Help FAST!!

[Chickengooch]

Okay, so I go to the tank this afternoon to feed the 2 platies we bought on Friday. What do I see? 2 babies! What do I need to do for the babies?
The are alive, and swimming up at the top of the tank, near the heater.
Any special food we need to get?
I guess now we need to hold off on buying more fish until these get a little bigger?
We were going to get some tetra's later this week, do we need to wait?

Any help is much appriciated! Thanks so much!

 

[lsmall]

Firstly, there are or were probably more than 2 fry. The others could be hiding or may have been eaten.

You need to separate them from all the other fish including the mother. Get a floating isolation tank at a fish store. Ideally you put the Mom in the isolation tank before she gives birth, so that the fry are separated from day one.

If you leave the fry in the tank as they are now, they probaly won't make it.

If you can't get an isolation tank ASAP, you can try attaching a net to the top of the tank so that the net part goes mostly in the water, like a basket at the surface and leave the fry in there, until you can get the isolation chamber/tank.

Once you've got them isolated, you can use flake food, but crush it up so they can nibble at it.

Good luck,
LSmall

 

[daza]

another method if you can't isolate them quickly is to use a small tupaware tub and puncture holes in the bottom. it might not float properly so may need clipping to the side of the tank.