cultofpunk
Aquarium Advice Apprentice
I'm really new to the forum and new to taking care of fish fry. I have researched upon researched and I can't seem to find a direct answer so I decided to join and ask for help.
I had a beautiful gold Mickey Mouse platy (Brie) and I discovered in November that she had a really big belly and that's when I went oh crap lol the very next day November 15th i scrambled to get a breeder box since I read it was best to do that. And so I got her in there and she went on later that evening to give birth to about 37 fry! Since I was so inexperienced with this and with more research, people have said to leave the momma in there for 24 hours since she could give birth for as long as that. I was at work that day so I texted my sister and my dad for as many updates as possible. Turns out some of the babies were swimming up the trap and I guess the momma got to them so we only had about 16 left.
The momma went on to get pregnant again and we might have put her in the breeder box too early because she went on to give birth to over 40 undeveloped fry and eventually died that day. I felt really guilty about that.
So fast forward to a few weeks, I was feeding them crushed tropical flakes twice a day and occasionally brine shrimp and they seemed pretty happy with that but I became a bit concerned when I read that they were supposed to start gaining color at about 4-6 weeks of age. We moved them to a separate 1 gallon tank and over those few weeks, we have only 3 left. I don't know what I'm doing wrong so that's why I'm turning to you guys.
They do have a tiny bit of color and I see a black dot on 2 of the 3 of their tails but I'm sure they are supposed to be bigger for 11 weeks old. I'm feeding them first bites fry food that I started them on about 2-3 weeks ago. I was hearing back and fourth that keeping them in a small tank would cause them to grow slower and I heard that it was just a myth and I don't know what to believe honestly. So I had my dad transfer them back into the main tank in a bigger breeder box that I had purchased 4 days ago.
Here's a pic of one of the three babies:
I would say they are about maybe less than half an inch. But it's just I'm really concerted because I've seen platy fry that are huge at only 4 weeks old.
So sorry about the essay but My question to you guys is, what in the world am I doing wrong? What can I do to make them grow? Or am I doing everything in supposed to?
Oh I guess I forgot to mention that my main tank is 60g. It's just that the 3 fry are in a breeder box within that tank now.
Sent from my iPhone using Aquarium Advice
I had a beautiful gold Mickey Mouse platy (Brie) and I discovered in November that she had a really big belly and that's when I went oh crap lol the very next day November 15th i scrambled to get a breeder box since I read it was best to do that. And so I got her in there and she went on later that evening to give birth to about 37 fry! Since I was so inexperienced with this and with more research, people have said to leave the momma in there for 24 hours since she could give birth for as long as that. I was at work that day so I texted my sister and my dad for as many updates as possible. Turns out some of the babies were swimming up the trap and I guess the momma got to them so we only had about 16 left.
The momma went on to get pregnant again and we might have put her in the breeder box too early because she went on to give birth to over 40 undeveloped fry and eventually died that day. I felt really guilty about that.
So fast forward to a few weeks, I was feeding them crushed tropical flakes twice a day and occasionally brine shrimp and they seemed pretty happy with that but I became a bit concerned when I read that they were supposed to start gaining color at about 4-6 weeks of age. We moved them to a separate 1 gallon tank and over those few weeks, we have only 3 left. I don't know what I'm doing wrong so that's why I'm turning to you guys.
They do have a tiny bit of color and I see a black dot on 2 of the 3 of their tails but I'm sure they are supposed to be bigger for 11 weeks old. I'm feeding them first bites fry food that I started them on about 2-3 weeks ago. I was hearing back and fourth that keeping them in a small tank would cause them to grow slower and I heard that it was just a myth and I don't know what to believe honestly. So I had my dad transfer them back into the main tank in a bigger breeder box that I had purchased 4 days ago.
Here's a pic of one of the three babies:
I would say they are about maybe less than half an inch. But it's just I'm really concerted because I've seen platy fry that are huge at only 4 weeks old.
So sorry about the essay but My question to you guys is, what in the world am I doing wrong? What can I do to make them grow? Or am I doing everything in supposed to?
Oh I guess I forgot to mention that my main tank is 60g. It's just that the 3 fry are in a breeder box within that tank now.
Sent from my iPhone using Aquarium Advice