Help-fry getting eatin?

[stan83]

Hello guys
my platie had babies last night and I noticed this mornign that there are only 4 left.
I took the mother and father out of the tank last night but left in an algee eater
Is there any chance he could be eating my fry?? I thought algee eaters didnt bother other fish.
The fry and algee eater are the only ones in the tank now

thanks for the help
steve

 

[carppy]

uh you need to get a breeders net, next time she is ready to have babies relocate her to the net, then when she's done take her back out. Most fish do eat their babies and the babies will also go down into the gravel when they are very small. My little girl has been the proud psuedo momma of 3 broods of guppies. And my very first breeding experience was with swords. The breeders net is less then $10 canadian, and you'll also need fry food. Good luck next time

 

[stan83]

But does the algee eater eat the fry or should they be fine with him in there'
It is only a 2 gallon tank and ive been feeding them ground up tropical fish flakes and they have been eating that no problem.
I just worried about my algee eater is all

 

[yhbae]

Which algae eater do you have? If you have otos or small pl*cos (i.e. less than 1.5 inches from my experience), you are going to be ok...

 

[stan83]

HE is a really small algee eater. I got him to keep my 2 gallon in check. HE is green with a black stripe and white belly if that helps. and I know he is not the chinese type (dunno what they are called either. I would say he is between 1 and 2 inches.
Will the fry live on flake food ground up to a powder?
How long does it usually take them to grow big enough to put in a larger tank with other fish

 

[carppy]

the parents will still eat the babies and most algae eaters will too its best if you plan on raising them to segregate them from the parents and anything else whos mouths they'll fit into

 

[yhbae]

Yeah I'd be careful with your algae eater - it could be anything. I have 2 fully grown otos in my platy breeder tank and never had any issues with fries. I also have 1.5 inch bristlenose pl*cos and they don't seem to eat fries either, although I guess they will start to eat them at some point, so I don't have them in the breeder tank.

On the other hand, 3 weeks old platy fries WILL eat new born fries, so be careful with that as well... I found out the hard way... (Basically, I was trying to experiment to see if I can grow two generations of fries in the same tank - I failed that one miserably, with zero surviving newborn fries!)

Food-wise, ground-up flakes are ok, but hatched brine shrimps are better (seems to grow faster too). Starting around 2 weeks, I start to feed them New Life Spectrum Small Fish Formula and BBS.

I move the fries out of the breeder tank when they are about 3 weeks old, and they seem ok in the grow-out tank with larger platies. Again, I feed BBS, so your mileage might vary...

 

[joshua]

there is also another product on the market called liquifry. i heard some fries eat the stuff off plants (infusoria??) like java moss n stuff

 

[Avalon66]

I personlly dont even bothering worring about the babies getten eaten , expually if they are platties... Platty breed like rabbits and before you know it your going to have more fish then you know what to do with.... I have had platties for three months now and have had then breed four times since then ... They are very busy.... also once a female mates with a male they can get pregnant more then once and give birth more then once with the one mating.... I though that was pretty cool... So dont sweat it dude... you will have more babies before you know it ... if you want get something that is like a tunnel they can swim and hide in.. i used a cerammic u shaped vase and laid it on its side then i make sure that the gravel was not underneith it... this give the frys some place to hide and the bigger fish cant get at them .. i also make sure a there is plants in the tank...