Keeping platty fry alive?

[DrNic]

I've been trying to get my platty colony going for a while now. I have a good mix of different patterned adult platties with a mix of males and females. I can see when the females are pregnant but whenever they seem to drop fry I think they are getting eaten.

Is there anything I can add to the tank to try an help keep the fry alive? It's pretty heavily planted at the moment. Am I better off just trying to get a large breeder net (or 2) for the tank?

Thanks for the help.

[Gayle]

Well I would probably get a fry tank. Move the moms in just before it is time for them to have the fry. Then remove her. If you cant do that a breeder box would keep some alive. Mom will eat them as well, so really if you do not have a space for the fry alone, chances are even in a heavily planted tank they will get eaten. Do you have plants floating at the top???

[Jaster]

Well you could always seperate the prego mommy until she has the fry. That will limit the amount of fish that can eat the fry. Other then that, lots and lots of hiding places. Things like plants, floating fry hide outs, caves,...

I can't keep fry alive in my main tank... just too many fish. Especially the Angels. I have a 10 gallon set up that I put the prego moms in or seperate a group of fish to try to gain some fry. some still get eaten but I manage to save a lot more that way. The last batch was mollys and I ended up with 24 of them. thumbs2:
After that I place the fry in a breeder until they are big enough to go into my fry tank. I let them grow out there until they can go into the main tank or trade them with my fish guy.

[nwnittany]

Nic,

I'd either pick up a small fry tank (e.g., a 10g thing) or get one of those plastic in-tank breeders. Just put mom in there when she looks big or or gravid spot looks extra dark (after a few tries you'll be able to pin it down).

I do this when I want some extra guppy fry to give to friends....

I imagine some folks will become unglued and claim this is cruel, but it's only for a few days and I've never noticed any lasting stress to the fish.

Just mho.

[DrNic]

Nic,

I'd either pick up a small fry tank (e.g., a 10g thing) or get one of those plastic in-tank breeders. Just put mom in there when she looks big or or gravid spot looks extra dark (after a few tries you'll be able to pin it down).

I do this when I want some extra guppy fry to give to friends....

I imagine some folks will become unglued and claim this is cruel, but it's only for a few days and I've never noticed any lasting stress to the fish.

Just mho.

I'm trying to avoid getting any more tanks for the moment. I do have a couple of 3G glass 'goldfish' bowls that might work though. I do have a floating plastic livebearer fry catcher that I was thinking about trying. I've used it with guppies (although I see now that I don't have to) but it seems kind of small for the platties. I might give it a shot and see how it goes.

When I first got the tank setup I had some mollies in it. I was able to catch the fry that they dropped and put them into a drilled 2 quart bottle in the tank. It worked great to raise them. Eventually my wife decided she didn't like the mollies so we gave them to a friend and now we just have platties in the tank.

[tetra_danio_girl]

I use a breeder box for my platys. Out of the first batch, I have 16 that are still swimming around and growing. That will probably go down to about 10 or 12, but it's a good percentage.

I do have them growing in a fry tank, though. and I'll be moving them into my "platy hex" in a little while after they get big enough to survive scooping.

When mama is big and boxy, I put her into the breeder box with a sprig of floating plant on top and that is generally good enough to get her to drop.

Good luck!!

[Jaster]

Nic,
I imagine some folks will become unglued and claim this is cruel, but it's only for a few days and I've never noticed any lasting stress to the fish.

Just mho.


It does cause some stress if she is in one of those breeders for too long. She'll get over it once you release her but it could cause her to not drop the fry. I wouldn't keep her in one of those for more the 48 hours if you don't really need to. Imagine keeping a prego woman locked in a closet for the last few days... I wouldn't want to be the man that opens that door! lmao

[Gayle]

It does indeed stress them out if they have to stay in those boxes for too long. It also stresses them out and sometimes causes them to lose the babies if you move them before they are ready.

[Chazbot]

I'm not an experienced breeder, here, but I'm with Gayle on this one. I'm pretty sure I've got a couple of pregnant platys (possibly 3) in my 29 gallon and yesterday I decided to put two of them in a breeder box (large with a divider for two Mommies). After 24 hours I couldn't deal any more. They would sit quietly for a bit and then sort of thrash against the walls of the breeder. I had to let them out cuz I was terrified they were going to hurt themselves. They're both ok now, but both of them hid for a while after getting out of the box. I won't use that box again. I say your best bet is to move the Mom(s) to a different tank when they're ready. That small bit of stress, imho, is far easier on them than a breeder box.

[nwnittany]

Gang, I hear you about the stress. Of course it's going to be more stressful for any fish in a smaller containment to what it's accustomed. But, I guess this is a balancing act between trying to minimize the stress while still keeping some of the fry alive.

Nic, I still think if you don't want to add a tank, you are going to either need to:

1. add some form of separation (e.g., a tank separator, an in-tank breeder, etc) or,
2. have net in hand and watch the mom like a hawk.

In my humble experiences, it's been better to study the mom, get good at predicting when the fry will come, and use a breeder.

But, this is just one opinion. I certainly appreciate the other side to this discussion.

[Jaster]

I've had very good luck with those floating fry hideouts. I float a few and put a few on the bottom of the tank. You should be able to save quite a few if you have a lot of plants and hiding spots.