Platy Fry Question

[mrsaltmiller]

It appears my platy gave birth last night. I don't see any live fry unless they are doing a really good job hiding in the floating plants. What I do see is what appears to be dead fry and circular egg looking things that have an eyeball on it. All of these are at the bottom of the tank in the rocks. I took pictures of a couple of them. Is it possible that these are just aborted fry, or were they eaten by the other fish (platys and danios) and spit out the eyeballs or??? I checked my levels and all are good and the temperature is fine.

[mrsaltmiller]

UPDATE: I found a live one! They are way smaller than I thought they would be. So I'm not sure if any other survived. Will the fry eat the food I put in the tank or do I need to do something special for him, assuming he survives?

[Milene]

Yup those are fry which have not fully developed so the egg yolk is still attached. You should get rid of them with a gravel cleaner or a net.

As for the live one you can remove it from the main tank and keep it in a nursery which hangs inside the tank or get a separate tank for it until it gets bigger than your biggest fish's mouth ( I prefer it this way because I can constantly monitor it and it won't be trapped in a confined space such as a breeder trap).

In terms of feeding, should you choose to keep it in your main tank with all the adults, You can feed your fish normally and it will eat any scraps it finds. Also, make sure you have lots of plants so it can hide. It will also eat micro organisms it finds on the plants. They should be fed a variety of foods such as live baby brine shrimp, crushed high quality flakes, and mushy peas (you can also buy fry food called first bites) however it can be difficult to feed it such things when it's hiding from the adults.

Good luck and congrats!

[mrsaltmiller]

I no longer see the live one...I'm hoping she's just hiding and I have no idea how many live fry there are since I'm hoping they are hiding in the many plants in the tank.

[Mattfinn]

I actually found a heap of my fry hiding in the gravel which ultimately led to their deaths. I've changed it over to sand now but just be careful in case they're hiding in the gravel. I found a lot too would hide in corners aswell. Even if you use plastic plants just cut off the weight at the bottom and leave them floating.

[BBradbury]

Originally Posted by mrsaltmiller

It appears my platy gave birth last night. I don't see any live fry unless they are doing a really good job hiding in the floating plants. What I do see is what appears to be dead fry and circular egg looking things that have an eyeball on it. All of these are at the bottom of the tank in the rocks. I took pictures of a couple of them. Is it possible that these are just aborted fry, or were they eaten by the other fish (platys and danios) and spit out the eyeballs or??? I checked my levels and all are good and the temperature is fine.

hello mr...

I keep several tanks of Platys and Danios, but not together. Danios are aggressive toward small fish, like your Platy fry. I keep large tanks, heavily planted on the surface, so the fry have ample places to hide. Healthy fry will immediately swim to the surface for air and to avoid hungry adults. That's why the surface needs a thick growth of plants like Hornwort and Anacharis for cover.

Livebearers are fast breeders and really need larger tanks, so there's room for all of them. I keep 55 and 60 gallon tanks for the livebearers and smaller tanks 20 gallons or so for the Danios. They don't reproduce as quickly. I change half the tank water every week. Small water changes leave dissolved wastes in the water and poor water conditions results in poor health for the fry.

B

[mrsaltmiller]

I do have some floating plants. I'm not sure if there are any fry in there. I can't see any from the outside and I'm afraid to mess with it too much.