Surprise platy fry

[Zuzkots]

Help! I found platy babies in my tank! I have no idea how this happened, I must have bought a pregnant platy (I did think she was a bit fat lol).
My son's been in hospital in ICU for 3 weeks and will be for another 7 wks at least, so my mother in law has been feeding my fish and doing water changes and bringing me water samples to the hospital where I test them. I came home for some stuff yesterday and noticed a baby platy in the tank. Before I managed to take a picture of it, it got eaten by its mum in front of my eyes! I later found another two but I guess there will be more.
My questions:
Do I need to set up a new tank for the fry so they don't get eaten? (I have some good hiding places and plants in the tank.)
Will the filter suck the babies up?
How do I feed them without overfeeding the adult fish?
I'm very new to this, my tank only just finished its cycle and I definitely wasn't ready for babies yet lol!
Any advice much appreciated, thanks!

 

[Ian086]

Help! I found platy babies in my tank! I have no idea how this happened, I must have bought a pregnant platy (I did think she was a bit fat lol).
My son's been in hospital in ICU for 3 weeks and will be for another 7 wks at least, so my mother in law has been feeding my fish and doing water changes and bringing me water samples to the hospital where I test them. I came home for some stuff yesterday and noticed a baby platy in the tank. Before I managed to take a picture of it, it got eaten by its mum in front of my eyes! I later found another two but I guess there will be more.
My questions:
Do I need to set up a new tank for the fry so they don't get eaten? (I have some good hiding places and plants in the tank.)
Will the filter suck the babies up?
How do I feed them without overfeeding the adult fish?
I'm very new to this, my tank only just finished its cycle and I definitely wasn't ready for babies yet lol!
Any advice much appreciated, thanks!

First of all, i hope your son makes a full and speedy recovery....
On the fish side, i would get a breeding trap or net. Pop the fry(s) in there and if possible get some Hikari First Bites, fry food. This will keep them going until you get your son back home...
I really wish you and your son well....

 

[Zuzkots]

First of all, i hope your son makes a full and speedy recovery....
On the fish side, i would get a breeding trap or net. Pop the fry(s) in there and if possible get some Hikari First Bites, fry food. This will keep them going until you get your son back home...
I really wish you and your son well....

Thank you so much for the well wishes, my boy's only 1.5yr old and just had his 3rd open heart surgery... He loves the fish tank and will be so excited to see more fish when he gets home All he's been doing the past 3 weeks is the fish "sound" lol, bless him!
I ordered a breeder net and fry food as you suggested. Are there any tricks on how to catch the fry(s) without hurting them? They look so tiny and fragile and are hiding so well!
Thanks again for your quick reply!

 

[Ian086]

Thank you so much for the well wishes, my boy's only 1.5yr old and just had his 3rd open heart surgery... He loves the fish tank and will be so excited to see more fish when he gets home All he's been doing the past 3 weeks is the fish "sound" lol, bless him!
I ordered a breeder net and fry food as you suggested. Are there any tricks on how to catch the fry(s) without hurting them? They look so tiny and fragile and are hiding so well!
Thanks again for your quick reply!

No tricks really, you just have to have patience. They are clever little devils and are programmed to hide from birth!!. I don't chase them around, just get as close as you can to them slowly and most will just swim into the net. For the stubborn ones, i put a bit of food on the edge of the net and this usually does the trick!!.
It's amazing, all that he's going through and he's thinking about his fish!!!. We should all learn to enjoy and appreciate the simple things in life a bit more...
PS.... I was a bit down about something silly tonight but your situation puts everything into perspective. I hope he loves the tank and his new buddies when he gets home. He should have plenty more babies by the time he gets home

 

[Zuzkots]

No tricks really, you just have to have patience. They are clever little devils and are programmed to hide from birth!!. I don't chase them around, just get as close as you can to them slowly and most will just swim into the net. For the stubborn ones, i put a bit of food on the edge of the net and this usually does the trick!!.
It's amazing, all that he's going through and he's thinking about his fish!!!. We should all learn to enjoy and appreciate the simple things in life a bit more...
PS.... I was a bit down about something silly tonight but your situation puts everything into perspective. I hope he loves the tank and his new buddies when he gets home. He should have plenty more babies by the time he gets home

Thank you! I'm going home today and hoping there's some babies left! The mum is still quite fat so I'm sure there's more on the way too!

PS: I know what you mean, I no longer worry about silly little things like I used to. I guess that's a good thing!