n00b questions by gau... [Archive]

gau

06-20-2009, 04:37 PM

Hi all,

I have two colors of platys. One of them keeps chasing this and one another female.

Both females look very irritated by these guys. Is it okay, or do I need to separate the females? One of them is definitely pregnant.

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Also, can anyone tell me how far is my platy from spawning?

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jaysee

06-20-2009, 05:17 PM

The gestation time is a month, I believe. In the first picture it looks like yours is about to pop any day now! If you were going to use a breeder box or something, I think now is the time to move her. Ideally, you will keep notes on when they give birth so that you can determine within a few days when they will pop, minimizing the stress on the fish.

PostalPenguin

06-20-2009, 05:29 PM

Males will chase the females when they know shes about to pop because then they'll be able to mate again. My dominant platy is very agressive to my females right before and after they give birth. After a few days he settles down. Add some more decorations to break up the tank which will let the females find quiet places to retreat to and you shouldn't have to worry about separating them.

gau

06-25-2009, 10:51 PM

Yesterday, while my girlfriend was getting her haircut, I went off to the local Petsmart store. (I was shocked to see the way they treat their fish, but that is altogether another story.)

Out of a whim, i brought a 3-way breeder(thought 2 way to be too small)

I placed my pregnant platy in it yesterday evening, and behold, I had 6 new fry today morning. :19: :19: :19:

Now I read somewhere that you dont feed your fry for first 12 or 24 hours. Which one is true?

I am going to feed them crushed flakes powder and hard boiled egg yolk squeezed through a thin cloth.

Is this enough?

Should I be feeding them 3 times a day? Whats the amount for 6 fry?

Here is a pic of some of them:
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Wild Turkey

06-25-2009, 11:56 PM

Your food for the fry is spot on, not sure if livebearers need the yoke at first but it wont hurt.

Feed them a few times a day, be ready to vacuum out excess it gets messy.

She probably had a lot more than 6 and ate the majority, next time the way to have the babies survive is to leave her in the tank, or move her to her own tank and provide lots of hiding places

Congrats on the frythumbs2:

rich311k

06-26-2009, 12:02 AM

Congrats on the babys, sounds like you have a good handle on it.

gau

06-26-2009, 01:06 AM

@ Wild Turkey and rich311k,

Thank you.

I dont think she ate them. I had a breeder box. But I dont know if she was done giving births. I am happy with 6 of them, they are more than I can provide for. :hobbes:

They dont seem to like the crushed flakes that much, or so I think.

One thing I wonder is that, I had this platy in "ready to pop" condition for like 3-4 days. But she gave birth the night I put her into breeder. Would this be a kind of premature birthing?
Even though I provided her a big breeder box(Lee's 3-way), she appeared very stressed when she was in there.

rich311k

06-26-2009, 01:19 AM

Some females are not happy in the boxes. It just stresses them too much.

Wild Turkey

06-26-2009, 03:27 AM

Some females are not happy in the boxes. It just stresses them too much.

Yup, agree

That could have contributed to her not having very many fry

If she ate a some of them, there really wouldnt be a way to tell unless she looks a little fat? But that could mean she is still holding fry also, hard to say....I am no expert on breeding livebearers, most of my experiences involve trying to keep them from breeding:hmm3grin2orange: If you have a male and female they will breed again

jaysee

06-26-2009, 05:44 AM

Some females are not happy in the boxes. It just stresses them too much.

They'll get used to it after a few times.

gau

07-02-2009, 03:28 PM

Wild Turkey

07-02-2009, 03:32 PM

Which vacuum to go for? (below 10$). Is there any DIY method to clean gravel?

I have a topfin filter(10g). I have its cartridges ([Only Registered Users Can See Links.])

I was wondering what filter media can I use to fill it up? Would some aquarium coarse gravel help the filtration? (The bags are currently empty.) Could I put in some carbon granules in these? (I have just a few)

Most small siphons are less than 10$ so your in luck. A cheaper alternative would be a length of hose from the hardware store.

For filter media, use whatever you prefer. Gravel will work, fill the floss pouches with it, both the gravel and floss will grow bacteria.

Nothing wrong with running carbon if you wish, use fresh carbon in one of the pouches, replace after 1 month as usual.

gau

07-04-2009, 01:37 PM

Can I use drive way gravel in my tank?
Also, the rocks around my area are rich with Iron(they are actually some kind of iron ore!!) Can I use them in my aquarium?

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jaysee

07-04-2009, 05:32 PM

I would get a bag of biomax and put that in the cartridge. That's what I did with my topfins. Personally, I'd rather use a specially designed biomedia than gravel. Plus, when you need to clean/change the pouch, you can just take the bag of biomax out and preserve your bacteria colony.

gau

07-04-2009, 08:33 PM

Can I occasionally feed my tetras, danios and platys with cichlid flakes?

Little Embers

07-05-2009, 12:46 AM

Can I occasionally feed my tetras, danios and platys with cichlid flakes?
Occasionally.....That should be fine and wouldn't hurt them.

gau

07-05-2009, 05:43 AM

jaysee

07-05-2009, 06:03 AM

I don't know for certain, but if it's going to change the chemistry of the water I wouldn't use it. I am not a fan of altering my tank water, and as far as I'm concerned, if the fish can't adapt to my tap water I simply won't keep those fish.

What kinds of bottom dwellers do you plan to keep? That should be the determining factor for what substrate to use. To me, the driveway gravel looks like it has a lot of sharp edges and fish generally don't like that.

If you plan on getting a school of corys, sand is ideal but a fine gravel will work too.

Little Embers

07-05-2009, 06:27 AM

I agree and to be on the safe side, I would avoid any ore based gravel/rocks in an aquarium due to its potential to change the water chemistry too much.

terapie

07-05-2009, 12:00 PM

When i go looking for rocks and gravel and such, i allways look at the rocks to see if they have ore in them, be it iron or whatever, and i`m carefull not to take limestones or any other calcarous stones, then when i get them home ... the old vinegar test helps to see if they're bad for my ph (put some vinegar on them, if they bubble = they will probably raise the ph of your water)

The ore i avoid cause it messes with the water, "heavy metals" like they are called are usually poisonous for humans too, so i imagine the fish will do the belly up if they get metal poisoning, better to avoid then being sorry ("my fish died and i dunno why...test look ok" sort of thing...)

Cheers!

gau

07-05-2009, 02:27 PM

Thank you all. :)

I just read it somewhere online, that driveway gravel may be used as a substitute for aquarium gravel.

But I thought I should confirm.

Wild Turkey

07-05-2009, 09:22 PM

I would also take the safer route and if you are going to use gravel, use some aquarium gravel, a few pounds is like 2-3 dollars. No telling what kind of impurities or contaminants are in the gravel after being part of your driveway for a while.

gau

07-08-2009, 10:47 PM

Could anyone guide me to buying plastic mesh? I want to breed my LF zebra danios and am looking for plastic mesh.

I found a size 7 on ebay, but it might have too small holes for the eggs to fall through.

Would this mesh be small enough for the eggs to fall through? Plastic mesh ([Only Registered Users Can See Links.]|293%3A1|294%3A30)

How about this ([Only Registered Users Can See Links.]|66%3A1|39%3A1|293%3A1|294%3A25)?

Could anyone suggest cheaper alternatives at stores, instead of online? Marbles just are too costly to ship. Anyplace with cheap marbles?

Little Embers

07-09-2009, 12:11 AM

Large gravel works just as well as marbles IMO and I'm sure some fry will survive if you do nothing gau, since they usually scatter anywhere up to 500eggs at a time. One alternative is, when you noticed the danios spawning just use a turkey baster every couple of days an gently syphon the gravel to suck up the majority of the eggs and just transfer the eggs into a fine meshed breeding net....Good luck with the breeding!...The usually don't need much help from us though and you often end up with fry whether you want them or not if you have danios LOL!

gau

07-22-2009, 03:59 PM

The usually don't need much help from us though and you often end up with fry whether you want them or not if you have danios LOL!

They somehow dont do it for me. I have seen them spawning in the main tank a couple of times, but when I transfer them to breeding setup, they just freak out, and leave a load of poo, instead of eggs. :D

Since last week, I have been noticing that one or two of the danios get really territorial. I added some java moss, a Horntail and an Anachris Elodea to my tank. The danio sits on the densely planted part, and chases away everyone.

It seems more troublesome for my Neon tetras(4) which get chased away easily.

Now I am in a dilemma, as I want to introduce half a dozen CPDs around mid-fall, and get two more Neon tetras.

I did some reading on CPDs and found out that they are very shy. Will my 4 LF Zebras be a terror for them?

To give you an idea, I have 4 LF Zebras, 3 platys and 4 Neons in my 20g. In fall I plan to buy 2 Neons and 6 CPDs (Total 19 fishes)