Platy fry tank

pringleman1

I have recently set up a small 10L tank for when my platy has fry and she just had 19 fry today.
I was wondering which food would be better for the fry, normal flakes crushed really really small or i have brine shrimp flakes. I read somewhere that newly hatch brine shrimp if good for the fry so would the brine shrimp flakes crushed be better then normal tropical flakes?
Ill put some pictures of the fry up when i have more light.

1077

Algae based flakes or spirulina flake would be ideal for livebearer's such as guppies,platy's,and mollies along with occasional Brine shrimp.
Do keep an eye on water quality in 10 litre tank. Even though fishes are small, between the waste they create ,and feeding's,, frequent water changes may be needed as the fish grow. At around four weeks,,the fry should be large enough to place with the adults without being viewed as food.

pringleman1

I have tropical flakes from Aqua One and then the brine shrimp flakes from Ocean Star International. Whats an algae based flake?
The tank had the mother in it for several days with a weekend feeder block and there seems to be a bit of either algae or bits of the block that looks like fluffy bits on everything.
The mother was eating the fluffy algae bits just before she gave birth. I took the mummy fish out and into the big tank and left all 25 little fry that I counted in there.

pringleman1

Here is a few pictures of the fry and one you can see the fluffy layer i was talking about.
The tank has a mirrored background so some photos have double the amount of fry but I counted 32 fish today, some may be hiding but around that number is how many i got in this batch.

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james7139

that "fluffy layer" would be poo,i suggest siphoning it out.

eileen

Cute baby fry! Can you imagine that amount X's 12 months as they have a batch every month. I have a community tank so some get eaten sad but I can not keep all of the ones I have. Most get rehomed on craigslist cheap when they are fry. I rehome them at my Tropical fish club's auction that they have once a month before each meeting. Get a magnifying glass at Staples so you can see them better and when you sort them out when they start to mature to tell in they are male/female.

Keep the stronger ones and rehome the smaller or deformed ones. If you grow them out to adulthood keep the ones that your like and rehome the ones that do not make your standards. Breed the good ones back to the bothers or sister as this is fine. The stronger and bigger ones make the better ones to keep. This way you will have nice livebearers and not have alot of problems later with weaker ones if that makes sense. Each generation you will reach your goal in the color or size you are breeding for.

Make sure you do more water changes as extra feeding of fry and the amount of fry you have will effect the water qty. Make sure you use a net and put the siphon hose in the net as you do not want to suck up the fry when cleaning the water out. It is also a good idea to to put some netting over the intake vavle and secure it with a rubberband or tie wrap so babies do not get sucked into the filter. This will need to be cleaned out every few weeks so that it does not get clogged.

I use a spice grinder to grind up tropical flake food mixed with freezed dried brine shrimp and bloodworms and make that to a fine powder food for the babies. Use a toothpick and dip it into the water then into the powedered food then in the water. Making your own baby fry food is cheaper then buying it at a petstore.I only feed my babies 2X a day but some people feed 3-5 times a day. Feeding more messes with the water qty.

Good luck in raising those babies. It's so fun to watch them grow and develop. I never get tired of raising them but I only do about 12-16 at a time and do not keep the babies born the following months. I let nature take it's course in my community tank.Fry over the 12-16 limit of mine get rehomed. I keep my babies in a 10 gallon tank to grow up in with out any other fish to bother or eat them.

Congraulations on your new babies!

pringleman1

Thanks James and Eileen for the tips hopefully i get some nice ones to keep. Having 32 is a bit much so a lot will be taken to a pet shop up the road. Good idea with the net over the siphon Eileen, never would have thought of that.
I also cut some sponge i had from a project i was doing a few months ago and put it on the end of my filter. I took some water from my big community tank and soaked the sponge after id cleaned it with tap water to make sure it was good for the fry tank.
My female silver molly might be pregnant too. She has been getting bigger and has a large chest, not quite squared off yet but getting bigger. Ive read that mollies have longer pregnancies so I'm not sure how long through she is.

james7139

would you know what kind of filter you have on this little tank?

pringleman1

Its an Aqua one clearview 100. Really quite and you can change the flow level easily if it sucks your fry around and they cant swim. Its a hang on filter for small to medium tank of about 35L i think it can do.

eileen

When you use the fish net make sure that the net is loose on the bottom. Just put the siphon in about 1" or more depending on your net size. If you don't do this the baby fry will get sucked up on the bottom of the net if the siphon is pushed to the bottom of the net. This happened to me once and one baby fish died. They think you are going to feed them and they all crowd to the surface of the water when you do any tank water changes. If you have 30 or more fry rehome some when they are fry. Pet stores will not take them unless they are 1" big or more. That is if you lack tank space. I only have 6 tanks, one is a 3gal. QT or a hospital tank that I have set up with plants and shrimp but use that for babies when I do not have new or sick fish. The other is a 10 gal. for the fry. Some people just have a lot of floating plants like Hornwort or Java moss in the main tank if they lack space and some of the fry will survive in a community tank. This is a good set up if you do not want have a lot of tanks to raise the babies. Babies take along time to raise. They do not show the sex for a few months in guppies, Swordtails & Platies take forever about 8-12 months sometimes. Mollies do take along time to give birth over other livebearers at 28 days. You can Google how long mollies take to give birth.