds.
They're super cute too.
I would suggest having four at the very least, they're happier in larger numbers. I originally only had two and they were so skittish and rarely came out. I got two more and that made a huge difference to their safety in numbers mentality. After all the guppies died I almost just got more corys! They are a bugger to catch though, quick as anything. I've only ever caught them once when I had to break down the tank and start over.
They are awesome!

 

[livefishguy124]

if you are going to move the babies move them while feeding the other fish, if not make sure there are plenty of densely planted areas or have some live plants that are feather leaved in a group and don't disturb the fry, they will come out of hiding when they know they are big enough.

 

[HausMaus]

Just noticed 2 fry in the main tank with the adults. I fished one out of the filter still alive when I checked the sponges and put it in the fry tank. About 9 in there that I can see so far. They're all slowly coming out if hiding.


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