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What should I feed my 2 day old platy fry?

foxgirl158

foxgirl158

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My new platies recently gave birth to fry. One batch was premature, but they seem to be doing fine with the exception of a couple that have died. The other batch had a couple odd balls, with a conjoined pair and a deformed one, but most of them are still alive. Thing is, they won't eat the crushed flake food I've been giving them. I tried putting in a bug bite to see if they would peck off of it, but it just sat there and got fuzzy. I'm going to try to grind the flake food smaller, but is there anything else I can/need to be feeding them?
 
The same thing you feed the parents; just grind up a pinch of flakes. THey will nibble at it you just might not see - also i always leave my (swordtails) frys in the tank with their parents; sure a few are eaten but the water quality is a lot easier to maintain.

I am curious how a platy can give 'permataure' birth....
 
anewbie said:
The same thing you feed the parents; just grind up a pinch of flakes. THey will nibble at it you just might not see - also i always leave my (swordtails) frys in the tank with their parents; sure a few are eaten but the water quality is a lot easier to maintain.

I am curious how a platy can give 'permataure' birth....
Click to expand...
The fry still had yolk sacs and were small and colorless. As you can see:
IMG_20211126_095657.jpg
IMG_20211126_095653.jpg

Just small flake bits? Do they need any extra nourishment, especially the preemies?
 
foxgirl158 said:
The fry still had yolk sacs and were small and colorless. As you can see:
View attachment 148905 View attachment 148906
Just small flake bits? Do they need any extra nourishment, especially the preemies?
Click to expand...
They are also still in the same tank as their moms, just in a fry trap. I caught them and put them in, since moving a dropping female will freak her out.
 
Just high quality flakes; also they won't eat a thing whlie they have egg sack. The problem with the fry trap is you have to make sure you remove any uneaten food or it will rot and potentially kill the frys.
 
anewbie said:
Just high quality flakes; also they won't eat a thing whlie they have egg sack. The problem with the fry trap is you have to make sure you remove any uneaten food or it will rot and potentially kill the frys.
Click to expand...
My turkey baster is a life saver when it comes to removing dead fry and uneaten food, I’ll tell you that!
 
newly hatched brineshrimp, microworms and powdered fry food.

they might not eat if they are not swimming yet and still have their yolk sac
 
Colin_T said:
newly hatched brineshrimp, microworms and powdered fry food.
Click to expand...
Seems a bit over kill for platy frys but i suppose you could feed those things; i never bothered to hatch bbs for my guppy or swordtail frys - they always seem to find enough to eat among the plants.
 
anewbie said:
Seems a bit over kill for platy frys but i suppose you could feed those things; i never bothered to hatch bbs for my guppy or swordtail frys - they always seem to find enough to eat among the plants.
Click to expand...
It depends on how faster you want the fry to grow. If you want tiny fish 6 months after they were born, feed them crushed flake food. If you want sexually mature fish at 3 months of age, feed them all sorts of foods.

Just because they are livebearers, doesn't mean they shouldn't get good food :)
 
Colin_T said:
It depends on how faster you want the fry to grow. If you want tiny fish 6 months after they were born, feed them crushed flake food. If you want sexually mature fish at 3 months of age, feed them all sorts of foods.

Just because they are livebearers, doesn't mean they shouldn't get good food :)
Click to expand...
I'm not sure I want tiny fish OR mature fish at those ages lol. What if they get crushed flake food and bug bites? Will they still need brine shrimp or some other source of live protein? I'll be giving most of them to people I know, and I'm not sure any of them want babies but they also don't want tiny fish either 😆
 
Newly hatched brineshrimp (called nauplii) is one of the most nutritious foods for baby livebearers and other small fishes. I used to give it to all my fry and adult fish, including my rainbowfish that were 4 inches long. They would race around eating them up.

Microworms are not quite as good as brineshrimp nauplii but are still worth feeding in addition to other foods.
 
Colin_T said:
Newly hatched brineshrimp (called nauplii) is one of the most nutritious foods for baby livebearers and other small fishes. I used to give it to all my fry and adult fish, including my rainbowfish that were 4 inches long. They would race around eating them up.

Microworms are not quite as good as brineshrimp nauplii but are still worth feeding in addition to other foods.
Click to expand...
Would I need another tank/bucket with water for the shrimp? My mom will NOT go for another tank right now I can tell you that. Is it something I can just buy once and keep in my duckweed bucket? it's a 3.5 gallon bucket with old tank water and duckweed.
 
You buy dry brineshrimp eggs from a pet shop or online, and hatch the eggs in small container of salt water. When the eggs have hatched, you use an eye dropper or something similar, to suck the baby shrimp out and put them in with the baby fish. The eggs take 24-48 hours to hatch and you start a new batch of eggs every couple of days.

The following link has information about culturing food for baby fish and includes brineshrimp.

A microworm culture might be easier for you and can be kept in a 1 or 2 litre icecream bucket on the shelf.
www.fishforums.net

Back to Basics when Breeding Fish

STARTING OUT Make sure you have a pair, (1 male + 1 female). There is nothing worse than spending your hard-earned dollars buying a couple of fish to try and breed and ending up with a pair of fish of the same sex. Let's face it, to reproduce fish you need a male and a female. Two males won't do...
www.fishforums.net www.fishforums.net
 
Colin_T said:
You buy dry brineshrimp eggs from a pet shop or online, and hatch the eggs in small container of salt water. When the eggs have hatched, you use an eye dropper or something similar, to suck the baby shrimp out and put them in with the baby fish. The eggs take 24-48 hours to hatch and you start a new batch of eggs every couple of days.

The following link has information about culturing food for baby fish and includes brineshrimp.
www.fishforums.net

Back to Basics when Breeding Fish

STARTING OUT Make sure you have a pair, (1 male + 1 female). There is nothing worse than spending your hard-earned dollars buying a couple of fish to try and breed and ending up with a pair of fish of the same sex. Let's face it, to reproduce fish you need a male and a female. Two males won't do...
www.fishforums.net www.fishforums.net
Click to expand...
Thank you Colin!
 
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