Breeding Platys

[troy]

I've had a small group platys in a 5-gallon with some other fish in it for a couple of months and I can't get them to breed.

[cocoa_pleco]

try getting a larger tank like a 10g and getting the proper 1 male to 3 female ratio

[hungryhound]

I've had a small group platys in a 5-gallon with some other fish in it for a couple of months and I can't get them to breed.

I don't have much experience here, but I would say that your tank is overstocked and stressing out your fish, or your other fish are eating the babies.

[troy]

I'm almost positive my platy has never gotten pregnant and what's weird is she looks like she is in really good position.

[ChurchofAdam]

just about the only way she isn't (barring infertility) is if she hasn't been kept in a tank with males before... or if it's actually a dude I suppose

[bscman]

Poor water conditions, stress, overstocking/small tanks...

All of those things can suppress a fishes desire to reproduce. A larger tank, and spotless water conditions would probably be enough to get things going for you.

[Sasquatch]

What exactly is in your 5g? You're probably overstocked and the other fish are probably eating the larvae before you can spot them. It's probably not a bad thing since you don't really want any more fish in there anyway.

Probably some stupid questions but:
- What's your male/female ratio?
- Can you tell when a female is pregnant?

[troy]

My ratio currently 1 male to 1 female and I can tell if a platy is pregnant or not.

[ChurchofAdam]

it's a good idea to keep more females than males to stop them from harassing her too much. some people say 3:1, I've found 2:1 is okay for platies. gupps are more, uh, insistant with mating I think.

one thing to note is even if your conditions are ideal, sometimes they'll prefer to breed with a closer strain. one of my male platies only tries to mate with the female of the same colour/fin type. he ignores the regular red females.

[troy]

I have the same strain,but what is probably stopping them from breeding is I don't have perfect conditions.

[ChurchofAdam]

heh, believe me... with platies/swords/gupps conditions don't have to be perfect. One red platy dropped babies in the bag on the way home from the shop. stress-induced I know, but still the ones that weren't eaten survived just fine.

[troy]

Yeah, they usually don't need perfect conditions. What is also weird is the
platys at the store I got them from, are never pregnant. I think my platy is going
to be pregnant; after the activity that has been going on in the tank the last couple days. Also, I removed my evil tetras.