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HELP ASAP! Urgent baby fish question!

2K views 4 replies 3 participants last post by  jim21 
#1 ·
Apparently my platy is giving birth , because we've found 4 baby fish (it's 10:10 p.m. CST)! What do we do? There are only the 2 platies and a small clown pleco in the tank besides the babies. Do we separate the babies out into their own bowl for, or move everyone but babies and mom? Need answers ASAP because I don't want the babies to get eaten!!
Thanks!!!
 
#2 ·
ckmclements said:
Apparently my platy is giving birth , because we've found 4 baby fish (it's 10:10 p.m. CST)! What do we do? There are only the 2 platies and a small clown pleco in the tank besides the babies. Do we separate the babies out into their own bowl for, or move everyone but babies and mom? Need answers ASAP because I don't want the babies to get eaten!!
Thanks!!!
Hi.

What size is your tank? Platies are very prolific so I wouldn't worry if some fry got eliminated. Simply provide several plants for the fry to hide. They will take any food given to them. Unless you can cope with several dozens of fry, I'd suggest leaving the fry where they are.

A female livebearer with a single mating from a male can drop several batches of fry in a few months.
 
#4 ·
Re: babies

ckmclements said:
Tank is a 10-gallon, there are already several plastic plants in there. How would we go about separating them out if we decide to do so in the near future?
Another tank should be set in store for rearing purposes.:) Operate with a sponge filter in bare bottom tank so you can clean up the wastes easily. I suggested sponge filters as the fry will easily get sucked up by most filtration systems used.
 
#5 ·
We raised a few different types of platys for years. It's my experience that the stress induced to the fry by trying to remove them or to the female by netting her and getting her into a hatchery, is not worth the few babies that may get eaten or killed. I can assure you that if you do absolutely nothing except feed everyone well, that you will be trying to find friends to give babies to in a couple of months. It is very common for the female to have multiple batches from one mating as was mentioned.

Have fun!

Hope that helps,
-jim
 
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