Is it okay to have just a pair of Platys?

[Scottyhorse]

I decided to sex my Platys today as one of my two was looking rather large. Turns out the 'rather large' one is a female, and the other is a male. So far, the male hasn't been mean to the female at all. In fact, ever since I bought my second platy he has been a lot calmer.
Also, would a 5.5 gal be enough room for a batch of fry until I am able to sell them? I have an lfs that would probably take some, and I was thinking of selling the rest on here.

Thanks

 

[AfricanCichlidOwner]

I decided to sex my Platys today as one of my two was looking rather large. Turns out the 'rather large' one is a female, and the other is a male. So far, the male hasn't been mean to the female at all. In fact, ever since I bought my second platy he has been a lot calmer.
Also, would a 5.5 gal be enough room for a batch of fry until I am able to sell them? I have an lfs that would probably take some, and I was thinking of selling the rest on here.

Thanks

You should have 1M to 2 or 3F, this what I do with my mollies so that the aggression is spread throughout just in case they decide to. Just cause you don't see it doesn't mean it isn't happening . I would say that a 5 would be fine just make they don't get sucked up in the filter. :0.

Hope this helps a little bit.

 

[Oohitsae]

Ehh, they have a pretty high bio-load so you'll have to keep up with w/c's until you are able to re-home them.

LFS's normally wont take fry until they are about 2 months so keep that in mind.
Also, unless you have some rare-ish form of coloring they probably wont go for much. Most LFS's that I am aware of will only accept live-bearer's as donations because they are so easy to get, and most people wont pay a lot to get something shipped if they can get the same thing in their area.

Not trying to disuade you, just wanted to make sure you knew that before you ended up with a ton of fry.

 

[Scottyhorse]

Yeah, I know. I just don't want to have to cull them all or something because I can't find them a home soon enough! I wasn't even planning on breeding them!! I wanted to use the 5.5 for a betta, and breed my GBR but that's not happening anytime soon now is it? I'm fine with doing daily pwc. Won't nearly be as bad as doing daily pwc's on my 25!
I'm just trying to figure out what I will do with all the fry. I suppose I could use a rubbermaid tub and get a heater for it.

My male is a Golden Sunset (one of the nicer ones I have seen in pictures) and the female is a Golden Twin Bar. I'm figuring I'll sell them for .50 cents or ten for $4 or so.

 

[Oohitsae]

My bad! I saw that it was an accident but wasn't sure if you were going to try to make this happen more frequently.
But what you have sounds like something people would definitely be interested in, so I don't doubt they'll all find good homes. Just wanted to make sure when you tried to sell them that you didn't get a huge shock!
When I had an accidental guppy spawn a few years ago I was shocked that the LFS wouldn't give me a dime, other than 5, 10% off coupons.

Anyways, depending on spawn size, a 5.5 will be perfectly fine until you can rehome them. Once they get to Juvie size you might want to put them into a Rubbermaid container till you can sell/rehome them though just to make it easier on yourself. That's what I do with my betta fry...throw em into a large Rubbermaid tub to grow out so I don't have to work so hard at maintenance.

 

[Scottyhorse]

Okay thank you! When I saw one was a female and the other was a male I was like "Nooooooooooo" LOL

So when should I move her into something she can have the fry in?

 

[Oohitsae]

When you see her belly starting to square off at the bottom and she starts getting nippy and trying to be a loner is when I'd move her. It's hard to tell honestly. Usually it's a lot better to heavily plant or decorate the existing tank with stuff so that the fry can hide and then just remove the parents after they are born. That way it's a lot less stress on everyone

 

[Scottyhorse]

It's heavily planted, but I have barbs, GBR, cory cats, and tetras so I can't move everyone out..

I'll just try and move her and hope for the best!