Platy Gender Ratio

RyanTheFishGuy64

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So...If you read this section frequently, you may know that I realized I have to male Platies...
I only have a 10g tank so I obviously cant get 6 females (nor do i want to) so I ask, should I just stick with males all the way out and never have fry~OR~ would a 2:2 ratio be so harmful?
 
Thanks in Advance!
 
I would stick to males only. You really don't have room, with one ten gallon tank, to rear fry properly.

When you consider that each female can have upwards of 30 or 40 fry, every month, that's a lot of extra fish to house and rehome.
 
No matter what with most livebearers if you have both genders, you will get more than you started with. Your tank should accommodate for this. I think platies do best in tanks of at least 2 feet in length.
If you really wanna get platies, I'd reccomend all males for sure.
 
RyanTheFishGuy64 said:
ok....I have a 2g for fry if that changes anything...lol
 
Doesn't change a thing, IMHO. ;) I wouldn't really recommend platies in a 10G anyway.
 
Remember that platies are so easy to breed that it is incredibly difficult to find new homes for the fry. Best to avoid getting into difficulties in the first place.
 
Once they start they have fry every 4-5 weeks if that helps you to put things into perspective,
You'd need a room full of tanks and then when the fry start breeding you'd have an exponential explosion of platies!
The only way to keep them under control is to have larger fish in the tank (not possible in your tank) that would eat the fry soon after they were born so if you are looking for feeder fish for a bigger that might be ok,
(I had a breeding pair of platies - used to leave the fry in the tank for mama platy to sort out. I got between 1 and 6 fry per batch (every 5 weeks!))
 
Alright guys, Thanks! I will stick with males in this tank! I have a 30g in the attic I might pull out at another time. This is really just my starter tank to ease myself back into the hobby. Thanks!
 
This topic has been helpful to me. I currently have a tank with a male and female platy, two female mollies, and a male betta. 
My two molly girls are still small, a smaller body size even than the bettas body size (not including fins), but the two mollies will be relocated once they've grown.
 
My platys seem to show no signs of mating, Ive had them a week and a bit. The female doesn't have any black dot around her rear end either (though its quite hard to see, she is a red wag). Will my betta cull off any fry that may be born?
 
Georgia_ofthejungle said:
This topic has been helpful to me. I currently have a tank with a male and female platy, two female mollies, and a male betta. 
My two molly girls are still small, a smaller body size even than the bettas body size (not including fins), but the two mollies will be relocated once they've grown.
 
My platys seem to show no signs of mating, Ive had them a week and a bit. The female doesn't have any black dot around her rear end either (though its quite hard to see, she is a red wag). Will my betta cull off any fry that may be born?
Yes your betta will eat any fry he manages to catch, can you post a pic of your two platies?
 
Top photo is my boy, bottom is my girl. My boy, Ares, was in full swim during that pic, so all his fins are kind of flattened, but his back bottom one is always like that! 
 
They are beautiful 
smile.png
both look quite young so maybe need more time to mature.
 

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