I have a beautiful little group of Hi-Fin sunset variatus, I get loads of fry but their growth rate is too slow.After five weeks they are still shy of half of inch.Could this be a genetic issue? I've been keeping and breeding livebearers for a very long time and have never had this happen before. I'm treating them the same way I raise my other livebearers who aall grow rapidly and to good size.Any thoughts would be appreciated
Platy growth rates
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Nope. Actually of the livebearers the platies grow the slowest(of the four more common species of livebearers that is...mollies, platies, guppies and swordtails).
The fastest growing babies are guppies, the second is mollies, then swordtails and then platies of the more common livebearer groups. I don't know much on the rest of the livebearers and haven't had enough time with endlers to figure it out yet, no idea on mosquito fish either. lol =)
I've been breeding platy for years now. Even with different genes, enough space, feeding, cleaning and all around good care...it can still take them 8 months to a year to reach the one inch mark. They're ridiculously slow growers(guppies would be full adults by this point, mollies would be twice that if they're the type). A lot of that depends on care and space though.
Now it does also depend on space and care, as it usually does with all baby fish. Platies will grow much quicker with a lot of space. I popped five in my planted twenty gallon and they grew twice as fast as the three in my ten gallon. Was just a test, I don't keep them in the ten gallon except as fry.
The fastest growing babies are guppies, the second is mollies, then swordtails and then platies of the more common livebearer groups. I don't know much on the rest of the livebearers and haven't had enough time with endlers to figure it out yet, no idea on mosquito fish either. lol =)
I've been breeding platy for years now. Even with different genes, enough space, feeding, cleaning and all around good care...it can still take them 8 months to a year to reach the one inch mark. They're ridiculously slow growers(guppies would be full adults by this point, mollies would be twice that if they're the type). A lot of that depends on care and space though.
Now it does also depend on space and care, as it usually does with all baby fish. Platies will grow much quicker with a lot of space. I popped five in my planted twenty gallon and they grew twice as fast as the three in my ten gallon. Was just a test, I don't keep them in the ten gallon except as fry.
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I don't...think I repeated myself enough in that last post. Space and care...space and care...platies are still slow growers.
lol Sorry about that!
lol Sorry about that!
I have about a dozen in a twenty long,2 largish sponge filters,bare bottom,a few snails for cleanup duty.I do two 25% water changes per week and temp is kept at 78-79.When you say they grew twice as fast in your 20 how long did it take those to hit an inch? thanks
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When I just had the five in my twenty? It still took them about 6-8 months to hit the one inch mark.
78-79F is a tad on the higher side for platies. They like it 76-77 or so.
A twenty gallon long with about a dozen should be fine temporarily, a dozen in there is going to be tight once they get around the half inch to the 3/4 inch mark. Once mine get too big to be eaten by adult sized fish, I put them in my 55 gallon tank. If you can, do like I did and get a bunch of smaller ten and twenty gallon tanks to split the groups up in.
Feed them at least twice a day, preferably thee times, suck out all uneaten food and poop you see daily with a turkey baster or something and add in treated, clean water. Usually just enough to give back what you took, which shouldn't be more than 2-5% of the water. That can help them grow too.
Also, it matters what you feed them. Baby brine shrimp, glassworms minced to pieces(otherwise they're way too big). tubefix worms may be a better choice since they're thread-like, though you can cut them in half still or just go with baby foods. A lot of green food like Romaine lettuce, maybe a bit of kale, the occasional pea or green bean...Emerald Entree is alright, they can pick at the greens for a while, hikari first bites is good, bits off an algae wafer(small chunks they can chew on once they get soft enough, suck it out after an hour or so, less if you see them eating too much), you can even hammer some algae wafers into absolute dust for them, I do this, and soak it before dropping some in for them. Wide selection is good, and though omnivorous, they like more plant-matter foods than meat-based.
78-79F is a tad on the higher side for platies. They like it 76-77 or so.
A twenty gallon long with about a dozen should be fine temporarily, a dozen in there is going to be tight once they get around the half inch to the 3/4 inch mark. Once mine get too big to be eaten by adult sized fish, I put them in my 55 gallon tank. If you can, do like I did and get a bunch of smaller ten and twenty gallon tanks to split the groups up in.
Feed them at least twice a day, preferably thee times, suck out all uneaten food and poop you see daily with a turkey baster or something and add in treated, clean water. Usually just enough to give back what you took, which shouldn't be more than 2-5% of the water. That can help them grow too.
Also, it matters what you feed them. Baby brine shrimp, glassworms minced to pieces(otherwise they're way too big). tubefix worms may be a better choice since they're thread-like, though you can cut them in half still or just go with baby foods. A lot of green food like Romaine lettuce, maybe a bit of kale, the occasional pea or green bean...Emerald Entree is alright, they can pick at the greens for a while, hikari first bites is good, bits off an algae wafer(small chunks they can chew on once they get soft enough, suck it out after an hour or so, less if you see them eating too much), you can even hammer some algae wafers into absolute dust for them, I do this, and soak it before dropping some in for them. Wide selection is good, and though omnivorous, they like more plant-matter foods than meat-based.
I can say that in large growing areas they will grow larger faster. Pool breeding is my method of choice and I only get 4 1/2 months due to weather. I also use live food throughout their lives. I find that females that are consistently eating live food have larger fry. As stated above, platys are slow growers and every little bit helps.
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