Need A Quick Answer..

[bhoffman]

Okay, so I was planning onheading to the city for the day.. will be gone for a while. But I just noticed my platy is having her babies now.. as we speak!! They are ina regular 5 gal. tank.. Shold I wait to head to the city? How long can I leave for? Is it true she wont want to eat for 12 hours? I want to atleats head out and get my paycheck so maybe I can head in tonight after she is done.. how long wold it take until she is done approximitely? I really want thm to survive.. but I want to go get the proper tools to take care of the fry. Sorry for so manyh questions.. why couldnt she have done this yesteryda when I didnt have anything to do?? lol.. I was literally getting ready to head out the door....

 

[fluttermoth]

It will probably take her a couple of hours to have them all, but she will eat them if she can.

Have you got any plants (fake ones will do) or pond weed or anything you can chuck in to give the fry some cover?

A big bunch of strands of nylon yarn tied together?

 

[bhoffman]

I have two plants in there.. thats all i have.. no gravel on the bottom.. I read to not have gravel on the bottom for fry. But thats it. I dont have any other plants Dont have anhg pond weed. Dont have any nylon yarn... man.. thisis kinda stressful lol. Maybe I shoudl just stay home for now.. just incase. So far we have about 10-11... hard to count right now. Im tryig to think of what else I can put in there.

 

[fluttermoth]

If it's going to be for only a very short time (5 or 6 hours) you could put the fry in a margarine or ice cream container and float it in the tank.

Don't forget, she's going to have another brood in 30 days or so; you'll have plenty of time to get organised before that lot turn up, lol.

 

[bhoffman]

Yeah.. I will prob be gone for about 8 ish hours. Im really nervous.. I really want these guys to survive. Maybe I will put them into a seperate container for now. I will give the momma another hour or so.. and then collect babies. I thoguth maybe I could move her back to the other tank (there is 12 babies already for sure). Unless she will die from the stress.

 

[fluttermoth]

If the move is quick and you keep her calm (as calm as you can anyway!) and in the dark, she won't die of stress; the water in your two tanks should be near identical.

 

[bhoffman]

Yes, they are both identical. I think we have about 15 now.. I cant believe how many fry that can come out of such a small fish lol. She isnt a very big fish either.. Well, she is small compared to my other platies.

 

[bhoffman]

I took her out of the tank. She looked like she was startig to feed off of the bottom of the tank. It looks like I may have a few fry that did not survive.. but there are 15 in there. I put the momma back in the reg. tank.. and fed the fish.. and she went straight for teh food. Now on my way to the city to get some supplies. I wish I kew they were coming today so I could have had the stuff ready for them already. Oh well. Next time. Thanks for al your help!!

 

[colleen0309]

Welcome and congradulations on the fry! Good luck!

 

[bhoffman]

Thank you!! I am very excited to raise the fry. hopefully they survive.