does platy's eat their own ofspring?

[yellie]

Hi, I saw an new tiny fish in my aquarium the other day and since I only have one fish in it, a platy, it must be her ofspring. Besides it looks like her! Now I can not see it, but it could be hiding. What I would like to know is, do platy's eat thier own ofspring? Also i noticed that my platy's belly has turned sort of see through and is full of something yellow which may be eegs? I would like to know what to do to keep the ofspring alive if she has any more. I am obviosly a beginner and I had no intention of breeding yet as I have only just cyclet the aquarium but since it is happening anyway, I would be very greatful for some advice.

 

[yhbae]

Hi, I saw an new tiny fish in my aquarium the other day and since I only have one fish in it, a platy, it must be her ofspring. Besides it looks like her! Now I can not see it, but it could be hiding. What I would like to know is, do platy's eat thier own ofspring? Also i noticed that my platy's belly has turned sort of see through and is full of something yellow which may be eegs? I would like to know what to do to keep the ofspring alive if she has any more. I am obviosly a beginner and I had no intention of breeding yet as I have only just cyclet the aquarium but since it is happening anyway, I would be very greatful for some advice.

Oh yes, they do eat their offsprings - in fact they eat very well! That's why most people either move the female out to another tank/breeder (alone) or put plants in the tank so that fries have a chance to survive with adult platies.

 

[Colin_BC]

Chances are she already ate all the other fry if you only saw one. The smallest batch of fry I have had is a dozen with a juvy platy mom. If the baby is of size that it is truly a miniature of the mom (1/2" or bigger) it's probably been there for a while, in which case the spot you are seeing (is it yellowish with the odd black dot?) may be the gravid spot. It wouldn't be eggs that you see, as platy's give birth to free swimming fry. If the mom is of a light enough colour where this spot is visible, what you are actually seeing is the tiny bodies & eyes (black dot) of the fry. Once a female livebearer such as a platy is pregnant, she can store some of the sperm and have up to 6 (or more) broods of fry from one night of fun. Platy's generally give birth every 28 days.

On another note, can a wonderful mod please move this to the Livebearer's forum?

Colin

 

[Inchworm]

Hi yellie

There are tricks to doing everything and saving fry is no different.

I'll move your thread to the Livebearers forum where the members there can help you. Good luck and I hope you have lots of little platys before long.

 

[Def]

If you search for some threads I posted to a few months ago, I put some pics of platy fry 2 days, 2 weeks and 4 weeks old, so you should be able to figure out how old it is.

Platy fry are pretty smart, if you have even a couple of dark places for them to hide they'll be safe. If you have gravel, look around the top of the gravel where it meets the glass at the edges - platy fry bury themselves in there. Odds are you have quite a few fry hiding, you just won't see them swimming out and about for a week or so.

 

[Da_Oz]

My platy had 40 fry last week and as of today still 40 fry. In a 10g tank with a few plants.

 

[princeegrl]

i would get a floating breader for your tank so the little platy will survive