Help my Platie has given birth.

[Drlife202]

Hi all,
Recently I have been doing a treatment to kill a parasite in my tank and today I was changing 50 % of the water when I found little Platies about 3 - 4 of them swimming around, they are so tiny and there hard to spot. Anyway it's 9p.m at the momment and no stores are open and I dont have a breeding net, what do I do? My mum is going to waterlife place tomorrow morning but what do I do for the next 12 hours? Howlong does it take the fry to start getting big and when do they start growing? Also howlong can I keep them in the breeding net I will buy tomorrow?

Thanks,
Sam

 

[Neener]

Congratulations ! Well , i don't know if the pro's would approve of this, but i have put a fry into a large drinking glass in a pinch ( as long as you take the water from the original tank )I wouldn't keep them in there any longer thena day or two but mine is now in a breeder net and doing well .It helps if you have an extra bubble stone ( on low so not to create to much current) and transfer them asap . Good luck ~ Neener

 

[jlschock]

What else is in the tank? If it is just over night you could put the fry in a small container like a drinking cup. Platies will eat their fry, but if you have lots of plants they can hide. I would keep them seperate until they are big enough no to be eaten. If you want more fry in about 3 weeks seperate the female that gave birth to deliver again. They give birth every 4-6 weeks. I also have platie fry. 17 to be exact. I have them in a 5 gal. but they are only a few days old. I feed them crushed flakes (crushed almost to powder) but I am getting microworms asap. Fry grow quicker when fed live food. Hope this helps.

 

[Drlife202]

Thanks for your help guys it's 7:45 am here and I just saw 2 fry swimming around so hopefully they will make it Also, thing is I have 3 platies, 2 sucking loaches, 1 male guppie in my tank, which fish out of them is likerly to eat the fry? I dont know which 1 is the female one of them has a gravid spot so does this mean there female?

Thanks,
Sam

 

[juliethegr8t]

I dont know which 1 is the female one of them has a gravid spot so does this mean there female?

Male livebearers have what is known as a gonopodium, whereas females do not. This is the way their anal fin is shaped (last fin on the bottom towards the tail)... females have a fan, triangular shaped one, and the males have a long extension. Check out this link for some pics. Congrats!

http/fish.orbust.net/forums/index.php?sh...showtopic=13664

 

[Drlife202]

Thanks for your help guys, 1 of my platies has a gravid spot, I think she is still pregnant shall I get a breeding net as soon as possible?

 

[jlschock]

the best thing to do is try to figure out how long she is pregnant. you don't want her in the net too long or she will get stressed. You want to wait till she is about 28 days. I don't know abot the loach but the guppy and the platies will eat the fry. I seperate my fry.

 

[Drlife202]

I went to the pet shop and they had no breeding nets in. She said the fry are almost impossible to catch with a net if the mother gave birth and released them in the tank. One of my Platies has a gravid spot so does that mean she is pregnant still?

 

[jlschock]

Platies are able to hold sperm and become pregnant several times from one mating. So if your platie has a gravid spot I would say she is going to have fry. Put lots of plants in the tank. My platies like leafy plants. Plus if you get real plants they are a source of food too.

 

[Drlife202]

Ok, thanks alot for your help. I will get a breeding net and put the mother in it and see if she gives birth in there,

Thanks,
Sam