Want Platys

[emo]

Hey, I really wanted to get a few sunset fire wag platys-- maybe 3.

I don't have the space to get a growout tank for fry, so I can't really raise them... I doubt my LFS would take them off my hands.

Is it a bad idea to keep all males, or all females?
If I got 1 male and 2 females, but left the fry in the tank would they all get eaten? It's only a 10g so overstocking is an issue with fry!


Other tankmates will (probably) include dwarf gouramis + ottos.


EDIT: The tank is quite heavily planted, so there's probably lots of hiding places for fry

 

[newfishies]

females can store sperm for a while, so you could get fry without a male.

fry might survive if they have hiding spots.

otto's don't seem to bother my platy fry, i don't know about gouramis.

i don't think the 3 males would fight if there were no females, but i have never had just males!!

 

[sunflower]

I had 8 female plattys as my first fish. 2 of them must have been impregnated at some point because they had fry. Luckily there were only 3 fry in total, probably was more but I wasnt expecting them and only found the fry when they were looking right at me from inside a plant.

Anyway, because there were only 3 fry I have kept them all. One of the fry is male though so I'm expecting some fun and games soon enough

 

[vidiots]

Often the adult platies will eat the fry, but rarely do they get all of them. The ones that are good at hiding will survive as long as there is a place to hide and the more places to hide the more will survive. The adults will only eat the ones small enough to swallow whole and they don't stay that small for very long.

Another tip is that your LFS is more likely to take the unwanted ones off your hands if they are pretty and can be identified by type (easier for them to sell). Meaning that if you get several of the same type you should get fry that resemble their parents, where as if you get multiple different types of platies you will produce a bunch of unattractive mixed mutts with random spotts and blotchy color that nobody will want.

 

[ruffmeister]

platys are usually fine to have all males as they are quite timid