Is it OK to move young platies...

[neptuneviv]

Hi!

A few months back, one of my platies gave birth to about 20 (never actually managed to count them!) little ones, who are now about 1/2 an inch long (about 1.5 cm) and extremely hungry. They all live in a 10G tank, and I think this is getting too cramped (the nitrites and ammonia are always at 0, but obviously the nitrates climb pretty fast).

I have a 15G tank with 5 platies (2 males, 3 females) and 4 cory cats. I also have a 15G tank with a pair of bettas (two males with a separator). May I move a few of the younger fish into the adult tank? I have no idea if the other fish would consider them small enough to try and snack on them.

Please let me know what you think! Thanks!

 

[Mamaschild]

Well, at 1/2" they should be ok. If your concerned that they still might get eaten, and this is only for the strong at heart, put one in and see what the adults do. Or just try to guage the size of the fry compared to the size of your adults mouths. If they will fit, they will be at risk of being eaten.

The best time to put them in is right after you feed them (or while you feed them) and just before turning out the lights. The adults will be too interested in food to bother them. And hopefully, once they are in, they will be fine.

HTH

 

[MAM]

like mamaschild said, as long as they are too big to fit in the mouths of your other fish,you should be okay. if your platys are like my mollies, distracting them with food may be a good idea, as my mollies always come to the surface when i open the lid, and whenever i intro new fish, they have to check them out right away (my poor pandas got no peace the first few hours). i have about 10 three week old (almost a month now) fry in the main tank (hte rest are in a smaller one), and theyre only about a 1/3 of an inch, not quite a 1/2 inch yet, but the adults leave them alone (and i have mostly large lyretail mollies, so theyre just slightly bigger than platies, which i'd assume mean they have slightly larger mouths, though i could be wrong), and they will nip at and chase the babies a little now and again (i have crazy mollies, what can i say), but the babies are too big to be eaten now. i'd go ahead and move a few into the tank and see how they do for a day or two. if no problems, go ahead and move some more. jsut dont' put them in the betta tank, you may find you have not more fry