Unexpected Platy fry

[Seven]

Today I got some platies to put in my tank. I was floating the bag, and I came back to check on the fish and I noticed several fry at the bottom. I made sure to get all female platies, so I already realized it was possible that some or all of them might be pregnant, but I didn't expect any of them to give birth while still in the bag. 8O Perhaps it was the change in temperature or something?

In any case, I had no intentions of raising any fry (thus the reason for getting only females), and I seriously considered feeding them to my bettas, but I decided to just release them in the tank with mom and let nature take its course. I am wondering however if it is possible they will survive without any special care? It is a planted tank with one medium sized aponogeton, one small aponogeton, and a few good sized pieces of anacharis (used to be one extremely long piece that I broke into smaller pieces). One of the anacharis pieces is anchored while the others are floating (they were anchored too, but floated back up and I was too lazy to anchor them again ) . A few of the fry seemed to like the floating anacharis, while others burrowed themselves in the gravel and under the stones I have at the bottom. They seem to be really good at hiding so I don't think the adult platies will eat them, but I wonder if they will starve without special food? I saw one of them nipping at one of the leaves on the anacharis, and it even seemed like it was "chewing", but thats all I've seen so far.

 

[smallfry]

Congratulations
Unless you only get male platys, count on finding fry in your tank... For the first couple days I feed my platys "liqui-fry" (available at the LFS). It's not too good for the filter so I only use it the first couple days. Then I take one flake of adult food and grind it in my hand, scrape the crumbs into the cap, put in a couple drops of water to saturate the crumbs, then pour it in the tank...the crumbs will sink and the fry will eat them. Just distract the adult platy (feed her at the same time but on the opposite side of the tank). It seems like an involved process, but I've raised 2 generations of fry this way... they also small pieces of algae pellets once they are about 2 weeks old.
Also make sure that you have alot of hiding places/thick plantings for them to hide. As they get a little more visible, the adult platy will be more interested in chasing them.

 

[Allivymar]

Oooo. You may wind up with even more platys then you already have if any of those fry are male! Be prepared

 

[smallfry]

Just a heads up (from personal experience) - I found out the hard way that female platy can store the male sperm like camels ...so she may birth fry repeatedly up to 5 months from now...just from the sperm stored in her when she was at the LFS! 8O
I bought a female platy last June and in October she had her last batch of fry (no males around) :?

 

[breadlowry]

You might wrap a peice of screen around your filter tube so the little guys don't get sucked up? I don't now, they might stay towards the bottom out of the way.
good luck anyhow

 

[Menagerie]

Those live bearers are sneaky and will store sperm! The only way to have no fry and keep live bearers is to keep males only. Or you could run into the problem I did. I bought three Mollies--one male, two females and wanted fry to feed to some fish that like live foods. I was having a problem with my tank, lost most of the fish that eat live food and the one male Molly. Now the two females are living in the community tank. No fry yet
It seems that those that really don't want fry get them and as for me--If they are storing sperm, I hope the fish in the community tank take care of them

 

[smallfry]

Menagerie is right. I bought one female platy last June (no male) and now I have 9 of various sizes...with no special efforts on my part to save them.

 

[Seven]

Well, I sort of impulse bought the platies. I had the tank ready for quite a while, but still I only intended to see what my LFS had in stock, and I ended up just going ahead and getting the platies. They had a bunch of good looking sunsets, while they normally only have the red wags. Anyway, I couldn't remember if I could keep all males or not, so I went with all females.

Also, I noticed that another one of the platies seems fat compared to the others, so I am guessing she is pregnant too. Just a matter of time before I have even more fry I'm sure. 8O

 

[smallfry]

Hi Seven,
Sunset Platys are what I have! They are beautiful...incidentally, males are ok to keep together and won't fight unless there's a female to compete for. I know you currently have females...but if you were to invest in males, the ideal ratio is 1 male per 2-3 females. Male platys are very "amorous" and will wear out a female...so it's best to have more females then males. I know it seems crude...but if you are interested in population control you can invest in other species of slightly larger fish to mix with the platys and you can also make no effort to separate the fry from the adult platys. (adult platys and other larger species will have an occasional snack this way and you'll probably only have a couple fry make it to adulthood)
* Just make sure the other species are compatible with Platys.
BTW, how large is your tank?
Good luck and keep us posted!

 

[Seven]

I have a 10 gallon. I got 4 platies, 2 sunsets and 2 red wags. Unfortunately one of the sunsets already died, it seemed to have some kind of mouth infection (white colored, and looked like it was rotting). I guess I'm just glad she didn't go through a slow and painful death.

I have considered getting a dwarf gourami and / or african dwarf frog to help with crowd control, but I think I'll wait. Apparently my LFS will give in-store credit, so I will try to give these fry to them when they are older. At this time I have about 20 fry. I think the pregnant looking red wag had a few the night before last, because some of the fry have the black on their tails, and none of the first fry had that. The females have made few attempts to eat them. I've seen them barely chase the fry only a few times - usually at feeding time when I think they mistake them for the flake food. I have been feeding the fry powdered flake food. I get some on my finger then put my finger in the filter out-take water so it will get swirled all around the tank. I also put a heater I already had in there and set it to 82 F. I have read that higher temps help fry grow. I don't know if it is true or not, as there are so many rumors in this hobby, but I figured it couldn't hurt.

 

[Ramrebel]

aren't those 8 fish too much for a 10 G

 

[Umberle]

actually it's only 4 I think 2 sunset and 2 wags equals 4 platies all together. Not 4 platies + 2 sunsets +2 wags. lol I did a double take too.

 

[smallfry]

Seven,
Our fish history is similar. I started with a 10g tank with Platys - just graduated to a 46g! I'm in the process of adding other species.
Sorry about the loss of one of your Platys... I lost my "mama" Platy this weekend also. (she was old and had a good life)
82 seems a little high for constant temp (even for fry and probably for adults). It's ok if the temp peaks there once in awhile though. Maybe knock it down to 78 or 80...that's still warm and won't risk over-heating them.
FYI: The fry (and adults) will also eat algae that grows in your tank...feed them less flakes than you think they need and you'll notice them eating algae more often. (And remember, the more you feed them, the more they poop; and Platys are real poop-meisters)
Most people will tell you to feed fry several times a day...but you don't really need to. I feed mine in the morning and evening. (but I decrease the portions so as not to overfeed)
It sounds like you are doing things right...don't be suprised if those fry start to view you as their "parent".
Platys are extremely friendly and will eat out of your hand very easily...I even petted mine a couple times - they aren't shy at all!

 

[Seven]

Mine are still kind of shy, but I've noticed they are becoming less and less shy towards me, and more curious. What I really like is how they go into a frenzy at the taste of food. They are able to detect it so easily too. As soon as the food hits the water they start scurrying about catching pieces. It's great to watch.

 

[smallfry]

The ones you raise up as fry will be less shy towards you than the ones from the LFS...but even they should loosen up as they feel more comfortable in their new home.