Overwhelmed.....and in need of help!!

[Ripken1ab]

Hi all, I am new to fishkeeping and recently bought a 10g tank. It has been three weeks and the tank is fully cycled. Yesterday after 48 hours of making sure that the tank is cycled my wife and I went to the store and bought two platies. One Mickey Mouse Platy and one Sunset Platy. We also got two Ghost Shrimp. Well overnight one of the platies had babies. I think it was the sunset but I have no idea cuz i couldn't even tell it was pregnant. My questions are:

1. How long will it take the fry to mature?

2. My Mickey Mouse platy poops a ton. Is there a way to clean the substrate without using a vacuum which would suck up the fry? Or will the Ghost Shrimp keep the tank clean until the fry mature?

3. Will the fry eat flakes or is there something special i need to get them?

 

[Calypso77]

So you did a fishless cycle and used pure ammonia I am gathering.

I don't know of any other way but to vacuum the gravel. A lot of people separate the fry from the adults until the mature usually 2 months or so, so that they don't get eaten or miss out on the food. You can feed flakes but crush them to a fine powder for them. You can also go and buy first bites which is a fry food.

 

[eduguy]

Move your fry out of the tank or into a net breeder. The other platies will eat them. The fry will eat extremely crushed up flakes or you can buy special powder food.

 

[gusto]

Yes take the fry out and also for cleaning the tank you can always use a cheap turkey baster to suck up the waste.