Breeding Pet Store Platys.... Any luck?

sweetwaterarabians

My daughter is wanting to try breeding Platys again. We tried last year. Got a nice pair of painted platys at the pet store. Collected a few babies, put them in a 5 gallon baby tank with all the right conditions and fed them live brine shrimp. Tried everything to raise them right only for them to all turn out very small and stunted with crooked spines. Is this typical for pet store fish or did we just have a bad batch? I had tried raising platys years ago only for the babies to be the same way only they didn't get live brine shrimp.

Just curious to see if anyone has had any luck raising decent fish from the pet store fish.

Cody

Uhh, I dont want my baby platies. I started with 3 from Petsmart and now have 9. I dont even try to save them, and they just pop out of nowher in my main tank.

You really just need a female thats been exposed to a male to have babies. Females can store sperm for 30 days, so they can have babies anytime. Its best to have them with a 1 male to 2 females ratio as well.

I think the reason they were stunted was because the tank they were in wasnt big enough, or the water quality in that tank was bad (or both).

sweetwaterarabians

No, tank size wasn't the problem because they were only in the 5 gallon for the first month and then they were moved to a 20 gallon to grow more and later to the 55 gallon. I've raised lots of guppies the same way and they did fine. Perhaps it was just those particular fish. Last time I also had a really bad time with collecting babies as well. I know she was having them but they were eating them all so bad I was lucky to get the ones I did find. Because they were orange, they looked like little pieces of food.

okiemavis

Sounds like it was just a bad batch to me...perhaps get some from a different store? Also, what's your water hardness? Maybe you didn't have enough calcium and stuff for developing fry? For that matter, what are all of your water parameters?

Also, Platy can store sperm for up to 4 months...

sweetwaterarabians

Well, this was a year ago and I no longer have the tank set up that I had babies in. My tanks are all basically the same when I do set up others because I start them from the main tank (my 55 gallon) which has a PH of 7, Kh 5 degrees, GH 6 degrees, Ammonia and Nitrites 0. I don't have a calcium test.

okiemavis

Water hardness is a good general idea of calcium...or just dissolved nutrients in general. Sounds like your water's fine for them, although it wouldn't hurt for it to be a little harder, it certainly shouldn't effect the fish. I'd just give it another try. Perhaps order some cool ones online off aquabid? You could get some very cool colors...

sweetwaterarabians

Don't mention Aquabid. I'm a recovering Aquabidoholic . I traded my pleco for a trio of rainbow platys so she already has some new ones to start with. I was just curious to see if anyone else had run into the same thing with breeding store platys.
I don't want to go any harder with my water since I have tetras that I'm very fond of.

Amphitrite

I haven't had the same experience with platys, but have had similar when breeding zebra danios - curved spines, slightly deformed gills etc. The parent fish appeared healthy, and they were bred in a well established tank with ideal conditions. I think the poor quality of some fish for sale in LFS are most likely the cause.

okiemavis

Not to mention if you're buying two fish from the same tank they're likely siblings, which increases the risk of inbreeding. Buying platies from two different sources would be the safest way to go.

Good luck with the ones you've got!

Chrisseh

I agree, it sounds like a case of inbreeding to me. I would buy a couple/few more platies from another store, but not another petsmart. All the petsmarts in a given area use the same supplier, so you risk buying siblings again. Try a non-chain.