Featured Image: https://www.flickr.com/photos/leedavid/330895969/. They can also breed about every 30 days. The mother is placed inside the breeding trap, and when the fry are born, they can escape through the small holes to avoid being eaten. One thing I find odd about Platy fish is that they are sexually mature, and able to reproduce, a couple of months before they are considered to be adult fish. This container will keep the fry in, but let water from the aquarium freely in, which means one less problem for you to worry about. My mickey mouse platy gave birth to 24 fry! Well it’s a staggering amount. The female Platy can give birth to approximately anywhere between 8-20 fry at a time. Tank size: Depends on how many fry you have, but generally speaking, 9-10 platy fry under a inch per 5 gallons of water. There are no hard and fast rules on this. A third method is having lots of hiding spaces in the aquarium. The platy obviously gave birth prematurely, and the embryos were not developed enough to survive. Apart from flakes, there are many other foods that you can feed platy fish fry: I try to include all types of foods I mentioned into their diet, so that they’ll get a variety of foods to meet all their nutritional demands in the early stages of their development. Q: I have had my platy for about 1 month, or more im not quite sure how long i have had her, but i know not more than 3 months. If conditions are good in your tank any that don't get eaten should make it to adulthood. So when do Platy fry get their full colours? As with all living creatures though, sizes can vary. They are also likely to be eaten by their parents too. She’s not being antisocial. Your email address will not be published. But frequent feedings carry the risk of overfeeding too, therefore, you should absolutely limit the amount you’re feeding them. So I guess the natural shape of your own Platy might affect your ability to see a distinct tummy change. Despite sharing a tank with the males for several months my females weren’t showing any signs of being pregnant when I moved them to their new home. On average, the female platy will carry the eggs for 24-30 days, but sometimes it can take a bit longer, especially if tank conditions aren’t suitable (e.g. and that after the fry are born, to move the female out. Ask friends, family and neighbours if they are interested in rehoming the fry. So even with good eyesight, and a magnifying glass to hand, the fry can still elude you. The smallest of the 4 actually turned out to be another male. I got into the fishkeeping hobby by accident when I adopted some of my son’s baby Platy fish. Rabbit Snails (Tylomelania) are a popular addition to many fish tanks, and also in snail only aquariums. Don’t expect platies to care for their offspring, they’re unfortunately devoid of any parental skills and you need to raise the fry on your own if you want them to grow into healthy adults. Now that you know how to save baby platies and how to feed them, you should also know how to maintain their aquarium so that they have all their requirements met. Artificial lights are not required by platy fish, but they do require natural light to develop into healthy fish. But if you’d rather not have more mouths to feed, or to rehome, then keep a single sex tank and enjoy caring for the the Platy fish that you chose to bring home. My female Platys have always been chunky and rounded rather than sleek. Just how many baby Platy fish can you expect to be born once your female Platy is pregnant? While it’s not considered usual for only one fry to be born at a time it does happen. It can cause all sorts of problems with the natural balance of things. Although after looking out for them for a few days your eyes usually find it a lot easier to spot them because you’re more aware of exactly what it is you’re looking for. We will see.. nice! She’s just looking for a quiet spot to rest undisturbed. Platy fry also love to eat a range of vegetables. These fry foods are enriched in protein and other important nutrients that help to promote healthy growth in young fish. ; Egg yolk paste: Take the yolk of a hard-boiled eggs and crush it into a paste. She must have already been pregnant when I bought her from the Pet Store because I kept her in an all female tank. Just mash a small piece of boiled egg yolk into a paste and drop it into the tank. She has been pregnant twice all ready. Baby brine shrimp, microworms, vinegar eels, daphnia, etc. I really enjoy the aquarium hobby and love sharing my experience with others. Since platy babies can’t tolerate fluctuations in water parameters, it’s best if you set up a filter system in the aquarium. I checked the tank thoroughly to see if there were any more babies hiding in there but there was just the one. Unfortunately pale coloured fish, both the males and females, can always look like they have a gravid spot. A breeding trap is a plastic box with small holes that goes inside a fish tank. The fry can be born all at once in fairly quick sucession. I honestly didn’t notice any extra filling out to indicate pregnancy. thanx :D Keep a regular water exchange schedule to prevent toxins and debris from accumulating in the water. An aquarium heater is necessary to keep temperatures at the required level and to keep the stable when outside temperatures are changing. Place a sponge pre-filter over the filter intake to prevent fry from being sucked up. Well it’s a staggering amount. This is in no way a requirement, and you can leave the temperature as it was set for the breeding tank. The only problem is that regular fish food is not small enough to fit their mouths, therefore, you should either find flakes designed for small fry (e.g. Generally, females can have up to 80 fry. Buy a breeding box and lots of plants – Platies are great at breeding, but there’s not much to say about their parenting skills. But just how big should fry be before you release them into the main tank? However, I still have a couple more questions. Also both artificial and live grass or moss will make useful hidey holes for the fry. You need to set up the fry tank or breeding tank separately for the fish. Generally though at birth Platy fry look almost transparent. how many times can a platy get pregnant? Another thing to look out for is a change in shape of the abdomen. I know this sounds rather nasty but it’s just the way that Platy fish are. well.....thanks for the advice A pregnant female Platy usually behaves perfectly normally. A breeding box is a temporary solution and you shouldn’t keep platy juveniles in it longer than 2 weeks. oh....ok thank you. You could also add some lucky bamboo, and the fry will hide in the roots. I always think that this combination of visible head and almost invisible tail gives them a tadpole-like appearance. An adult male Platy grows to approximately 1.5 inches/3.81 cm. It’s not advisable to put the pregnant female in the box though, as she will get distressed and may miscarry her young. In the normal tank or the community tank, there are fish that can mistakenly or intentionally feed on the eggs or even fry. This will increase their metabolism and encourage them to eat more and grow faster. The simple answer is that the Platy’s gestation period lasts for between 24-30 days. And at the same time she’s finding a place that she feels is safe to give birth to her babies in. Click here to read my article How Do Platy Fish Breed? Sometimes they can be even smaller than that. She will also give birth to between 10 and 40 fry every 4 to 6 weeks. Mum is a Mickey Mouse (I've no idea who dad was) and half the fry are getting quite large with grey bodies and yellow and black tails. The two most common species from the Poeciliidae family are: teacher has one female platy and one male guppy and their spawn are so colurful and beutiful! But it didn’t occur to me to do a little ‘fry spotting’ in an all male tank. The links provide me a small percentage of commission but do not cost you anything extra to use. And I do spend a fair bit of time watching my fish everyday. Pregnant Platy Fish – Is Female Platy Fish about to Give Birth? The tank is made up of Platies, a few Pristtella Tetras, and various Cory Cats. For example, there was around a four week gap between my single fry being born and the batch of 8 that arrived later. The female Platy can give birth to approximately anywhere between 8-20 fry at a time. The tiny little thing looked like it had probably been born a few days before I’d moved the females into the larger tank. They enjoyed it though and it was lovely to see them getting their first taste of fresh veg. We thought I had 1 male and 3 females but that turned out not to be the case. I know it doesn’t sound nice but it’s natural for Platys to eat at least some of their own fry. The unpredictability of how long it takes for all the fry from a single mating to be born is one of the reasons why it’s difficult to judge exactly how many fry you can expect. Cultured live foods: A major benefit of these foods is that they’re rich in protein and highly nutritious for platy juveniles. You don’t need to add a big chunk. You also have the option of leaving things to nature and seeing how many baby Platys you end up with over time. This article may contain some affiliate links to products. Most platy fry are eaten in the first 36 hours, when they are tiny. How to Take Care of Baby Platy Fish: 9 Steps (with Pictures) When can I put the fry back in the tank? The females, which are naturally larger than the males, obviously did particularly well because even for female Platys they are quite a size! Swordtails and platys are prolific breeders, and crossbreeding them can produce an average of 50 babies per brood. But if you want to save as many baby Platys as you can, make sure some of the food you add to your aquarium at meal times is small enough for the fry to eat. Platy Fish and Cherry Shrimp – Can You Keep Them in Same Aquarium? On average, the female platy will carry the eggs for 24-30 days, but sometimes it can take a bit longer, especially if tank conditions aren’t suitable (e.g. He has a large community aquarium and his Platys were reproducing at such a rate that it made it impossible to keep them all. Platies give birth to 20 to 80 juveniles at one time, so expect a significant boost in the population of your aquarium. In the wild platy coloring is ochrous (brown and yellow) with two dark spots in front of its tail fi… Poecilia family encounters about 170 species of various colorful fishes dwelling in different waters of South, Central and North America. Their colours will be the same as their parents when they grow up but as fry, I have only seen them colourless. Because Platy fish breed freely you’re likely to end up with a glut of fry if you keep both male and females in the same tank on a permanent basis. While he was always clearly a male he was a late starter when it came to taking an interest in the females in the tank. for more information. They’re easy to breed and relatively hardy, however, they lack any parental instincts. Although, saying that. Or anyone else’s fry for that matter. We are compensated for referring traffic and business to Amazon and other companies linked to on this site. Dr. Myron Gordon found 168 embryos in a large wild-caught Platy fish. There wasn’t a trace of any of the ‘blood orange’ colouring that his siblings were displaying. I do have a male Platy that was late in developing his colouring. Even the mummy Platy may feast on her newly born offspring. So what signs are there to look out for that tell you that your Platy fish is pregnant? The fry need to be too big to be eaten by any of the fish in your aquarium if they are to stand any chance of surviving into adulthood. The first thing I would suggest is to separate the males and females and keep them in different tanks. Especially if you weren’t planning to breed your Platys. Now that you are more knowledgeable about caring for baby platies, you can look forward to breeding your platies and welcoming new inhabitants into their aquarium. Reducing the stress levels of the mother platyfish: Sometimes, the birthing process takes a few hours. It calls for a tank upgrade if you want to keep all your Platy fish together. On average a Platy fry measures around 7-8mm in length. I have a few platy fry quarantined to their own fry tank. But they all did well in my small tank, reaching adulthood happy and healthy. As soon as they’re born platy fish are not only ready to swim and explore, but they’re also ready to eat. Juvenile fish should be fed a varied diet that will kick-start their growth and help them to develop into strong and healthy adults. Even offices and other businesses sometimes have a fish tank in the foyer so it’s worth asking around. Because their lack of colour makes them difficult to spot it acts as camouflage and helps them to hide more effectively from the other fish in the tank until they are big enough not to be eaten. Keeping them longer in a breeding will slow down their growth significantly and cause developmental issues, therefore, it’s best to release them from the breeding box or moved into a larger tank. I’m just pointing out that it’s another option if you can’t find an alternative solution. But what do you do if you end up with more Platy fry than you can handle? As with any livebearing fish, it is best to have at least 2-3 females per each male because male livebearers often harass the females. I wanted to keep my aquariums easy to care for, healthy and enjoyable. And it’s no different with the Platy fish. I have about 12 surviving platy fry in my rearing tank and they are about 2 weeks old. Then over the next few weeks he developed that lovely vibrant ‘blood orange’ colouring on all of his fins and his body remained pale silver. Adult platy fish are relatively hardy, and they may tolerate small transgressions in their keeping requirements. Platy fish are live-bearing fish that spawn fully-formed juveniles, which are able to swim and feed right away. My small starter tank began to look crowded once the fish grew into adults so my son bought me a larger tank for my birthday. If you can’t set up a separate breeding tank, there are a few other options that will help save platy babies: To use this method, you’ll need a bit of experience in telling whether your platy fish is preparing to give birth (signs include angular shaped abdomen, a preference for hiding, etc. If you know that the female platy is about to give birth (either by calculating the time that has passed since breeding or by visually inspecting her), you can remove her and place her into a large glass jar or plastic container, where you’ll keep her only until she releases her eggs. Nonetheless, along came the fry. There is an estimated 42% of these species that are categorized as either Platy or Swordtails. Squaring off looks exactly the way it sounds. Platys breed freely in an aquarium so you’re likely to be looking after lots of little baby Platys at some point. Make sure you get one that’s fry-safe, so juvenile platies don’t get stuck in the filter. Some fry are born with more colour than others but this tends to be the ones that will grow to have a deep colouring as adults. The inbuilt ability of Platy fry to swim away at birth, coupled with their amazing ability to become almost invisible by hiding in the tiniest of spaces, is important for their survival into adulthood. Egg yolk paste is too fatty for the adult Platys so it’s not a good idea to add it to a mixed tank. In the process I’ve learnt some interesting and helpful stuff about Platy birth and caring for Platy fry. How big should they be before I introduce them back into the main tank? Caring for Platy Fry. You might be wondering why your female Platy is suddenly pregnant when there’s no male around it. How Many Fry Do Swordtails Give Birth To? Which makes sense as the mummy Platy generally carries a large number of them at any one time and there’s only so much room to fit them all in.
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