Various Platy Questions

[gordonuk]

1. How old do you think my Adult platy are?, or is it impossible to tell?

2. How old do the fry need to be before safe to release into main tank with parents and not be eaten?

3. I bought some freeze dried River Shrimp (see my blog) and the platy just spit it back out, does that mean they dont like it?

4. I also bought some freeze dried Daphnia and they all liked it, especially the fry when crushed it up more, should I feed the fry this from now on?

5. I have managed to get the temp to settle between 25c and 25.9c is that a good temp to have?

6. Why do Platy poo so much?, they seem to always do it, they are always swimming about with long danglers

7. If a goldfish has supposidly a 10 second memory, how much does a Platy have?

8. Give that baby fry are so small am guessing they inteligent fish as they have so many stealth skills to outwit the adults

9. Do Platy's sleep?

10. Are the fish easily trainable?, seems as soon as they see me going near the glass they think i am going to feed them, or is that just a natural fish instinct?

 

[Tokis-Phoenix]

I will give this a shot...
1. Platys are usually about 6months+ old when they arive in petshops, so they are sexually mature but not quite fully grown. You can work out a rough estimate of their age based on this.
2. As long as they are large enough not to fit into the other fishes mouths.
3. With fish, spitting out & re-swallowing can be a way of breaking down their food, so perhaps try breaking the shrimp up before soaking them in water before feeding them to the fish next time. Though i found my fish were never that keen on freeze dried critters, always much preferred frozen krill/bloodworms/river shrimp etc (but variety in any fishes diet is always a good thing- its good to vary the fish flake meals a bit with other fish foods).
4. Again variety is good, but you want to make sure that the fry are mostly eating their proper food as freeze dried daphinia are not particularly nutritious.
5. Yep v .
6. As long as the poop isn't white 'n stringy or bubbly, then pooping lots is a healthy normal platy behaviour. However you don't want the fish to get constipated, so adding a bit of greenery to their diet is good (they like a bit of algae wafer etc) b .

 

[KittyKat]

1. How old do you think my Adult platy are?, or is it impossible to tell?

Have you just bought them from a shop which gets regular new stock? Then probably 6-12 months. It is impossible to tell the exact age, it is possible to tell "young", "somewhere in the middle" or "old" and they are "somewhere in the middle".

2. How old do the fry need to be before safe to release into main tank with parents and not be eaten?

When they are big enough to not be eaten. It is generally safe when they reach 2cm.

3. I bought some freeze dried River Shrimp (see my blog) and the platy just spit it back out, does that mean they dont like it?

..or that they are just not hungry. It depends on how much you feed, how often, what they are used to, etc.

4. I also bought some freeze dried Daphnia and they all liked it, especially the fry when crushed it up more, should I feed the fry this from now on?

Alongside other foods, it is never good to feed a single food unless you have prepared it yourself and know that it has the perfect balance of everything.

5. I have managed to get the temp to settle between 25c and 25.9c is that a good temp to have?

Yep, that's fine.. personally I prefer even lower at 22-23°C

6. Why do Platy poo so much?, they seem to always do it, they are always swimming about with long danglers

You sure you don't overfeed? Because they eat all the time.

 

[gordonuk]

I will give this a shot...

3. With fish, spitting out & re-swallowing can be a way of breaking down their food, so perhaps try breaking the shrimp up before soaking them in water before feeding them to the fish next time. Though i found my fish were never that keen on freeze dried critters, always much preferred frozen krill/bloodworms/river shrimp etc (but variety in any fishes diet is always a good thing- its good to vary the fish flake meals a bit with other fish foods).

They just dont seem interested in it at all, eat it but spit it back out then totally ignore it. I am trying to give them a little variety instead of the flake but think thats backfired. At least they like the Daphnia so can give them a treat now and then.

6. Why do Platy poo so much?, they seem to always do it, they are always swimming about with long danglers

You sure you don't overfeed? Because they eat all the time.

I just feed them when i get up in the morning then again around 7pm. So they not exactly over fed.

 

[OldMan47]

Many people feed only once a day. If you are using small enough portions, the twice a day routine is also fine. Daphnia are a decent enough treat for your fish as long as it is not the only food you are using. In your situation, I would use that once or twice a week and stick to a brand name staple food for the rest of your feedings.

 

[KittyKat]

6. Why do Platy poo so much?, they seem to always do it, they are always swimming about with long danglers

You sure you don't overfeed? Because they eat all the time.

I just feed them when i get up in the morning then again around 7pm. So they not exactly over fed.

How long do they take to finish the food? (It should be 30/60 seconds or under.)

 

[OldMan47]

I find mine start to lose interest in food after 4 or 5 minutes or even a bit sooner so I always try to feed them less than they will east in that time. With fry it is important that they never really become very hungry. Lots of tiny feedings is always better than 1 or 2 large ones when trying to get some growth out of fry. Food is energy7 for them to grow and you want them to always have a little of that energy left when they get the next chance to eat.