Livebearer Fry Behaviors

[MacDracor]

I'm curious about comparing the behavior if livebearer fry in their first few days of life. I recall reading somewhere that some types will haunt the tank bottom immediately after birth, while some will stay at the surface.
I had some endler fry not that long ago that stayed within an inch of the surface roughly 90% of the time.
I'm curious about people's experience with guppies, swordtails, platies, mollies, halfbeaks, and any other livebearers that come to mind.

 

[Kepo]

Interesting topic to think about. My bleeding heart platies are very fast and all the fry stay at the bottom until they get large enough to swim with the crowd and not be considered a snack. All my platy fry go into hiding at the bottom even when there are no predators. My albino galaxy guppy fry seem to drift on the top after they are about 1/4" long but younger than that, they usually stay at the bottom as well. But then again guppies seem to hang around on the surface more than platies as adults. This must be why I always have dwindling guppy numbers in my livebearer community tank.

 

[khoifish89]

through personal experience, after first couple days or within a week, the fries will begin to surface instead of staying on the bottom of the tank or the breeder box.

 

[pcdebb]

most of the time mine are at the bottom blending in with the gravel and hiding within the deco. I thought I was done with that but my fry have matured and they are having babies now

 

[MacDracor]

They grow up so fast, don't they? -sniffle-

 

[BBradbury]

Livebearer Fry Behavior

I'm curious about comparing the behavior if livebearer fry in their first few days of life. I recall reading somewhere that some types will haunt the tank bottom immediately after birth, while some will stay at the surface.
I had some endler fry not that long ago that stayed within an inch of the surface roughly 90% of the time.
I'm curious about people's experience with guppies, swordtails, platies, mollies, halfbeaks, and any other livebearers that come to mind.

Hello Mac...

My Fancy Guppy tanks are all heavily planted with floating Anacharis and Pennywort. I also float large pieces of driftwood and have emersed plants in the tank. The surface has just a couple of open areas for my Corydoras. The pregnant females hide in the thick surface cover and the fry stay there until they're large enough to be safe swimming around the rest of the tank. I've rarely seen newborn fry other than near the surface.

B