Platy Fry

[Kitkatkate]

Hi all

I am new to the breeding aspect of the hobby and currently have a 70l community tank.

We have some platys in our community and at the moment we don't have a separate breeding tank or breeding net. I was a bit surprised that a gravel clean and water change on Friday we appear to have unearthed a lone fry. I was quite excited that it has survived in our community tank. It is about 3/4 cm in length and spends a lot of time hiding beneath some rocks But does seem to be bold when it does come out.
How do I know how old the fry is? Have people found that they have more than one in this situation?

Is it best to leave it in the community or should I get a net breeder to separate it. Our female is looking pregnant again, how many fry do they have with each drop?

Thanks in advance

 

[Fishie]

I would get a breeder trap or something. You could make a homemade one from YouTube . My platy had 45 fry which most don't have that many. 10-30fry each batch.

 

[djtypykuhl]

my platies average one drop every 4-6weeks at about 25 fry a pop.
you do not need to worry about your little lone ranger, he's big enough not to get eaten, but will remain shy for about another month.
they are born at onlt 2-3mm, so you need to seperate them when they are born, or just have a ton of hiding places in your tank.

best of luck!

 

[Kitkatkate]

Thank you I will get a breeder ASAP. After lots of staring under my rock I spotted another one! Only this one is 1/2 cm at most it's difficult to tell its so dark in it's hiding place! It is Certainly hidden from the tank mates...
Some of the other fish look like they are digging in the gravel which is new behaviour to me. Are they potentially hunting out other fry?

 

[ocminpin]

My platy had 24... She's very young though... I expect her to have more with each batch like my mollies do. My younger Molly has 15-25 and my biggest molly had close to 60 last time! Platies are smaller than mollies tho, so I'd expect 20-40 or so as full grown adults.

 

[djtypykuhl]

YES, THEY ARE HUNTING

this meens you need to be hunting for babies as well and you need to be quite deft with a net