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. A pregnant female Platy usually behaves perfectly normally. The bigger the fry grow – the larger and darker the gravid spot gets. The male Platy also has a modified anal fin called a gonopodium. I know this sounds rather nasty but it’s just the way that Platy fish are. Platy Fish Care – How to Care for Platies ». Make sure to get down the basics before you attempt breeding platy fish, so you can get healthy and strong juveniles. Well it’s a staggering amount. That’s a lot of baby Platys to deal with! The platy obviously gave birth prematurely, and the embryos were not developed enough to survive. Platy Fish and Cherry Shrimp – Can You Keep Them in Same Aquarium? 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. As the fry get nearer to being born, and are pushing against the inner wall of the abdomen, it’s sometimes possible to see the eyes of the fry if mummy Platy is pale in colour. An aquarium heater is necessary to keep temperatures at the required level and to keep the stable when outside temperatures are changing. Click here to read my article How Do Platy Fish Breed? link to Rabbit Snails | An In-depth Guide To Their Care. I’m neither condoning or condemning the practice of culling. Platys reach the reproductive age at around 4 months. A 50% water change every other week should do the trick. But these boxes are another way to keep your fry safe until they are big enough to be introduced back into the main tank. Too small for the bigger Platys and other adult fish to get into. You can use a combination of static and floating plants in your aquarium. When can I put the fry back in the tank? This is the reason why you shouldn’t breed platies in a community aquarium and set up a separate breeding tank, which you can manage much easier. My second batch of fry went crazy over the cooked broccoli floret that I offered them. Hey, I'm Fabian, chief editor at Aquarium Nexus. If all else fails you can cull the fry. Juveniles of live-bearing fish have a short digestive cycle meaning they’re ready to eat all the time, every time. She’s not being antisocial. However, I still have a couple more questions. As soon as they’re born platy fish are not only ready to swim and explore, but they’re also ready to eat. Within the Xiphophorus genus, there are a debated 28 separate species. Unlike juveniles of egg-layer fish, platy juveniles can swim as soon as they’re born, and they’re ready to … AquariumNexus.com is a participant in the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program, an affiliate advertising program designed to provide a means for sites to earn advertising fees by advertising and linking to Amazon.com, Since both platy fish and goldfish are beginner-friendly fish that have easy-to-fulfill keeping requirements, you…, If you’re about to breed platy fish, you may want to take a moment to…, As a platy fish and shrimp enthusiast, I often come across questions from less experienced…. Ask a local Pet Store if they will take the fry off your hands. 1,129 Posts #2 • Feb 24, 2017. 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. 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. An example of this is the fry born to my gold and black speckled female. Their tiny size can make them hard to see. Today's video is a six-month video of my platy fry growing up. Generally though at birth Platy fry look almost transparent. However there are a few general guidelines that help to give you an idea about the possible number of new arrivals. 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. Since platy babies can’t tolerate fluctuations in water parameters, it’s best if you set up a filter system in the aquarium. Mr. Hahnel reports a brood of 170 young from one female, although only 120 of them lived to maturity. I was soon hooked on the fishkeeping hobby and so I expanded my aquariums. You also have the option of leaving things to nature and seeing how many baby Platys you end up with over time. You can see now why I said approximately. As an Amazon Associate we earn from qualifying purchases. Remember that the temperature and softness of the water can impact the amount of time it takes for a pregnant platy fish to give birth. She will also give birth to between 10 and 40 fry every 4 to 6 weeks. The links provide me a small percentage of commission but do not cost you anything extra to use. The largest single delivery of fry by a Guppy, as far as we know, was recorded by Paul Hahnel, the well-known Guppy breeder. « Platy Fish Lifespan – How Long do Platies Live For? The length of time it takes for a female Platy to give birth to all her fry varies quite a bit. I always think that this combination of visible head and almost invisible tail gives them a tadpole-like appearance. Platy Fish and Goldfish – Can You Keep Them in Same Aquarium? Some of them may even offer this kind of service. 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. She’s just looking for a quiet spot to rest undisturbed. That way once the female(s) have given birth to all the fry they are going to have from the initial mating there won’t be any more new arrivals. Both of my females and one of my male Platy have always had this dark spot on their abdomen. 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. Your email address will not be published. But just how big should fry be before you release them into the main tank? There wasn’t a trace of any of the ‘blood orange’ colouring that his siblings were displaying. It’s not always possible to see the gravid spot if your Platy is dark in colour, but it’s there nonetheless. Because of their pale colouring you can see a ‘shadow’ of their internal organs, which creates a dark spot in the place where you would expect to see a gravid spot in a pregnant female. Platy fish are live-bearing fish that spawn fully-formed juveniles, which are able to swim and feed right away. But what do you do if you end up with more Platy fry than you can handle? You may even find some local fishkeeping enthusiasts that will take them. They are likely to have a most unpleasant death. Baby Platy fish are as easy to feed as the adults are and will eat the same food too. Rabbit Snails (Tylomelania) are a popular addition to many fish tanks, and also in snail only aquariums. On average a platy has between 24 to 48 fry. You could also ask local schools and educational centres if they would be interested in taking on some of the babies. Place a sponge pre-filter over the filter intake to prevent fry from being sucked up. Caring for Your Platy Fish Use commercial fish food for the majority of your platy fishes' diet. Juvenile fish should be fed a varied diet that will kick-start their growth and help them to develop into strong and healthy adults. Platy juveniles are indeed small, but that doesn’t mean they should be kept in a small aquarium, especially that a female platy can release as many as 80 babies at a given time. 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. I checked the tank thoroughly to see if there were any more babies hiding in there but there was just the one. Thus, the first step to raise the fry is to give them the ideal environment to born. So I guess the natural shape of your own Platy might affect your ability to see a distinct tummy change. An adult male Platy grows to approximately 1.5 inches/3.81 cm. Strong and smart fry born loose in the general population of your aquarium will find a place to hide if you float dense plant cuttings in a corner and anchor them to the top of a heater, thermometer, or filter. The gravid spot on a platy fish is another indication that your female Platy is pregnant. The yellow blobs were the yolk sacs, which are normally absorbed by the time baby platies are born. My female Platys have always been chunky and rounded rather than sleek. You need to soften the vegetables by steaming or simmering, then cooling, to make them easier for your fish to eat. The key is to ensure they always have a little bit of food in their bellies and the way to achieve this is to offer them small, frequent feedings. I need all the info i can get! Platy fry are born tail fin first and are also born to swim. Because with the Platy you never can tell how many babies are likely to appear. The answer to this mystery is quite fascinating. teacher has one female platy and one male guppy and their spawn are so colurful and beutiful! 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. So to avoid overcrowding the tank, and making the tank environment unhealthy for the whole fish community, he rehomed most of the fry. 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. So give your baby Platys time to grow before moving them to their new home. Nonetheless, along came the fry. The same, however, cannot be said about platy fry. This is called a gravid spot. 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. how many times can a platy get pregnant? Spawning will occur in a community tank. During this time my mother Platy was kept in an all female tank so had not mated again with a male. Read more…. You can add java moss, hornwort, guppy grass or other plants to provide coverage for your platies. To avoid fouling the water remember to remove any uneaten vegetables from the tank once your fish have finished feeding. And it’s when he began to chase the girls around the tank, with mating in mind, that his colour came through and he became the most brightly coloured Platy in the aquarium. I’m also going to cover platy fry tank maintenance related issues as well, so you’ll know what you should and shouldn’t do while caring for platy fish fry. It’s not always that obvious though. 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. But it didn’t occur to me to do a little ‘fry spotting’ in an all male tank. The fry can be born all at once in fairly quick sucession. I’d been checking the girls tank for new arrivals just in case. So I ended up with two of each sex. The first time it lay ed eggs, because she was under to much stress and 11 days ago she gave birth to around 30 fry. Then count 24- 30 days. The female Platy can give birth to approximately anywhere between 8-20 fry at a time. Ask friends, family and neighbours if they are interested in rehoming the fry. Or anyone else’s fry for that matter. There are no hard and fast rules on this. A breeding trap is a plastic box with small holes that goes inside a fish tank. Many (but probably not all) of your platy fry will survive in a community tank if it contains enough plants for them to hide in. The tank is made up of Platies, a few Pristtella Tetras, and various Cory Cats. thanx :D This page may contain affiliate links, which will earn us a commission. If you have any questions feel free to contact me or leave a comment below. I know it doesn’t sound nice but it’s natural for Platys to eat at least some of their own fry. When the fry are about an inch long, you can add them back safely. In the beginning, they may fit nicely in a smaller aquarium but as they grow and develop, their growth can become stunted because of the lack of space. 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. Aim for a bigger tank (29 gallons) when breeding them, so when they produce fry you can take your time rehoming them. Your email address will not be published. Pregnant Platy Fish – Is Female Platy Fish about to Give Birth? A platy can give birth to up to 50 fry or more if the conditions are right. And after 4 weeks in the larger tank my pregnant female delivered a second batch of 8 fry. Platy fry also love to eat a range of vegetables. I understand what you're saying about putting in a breeder box, etc. She has been pregnant twice all ready. 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. These fry foods are enriched in protein and other important nutrients that help to promote healthy growth in young fish. Unfortunately pale coloured fish, both the males and females, can always look like they have a gravid spot. But to be honest that’s probably more because I’m squeamish about feeding live foods rather than any worry about contamination. Swordtails and platys are prolific breeders, and crossbreeding them can produce an average of 50 babies per brood. I now had several Platy fry to take care of and I wanted to do it right. If you choose to remove the fry from the main tank there will come a time when you’ll want to put the fry back into your aquarium. There may be people you know that already keep fish or have been thinking about starting an aquarium. Any veggie additions need to be of an appropriate size for the fry to eat. Just mash a small piece of boiled egg yolk into a paste and drop it into the tank. While it’s not considered usual for only one fry to be born at a time it does happen. The reason for this is that the dark colouration of the gravid spot is caused by the developing Platy babies (fry). Or you can fit a breeder box/hatchery into the tank at the top. 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. Particularly if your Platy is so dark in colour that you can’t see the gravid spot. Required fields are marked *, Fish keeping and aquariums has been my hobby for almost 20 years. (See full disclosure statement here). A reasonably sized breeding net can house about 4-5 platy fry. you should soak it in water a little to make it soft. Most platy fry are eaten in the first 36 hours, when they are tiny. It can cause all sorts of problems with the natural balance of things. Courgettes (zucchini), cucumber, broccoli, peas and cauliflower are just a few of the vegetables that you can offer to your fry. Caring for platy fish is just as simple as breeding them. I moved the girls into the larger tank and bought 2 more female Platys from my local Pet Store. Adult platy fish are relatively hardy, and they may tolerate small transgressions in their keeping requirements. They are born ready to swim and you can feed them egg yolk, dry food and specific food for fry. Be aware though that fish often have an amazing knack of swallowing things that you’d assume they couldn’t manage to eat. Although, saying that. The other platys are small and yellow. At the 2-weeks mark platy juveniles are large enough to no longer be mistaken for food and can be released into the main tank or placed into their own tank. I'm new at this kinda stuff. By separating the males and females I hoped to avoid ending up with more fry than I could cope with. After two months the colour becomes more apparent. My next step was to get myself some advice and I also did some research of my own. If you want to supplement your baby Platys’ diet with a little extra protein in the form of brine shrimp or daphnia it’s best to choose ones that are newly hatched rather than full size. The tiny little thing looked like it had probably been born a few days before I’d moved the females into the larger tank. But you’re likely to find that the rough guide isn’t too far off the mark. And that’s what this website is all about. Sometimes, the birthing process takes a few hours. You need to set up the fry tank or breeding tank separately for the fish. Of all the methods to save baby platy fish, I usually go with the breeding box since it’s easy to set up, you don’t need to match tank parameters, or invest in another tank. I’m just pointing out that it’s another option if you can’t find an alternative  solution. Caring for Platy Fry. The content of this website is not meant to be a substitute for professional medical advice. The females, which are naturally larger than the males, obviously did particularly well because even for female Platys they are quite a size! You might be wondering why your female Platy is suddenly pregnant when there’s no male around it. You could get less or even far more. It’s important to avoid contamination in the tank from bacteria and parasites which can sometimes be introduced into the tank by live worms and shrimp. They are also likely to be eaten by their parents too. It’s easy to do. How many will survive? However, you can use powdered dry food that’s specially formulated for livebearer fish fry. Just a tiny piece is enough for a treat and reduces the amount of food waste in the tank. Also, if you keep both males and females in the same tank continuously the fry can be born on an almost monthly basis. the female platy is stressed out). You probably know this from stocking platies, but there really isn’t a need for more than one male for 2-3 female platies to produce juveniles. 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. 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. If conditions are good in your tank any that don't get eaten should make it to adulthood. But it’s worth remembering that it’s best to be prepared if you want to save as many fry as possible. 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. How to Spot a Pregnant Platy Fish Please always ask a veterinarian for help regarding your pets. Platy fish fry care is not very difficult if you can manage to offer them the right set-up and water parameters and maintain them throughout their development. How to Take Care of Baby Platy Fish: 9 Steps (with Pictures) 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. In the normal tank or the community tank, there are fish that can mistakenly or intentionally feed on the eggs or even fry. The belly changes from an enlarged rounded shape to a more square shape. The easiest way to judge when your fry are ready to go is simply to look at how big they’ve grown. also when do i stop feeding them the fry food? 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. They will be a lot easier for your Platy fry to get to grips with. And it’s no different with the Platy fish. Reducing the stress levels of the mother platyfish: Fry are pretty tough so they do tend to manage well when it comes to getting their share of the food. You will probably also notice a change in the behaviour in your pregnant female Platy. Baby brine shrimp, microworms, vinegar eels, daphnia, etc. At one month old you should start to see some colour developing on your fry. 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. Because platy fish have a tendency to eat their own fry, it’s best if you separate adult fish from the juveniles as soon as the female platy fish releases them. And although their head and their eyes are more visible the tail end of their body is particularly pale. But frequent feedings carry the risk of overfeeding too, therefore, you should absolutely limit the amount you’re feeding them. There is an estimated 42% of these species that are categorized as either Platy or Swordtails. The first thing I would suggest is to separate the males and females and keep them in different tanks. You can create hiding places in different ways. Even the mummy Platy may feast on her newly born offspring. Whether you're setting up an Endler only tank, or adding them to an existing aquarium, knowing the kind of environment Endlers prefer is important. And it’s not just the other fish that will eat the fry. The exact number of fry that a pregnant platy fish will give birth to will vary from fish to fish. Another thing to look out for is a change in shape of the abdomen. 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. She will start to isolate herself from the rest of the fish in your aquarium. How big should they be before I introduce them back into the main tank? Generally, females can have up to 80 fry. And because the paste is messy you need to remove the leftovers quickly once the fry have finished feeding off it or you’ll end up with a cloudy, unhealthy aquarium. You could also add some lucky bamboo, and the fry will hide in the roots. Plus, males are always chasing females, so you simply can’t miss them. Watching the tiny little fry grow is fascinating and rewarding.