First time raising fry

You can use crushed flake for livebearer fry.

They are simply adorable! What wonderful additions to your finny family. I haven't had any of my platys pop yet.

I feed my fry some fry milk twice a day and some first bites (both available at lfs) once a day for the first 4 days. Then, I switch to first bites twice a day and milk once.

When they are about 8 days old, I begin adding crushed flaked food in other varieties such as vegie flakes or whatever flakes you will feed them as they grow. I stop using the milk except as more of a treat during the day. Every few days, I try to add some crushed spirulina. I find feeding them a variety of food makes them more healthy.

I change at least 25% of the water on a daily basis and sometimes skip a day. I have a filter running, and also have an air bubbler on a very light stream.

Remember though, no matter how well you take care of these sweeties, you may lose a few or most. I had over 40 guppy fry and 6 molly fry in a 10 gallon and did this feeding schedule. No matter what I did, the guppy fry dropped. I only have about 5 or 6 left, but everyone figures it is due to the inbreeding. Also, they are very susceptible to disease. It is sad to lose them, but keep in mind you might. I would love to have updates on how well they are doing.

That should be fine for food. I imagine they are big enough to eat those, as mine began eating them within hours of birth. I would feed them at least 3 times a day. I add the fry milk because I like to give them milk. Just seemed to me that almost everything born gets milk for their first few weeks. The tank looks really great. Looks like they have everything they need. The bare bottom is really nice. I added a tiny gravel, but only because I am not fond of bare bottom tanks. It will be easy to check on them.

Oh, just in case you haven't done this before...for cleaning out the bottom of the tank, I use a long piece of airline hose. I immerse it in the water until it is full of water, put one end in the tank and one in the bucket. The small line takes a few minutes longer to use then a regular cleaner, but it nicer with the fry. You can get in all the corners, and you don't have to worry about the fry getting sucked up. Be prepared though. They sometimes love to play with it, so you will have to keep an eye for the ones who love the "roller coaster ride" of being sucked into the line. I have an adult guppy who loves to be sucked up, and no matter what I do, she is always getting in the tube.

I can't wait until my platy decides to give me some kids. Congratulations.

I breed Platies and other livebears in a 5.5 and 10 gal. tanks. The 5.5 had a sand bottom filled w/live plants. I think the fry will feed off the algae and micros. that are assoc. w/ the plants. If I were to do it again, I would use bare tank method for grow out. GL w/those little guys. FYI I only used crushed flake for food.