? for those that have bred livebearers -updated witha pic!!!

[cappieBridget]

I'm waiting on my Platy to drop and I would like to keep her in the breeder box, but how long is she o.k. in there? I don't want her to die or anything, but I feel the fry are going to be safer in there as I have a 20 gal. tank with a red tail shark, 3 skirt tetra, pleco, another female platy and a male swordtail and only 2 plants, a hollow ceramic tree trunk and a half sunken ship for the fry to hide but the shark frequents both. I am going to get some breeding grass for both the box and community tank so if I miss anything, the fry will have a better chance at hiding. Thanks!

[Zagz]

IMO the breeder box stresses the fish more and can cause them to hold onto the fry longer. You can try it or try and catch the fry once she gives birth. The shark will most likely eat the fry faster than you can shake a stick. Guppy grass is good for hiding fry I've found. I have more guppy fry than I can count! If you do use the breeder box, I would wait until she is almost ready to drop, the best way to guess and I do mean guess this, is to watch when her backside sort of square's off. Good luck.

[PauloSilva]

i have had a small degree of success with breeder boxes... i have 2 in my 20g fry tank and i use them only with my show guppies. like zagz said... u should wait until the last moment and then add her and once she is done immediatly remove her

[Paulsw]

Breeder Boxes definitely make the female hold onto their fry longer, I had a sword tail who was ready to pop, so I put her in a breeder box, and after 5 days I took her out again as she still hadn't dropped any fry. Once out of the box she gave birth in a matter of hours. If you really want to breed your Platy's I think your best option would be to set up a separate nursery tank, and place the female in there before she gives birth. Live bearers are unlikely to feed right after giving birth due to a surge of hormones that suppresses their hunger, so you have about 12 hours to get the mother back into your community tank before she starts to eat her young

[cappieBridget]

WOW, THANK YOU ALL! It does look like her.. um...where her anal fin is, is kind of pointy and hanging down like the front of her stomach and with 2 little white flap looking things there. She is also eating ALOT! I'll take her out then. Having 4 children I know what childbirthing is about and don't want her to have any added stress, so I'll just be glued to the tank, lol. Thanks again!

[Ky'smommy]

my red tail shark protected my guppy fry. it killed two bigger fish because they kept trying to eat the babys. my shark is nice tho. so it all depends

[Jaybird]

I had a molly die because of a breeder box. She went kind of crazy in there one night and damaged her mouth running up and down the plastic of it. Then she wouldn't eat, which led to her demise.

[cappieBridget]

here's 4 of my 5 babies!!!

[Big Ben]

nice! congrats, I just found my first fry today, i have 5 too. Molly fry tho.

[Zagz]

Congratulations both of you!