My platy fry are trying to eat each other

[foxgirl158]

I just posted around an hour ago in the livebearers column about what to feed my two day old platy fry. Since then, I have powdered up flake food and given a little to them. While I was watching them, I noticed that quite a few are swimming around and nipping others tails and fins. They are doing it to the ones who are not currently swimming, but are laying on the floor of the fry trap. There are around 35 fry in the trap, from two different moms. One mom gave birth to preemie babies, 8 of which I found and caught and 5 of which are still alive. The preemies are not the one's doing the nipping, but they are up and swimming. Some of the babies look like they have less/slightly shredded tails then they did when I caught them.
I think the trap is too crowded for 35 fry. I have an empty half gallon tank that I can put them in, I can get a heater for it, and I can do a water change every day to make sure the ammonia doesn't build up. Alternately, I have an empty 3.5 gallon bucket that I can buy a heater for and put a filter that is not being used in. I'll take part of the media out from one of my running filters so there will be bacteria that will eat the ammonia in the new filter. However, the filter output might be too strong for the babies. If moving them to a bigger area is not the best option, what can I do to make sure they don't eat each other? They don't seem hugely interested in the flake food. TIA!

 

[foxgirl158]

Please help. I just looked at them and some have almost no tails at all.

 

[Colin_T]

put the trouble makers in the 3.5 gallon bucket and change all their water each day. just fill their container with water from the parent's tank and then top up the parent tank.

add some plants

 

[foxgirl158]

put the trouble makers in the 3.5 gallon bucket and change all their water each day. just fill their container with water from the parent's tank and then top up the parent tank.

add some plants

Add some plants to the bucket or the fry trap? I only have duckweed will that help? I put some in the fry trap and they seem to like it.

 

[foxgirl158]

put the trouble makers in the 3.5 gallon bucket and change all their water each day. just fill their container with water from the parent's tank and then top up the parent tank.

add some plants

And will they need a heater?

 

[foxgirl158]

Ok. I’ve removed the 14 fry that I saw picking on the others. In doing so, I was able to count them. I have 38 fry in total. I am getting ready to run to get a heater for the bucket so they don’t freeze. I currently have heating pads wrapped around the base, and that seems to be keeping it steady for the time being.

 

[anewbie]

Somewhat relevant story from my college days: I setup a 20 long for my gf in her dorm (in those days they didn't know better to tell you not to setup aquariums) and purchased her a pair of swordtails. The first time they had frys i ran out (this is pre-internet) and got her a floating net to put the frys (she was all panicky because mom kept chasing them) (btw this tank had fantastic plant growth and never had any algae despite sun light - was a great first fish experience for her); anyway after the 2nd or third batch of fry she realized that she didn't have to do much for the frys and the fishes would just keep having more and stopped collecting them from mommy (oddly she never complained about daddy swordtail); after a year we had to tear down the aquarium for the summer - moving out of the dorm and all that stuff - she had something like 40 swordtails in that aquarium (yea a lot of swordtails for a 20 long) but most were not full grown - they grew slowly in those days - we bagged them up and took them to the pet shop who gladly accepted them (those were great days we had this family run pet shop a few blocks from the university - a really decent petshop - i got my first painted turtle from them when i was 7 - anyway i followed up the next time i was in town a few months later and they said the fishes were extremely healthy and most sold but they kept a few.

Is there a point to this story - well yes there is but maybe there isn't.

 

[foxgirl158]

Somewhat relevant story from my college days: I setup a 20 long for my gf in her dorm (in those days they didn't know better to tell you not to setup aquariums) and purchased her a pair of swordtails. The first time they had frys i ran out (this is pre-internet) and got her a floating net to put the frys (she was all panicky because mom kept chasing them) (btw this tank had fantastic plant growth and never had any algae despite sun light - was a great first fish experience for her); anyway after the 2nd or third batch of fry she realized that she didn't have to do much for the frys and the fishes would just keep having more and stopped collecting them from mommy (oddly she never complained about daddy swordtail); after a year we had to tear down the aquarium for the summer - moving out of the dorm and all that stuff - she had something like 40 swordtails in that aquarium (yea a lot of swordtails for a 20 long) but most were not full grown - they grew slowly in those days - we bagged them up and took them to the pet shop who gladly accepted them (those were great days we had this family run pet shop a few blocks from the university - a really decent petshop - i got my first painted turtle from them when i was 7 - anyway i followed up the next time i was in town a few months later and they said the fishes were extremely healthy and most sold but they kept a few.

Is there a point to this story - well yes there is but maybe there isn't.

I only have females, so this batch of fry is special because they'll only have so many. Plus, it's my first batch, so they'll always be special lol.

 

[Colin_T]

Add some plants to the bucket or the fry trap? I only have duckweed will that help? I put some in the fry trap and they seem to like it.

Add plants to both containers with fry.

if the water is cold, then you will need to warm the water.

 

[foxgirl158]

Add plants to both containers with fry.

if the water is cold, then you will need to warm the water.

I ran to the store and got an airstone and a heater. Unfortunately the only heater that would work is pre set to 78 degrees F, is that too hot? I tested the temp and it was 72. I haven't put the heater in yet, but I hooked up the airstone to my current bubbler and adjusted the air flow so it's not creating a huge current and they seem to like it.

 

[Colin_T]

Don't they sell adjustable heaters?

78F (26C) is fine for baby livebearers.

 

[foxgirl158]

Don't they sell adjustable heaters?

78F (26C) is fine for baby livebearers.

They do, but the lowest watt I could find was something around 80-100 watts which is waaay to much for a 3.5g, plus they were something like $35 dollars for the cheapest

 

[Colin_T]

100 watt heaters are generally more reliable than 25 or 50 watt heaters. I'm not sure why, they just are. However, if you can't afford the bigger heater, use what you have.