platy fry - what time to leave the net?

[thrakuarium]

I have 3 adopted fry in my breeder net , and 1 just born i found this morning!!!thumbs2: . 2 of the adopted fry are platys at close to 1/2 inch including finnage. Are they ready to join the community tank? My 2 concerns are my dwarf blue gourami, and whether they will get a share of the feedings. I think ,but am not sure, they are too big for the gourami to consider as a snack. The tank is 29 gal, silk plants and a couple decorations with cave areas. The remainder of the tank inhabitants include 4 platys, 3 corys and a clown pleco, none of whom I consider a threat to these 2 guys. The other larger fry is a molly and at barely 1/4 inch and still showing a lot of transparent area, so I dont think its ready yet. So are these 2 ready to go yet?

[Eileen]

I go by the biggest fishes mouth size and if you do not have any aggressive fish in your tank like a Betta. Even if they do not fit in the mouth of the biggest fish some will chase a tiny fry baby. 1/2" seems large enough. I just put 12 Hybrid endler babies with a male endler and they are only 5wks old and I have no problems with them they are less then 1/2" but the male endler is small and they are bigger then his mouth size. :fish:

[thrakuarium]

ok , thanks for the reply. Chasing was another consideration, but in my observations of the gourami as long as he gets his flakes at feeding time he isnt too overbearing. I think I will give them 1 more week then let em loose. They are pretty frisky little buggers and I just didn't want too keep them stuck in the net too long.

[Kaz]

Be careful, Gouramis are fry killers.

[thrakuarium]

Very true. The molly fry I adopted came from where I work. Blue dwarf gourami's share the tank with balloon mollies. Couldn't watch the fry become a snack. One more week will probably work for the platys. They are pretty good sized and I have several cover areas.

[terrapin24h]

i did not release my single platy fry into the main tank until she was 2 months or so old, and somewhere between 3/4 and one inch in length. she seems to be doing well, and i have a blue 3 spot gourami, he's not even interested in her. In fact, she swims hear him all the time, almost like a puppy dog. Since i have released her she has grown and is the size of a zebra danio now. If yours is in that range, i think you can get away with it. I put her in a breeder box for a few days in the big tank(she went nuts wanting to get to the plants and stuff) the i just let her go.

--chris

[thrakuarium]

Well, the 2 platys are off to the races. I let them go into the main tank. It's my day off so I can keep an eye on them. The gourami stuck a feeler toward one but other than that he seems to be ignoring them (no stalking action). They are almost as big as the smallest rasbora in the tank so I think they will be fine. Actually the other platys have been more curious about them than the gourami.