Brand new at this... now have babies!!

[leapdaymom29]

We got two platy fish, Mickey Mouse and Dalmation, about 2 months ago. Our MM Platy gave birth today in our 10g aquarium. I was able to get all of the fry into a separate large vase until I can get to Petco tomorrow. What do I do now??

[CAF]

We got two platy fish, Mickey Mouse and Dalmation, about 2 months ago. Our MM Platy gave birth today in our 10g aquarium. I was able to get all of the fry into a separate large vase until I can get to Petco tomorrow. What do I do now??

Get a tupper, place all babies in tupper, float tupper in tank.


EDIT My apologies!!! Welcome to AC!!!!

[~Erik3.8.07~]

welcome to the a.c. :)

your fry are going to need food and lots of people here have had success with finely crushed flakes, when you go look for fry food, if they dont have any you can just crush the flakes you feed your platies to a powder. also make sure your water stays very clean

[Ark6ie]

welcome to the forum and congrats on the fry :11:

[country_boy454]

Congrats on the fry and welcome to the forum!

[spudbuds]

Welcome and congrats on the babies!

[ruecole]

Welcome aboard!

I totally know the feeling. I've only been keeping fish for about 7 weeks and am already a mommy to 4 danio fry and something like 50 gourami fry. :shocked look:

A Ziploc bag, Tupperware, or a plastic breeder will all work. Just be sure if you're using the two former to do frequent water changes (every day or other day) so the babies have plenty of fresh water.

I've also had good results (at least with the danio fry) with crushed/powdered fish food.

Good luck!

Rue

[leapdaymom29]

Thank you for all of the help!! The fry survived the night and I am headed to Petco soon about fry food. I transferred them to a tall vase to give them a bit more room to roam and grow. Do you think that I should get a small aquarium for the 16 babies? Also is there a way to keep a chemical free aquarium up and running with all the fish doing well?

[kimmers318]

I really wish stores would tell people that molly and platy have a very high tendency to produce babies very shortly after purchase:c11: .
You have done a good thing separating them from the adults, crushed flake, yes, will work fine. Now, decide what you plan on doing with them. If you wish to keep them your 10 gal is not likely going to handle the load of 18 full grown fish for one. For 2, those platy will continue to do this to you for a long time to come. A female platy can hold off letting her babies grow until she is ready for them. I am not sure if it is the sperm she can hold or the fertilized eggs but either way, she can continue to give birth I believe up to 6 months after being removed from a male. And if you put those babies back in with the adults when they are big enough to avoid being eaten, the males will proceed to impregnate your females some more. I have had over 30 platy baby from one delivery.....mulitply that several times over and you see where you are heading.
If you have a plan for the adults (trade in at LFS, safe, healthy feeders or want more tanks, keeping m/f separate) you do need to keep them in filtered water. A fry net works well floating in your existing tank. If you set up a separate tank cover the filter intake with mesh or foam to keep the babies from being sucked up. Watch your water parameters as your new tank will not be cycled and you will need to act accordingly. You can help it along with some bacteria from your existing tank, although that tank is still in the delicate stages at 2 months old unless you did fishless cycle.
Frozen or live hatched baby brine shrimp make good food for fry along with the crushed flake. These guys are pretty hardy so all should go well. Good luck

[jeffs99dime]

welcome to a.c.

[leapdaymom29]

It was such a long week with keeping my eye out for these babies. It ends up that the mom got ich and I think the other female platy had something else. I bought the solution for ich and nobody made it through the night. My mickey mouse platy and my dalmatian platy died as well as all of the babies. I should have never put the babies in the big aquarium. Now I am in the process of disinfecting the tank and will set it up for a fishless cycle for a couple of weeks before we get any new fish.
Ugh... so heart breaking.. my two girls are so upset. Their "first" fish are gone and their "new fish" (the babies) are gone too.

I have learned... thanks for all the help of this site!

[SkarloeysMom]

Welcome to AC and congrats on the fry!