Platy Fry water temp?

[Lostmarbles0520]

Last week (8/16 and 8/20) two of my female platies had babies. We now have 18 fry in a half-filled 2.5g tank. We out them in there so they could have more room than in the breeder box, and not get sucked up into the filter of our 10g breeding tank. There is an air stone in the small tank, but no heater. We have a desk lamp pointed at the tank in attempts to keep it warm, but it' snot enough. The temp is consistently around 70*F, which is lower than I'd like. Thankfully, they are growing fast and should be able to move into the bigger tank in 2weeks or so.

In the mean time, is that water temp ok for them? Or should we get a smaller heater for the 2.5g tank?

(Please excuse the messy tank bottom, I haven't done today's cleaning from the last batch of baby brine shrimp feeding!!)


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[Lostmarbles0520]

Cleaning the tank now, and upped it to 3/4 full, since the fry grew overnight lol. They're all about 1-1.5" long now!!


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[BBradbury]

Water Temp

Hello Lost...

Platys are extremely hardy and the older fish would likely be fine in cooler water. However, fry are more sensitive and 70 degree water is really too cool for them. I keep a lot of Platys and the temp in the tank is a constant 78.

I would raise the water temp a few degrees if poss.

B

 

[Lostmarbles0520]

I did put a heater in a few hours after this post, then all 18 fry died. I made another post on here about it, I think it was the water change today, I changed too much, then increased the temp by 8-10*F. They couldn't handle it.


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[Lostmarbles0520]

My two larger tanks have held platys/mollies no problem, with a heater set at 78. That's where both are set now, it was just this tiny tank I didn't have a heater for.


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