Baby Platies :)

[ace61502]

About 6 weeks ago two of my platies had their babies and I quite a few of them in a 10g nursery tank. There were originally about 40, and not sure how many there are now (they just will not stay still!), but it's apparent we've lost more than a few along the way, but no idea where they've gone? I had been cutting the blue mechanical filter part out of cartridges for the filters, and have switched to panty hose (much easier) so they aren't getting sucked up. Ah, well. They aren't funking up the tank, so I guess their sibling are nibbling on them. Such is life.

Anyway, one of them is nearly 2 times the size of the rest, or all but 1 who is still considerably smaller, about 1/2" total length. Why would this be? I just put 4 newfound fry from the big tank in there yesterday, and the older babies just don't seem that much bigger. Definitely more colorful, but they are still so small. Seems they should all be about the size of the jumbo fry. I saw somewhere that the platies in stores are usually around 2 months old, and there is no way even that one will be as big as they are in 2 more weeks. Should I split them up to give them more room? They certainly are not overcrowded going by the old 1" per gallon rule.

Is my big baby just a pig? They were fed 3x/day for the first several weeks and twice per day since.

 

[OldMan47]

There is nothing at all wrong with your fry Ace.
At over a month old, your fry will be starting to show a bit of size variation. If you do just tons of water changes and feed very generously, the fish will grow much faster and will tend to be a bit more uniform in size, since all of the fry will be eating to satiation. At 6 weeks old my own swordtails, a close relative to your platies, are about 2cm long plus tail fins and are a fairly uniform length. I feed mine at least twice each day until they just won't eat any more each time. I also do water changes on their tank at least twice each week. Mostly I just feed crushed adult food but, when I can get it, I use live mosquito larvae and feed frozen foods at least once a week.

 

[ace61502]

Thanks, OldMan. I think I'll go back to feeding 3x a day and continue with frequent water changes.