Please educate me!!!

[diznynurse]

Hello everyone.....I am the proud parent of dozens of mickey mouse platys!!! As I research the fellas I find that the mickey mouse platy is a livebearer....which I understand this to mean is that the fish are not hatched from eggs...correct??

Now, can my mickey have babies without a mate????

I bought a mickey and a sunburst....the sunburst died........after the death my mickey had babies and I put them in a breeder net. Now I've found 5 more babies (it's been about 2 months since the previous birth). Please explain!!! *S*

[kyektulu]

Yes livebearer means that they give birth to live young.
I find it very unlikely that your platy had a miraculous conception, she was probably pregnent when you bought her.
I have found when my Cherry Barbs bred that suddenly 'new' babies have arrived, (impossible because there were no fish in the tank to give birth) the most likely circumstance is that these babies are late developers, runts of the litter if you will. They are just much smaller than the rest because the are not dominent, thus not getting more food, also is it possible that you missed all the fry when putting them in the breeding net?
I am not an expert but hope this has helped you.


It is great when these little suprises happen isnt it!

[Zagz]

Livebearer's can be pregnant when you buy them. They can also store sperm for several months and continue to have fry after the first batch. Congratulations on the new fry.

[Skyrmir]

Not sure how long Platys store up sperm, I've read swordtails can have up to 5 batches from 1 spawning though. Usually about a month or so apart. They can also CHOOSE not to give birth and re-absorb the young. Also on occasion livebearers will drop a few eggs, usually infertile/under-devoloped ones. Most times the bad eggs just get eaten, but on occasion they will hatch.

Swords, Mollys and platy's are all very similar in breeding. Guppys are close, but I don't think they can choose to re-absorb the young. Little buggers are population explosions waiting to happen.

[Tiffi]

I agree, they can store sperm. Therefore, you will have to think about what you want to do with the fry. Keep it? Get a bigger tank? Give them back to the lfs for maybe some store credit?

[BrianNY]

Three to five births is normal from each fertilization among most live bearers. One wonders why nature choose a path like that when you consider that the males never seem to give the females a moments peace.

oops double post

Originally Posted by BrianNY

Three to five births is normal from each fertilization among most live bearers. One wonders why nature choose a path like that when you consider that the males never seem to give the females a moments peace.

probably because in the wild... they don't get together as much as they do in such a closed system. So the mating probably doesn't happen nearly as often and the babies probably don't have as good of a survival rate. (where do livebearers come from in the wild anyway)

Also... i have 4 guppies (1M and 3F) and that Male NEVER leaves them girls alone... and they are about to pop!!!

[rich311k]

Mollies come from Mexico not sure about the others.

[fish_4_all]

I think the reason livebearers have multiple birth is because the males can actually pester a female to death, especially if the female is outnumbered. Might be a defense mechanism so she can go off and hide and not have to deal with unwanted males for a while and here babies have a better chance to survive with less fish around to eat them as they are born.