Hello Fryers! New Red Platy preg.?

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M

meiling

Fire Eel
MFK Member
Nov 7, 2005
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Hiya!
I have kept fish for awhile now, and have never had any reproduce. I originally started BIG, with an Arowana as my first ever! So found MFK and Baptism by Fire, know my around my tank.

I currently have a community, non aggressive, 19 resident, 55 gal freshwater with a Fluval 405, Hagen UV, Double Peng. Biowheel. 1/2" gravel, 10 artificial plants seeded with algae at normal rates during filatration. Run carbon, ceramic rings and ammo chips in filter. Have natural high mountain glacial well water, about the maximum Total Hardness possible, use salt as directed for freshH20. Ph high 8.8 is the highest reading I can measure. Try to go no city water, no chemicals, very healthy bacterial 4 year old tank, been same water since first day, well established. Algae mainly grows on clear lids below light on tops of tank, can clean it off or grow for food. Ammo, Nit's- zero's across the board and temp 79.5-80.5 (Dojo's need this)
Have 1 large Angelfish, 1 4" Cl. Loach, 3 6" Dojo L., 3 Blk Sk Tetra 1", 1 3" Algae Eater, 6" Bristlenose Pleco, can't quite keep tank clean, very close, 2 I don't know little 1" dudes, 1 male Betta, 2 Red Platys, 1 Fat African Dwarf Frog, 2 1" julii corydora. Angelfish is alpha in behavior Dojo's just don't care..

I Know NOTHING (but fixing this) about Breeding Fish, except fish are supposed to lay eggs, mammals are classified due to beaing live bearers, but my species of non mammal fish also give birth to live young! OK, Whatever.

HELP! My one of 2 !' Red Platy's looks like she swalloed a small marble, and there's a fish on top. She obviously is pregnant. I've had her for 3 weeks. She has gotten huge, the other looks normal, I think they are both female, the second does not court her in any way or show interest. I have read they grow a dark circle on belly b4 birth. How many will there be? How soon? She likes to hide in the plants, on top. I use Ketapang leaves for natural tanin, she loves these. I have a 4x8 plastic bin I can quarantine her in, in the main tank, should I do this yet? What? How? When? and Why...just kidding on that one. How, uhh, OK figured that one out too.

OK so There's the lowdown, I know am expecting floods of information to come pouring in: LIZ? heya mia here?

peace-mei:nilly::drool::naughty::);)
 
Livebearer reproduction is fairly easy to handle. Chances are that you are correct and you have a pregnant female platy. If your other platy came from the same tank and isnt pregnant, chances are she is a he. Livebearers in mixed tanks will always be pregnant unless they are defective or highly stressed. Gestation is about a month give or take and can be anywhere up to 100 fry although 30 - 40 is more typical in a mature female. If you feed protein rich foods and some fatty content right after a female drops you can usually increase the brood size. Having a virile potent male will also help here.

Fry are small and the parents, especially platies, are going to try and eat them. Breeding nets, or seperate 5 - 10 gallon birthing tanks work well. There is some debate over whether or not the nets stress the fish too much but personally I use fairly large ones and havent had a problem yet.

Fry should be fed newly hatched baby brine shrimp right away to get a growth spurt going. After a week you can start switching to a good quality powdered pellet or flake. I use nls growth formula. I get good growth and GREAT colour. You can expect your fry to take up to 5 months to reach full size, although under good conditions it can be as little as 3 or 4.

Males can be identified by something resembling a penis where the anal fin should be. You'll notice him trying to inject the female with it when hes in the mood. Females are ready to give birth when their bellies are squared off both front and back. Sort of like a boat bottom with flat edges. The gravid spot (black spot) will be very large and close to her birth canal. Not all livebearer females have visible gravid spots, it depends on the fish and its colouration. A gravid spot is colouration from INSIDE the fish though, it is not a spot on their bellies.

Fry can be reared in a survival of the fittest fashion by providing lots of plant cover for them to hide in, or they can be moved to their own tank or a breeding net until they are large enough not to fit in the other fish's mouths.
 
awesome info. as soon as i start getting things together i plan to have a breeding pair of convicts in my 29 and some platies or guppies going in three spare 10 gallon tanks to provide my monsters some free treats and possibly to supply my leaf fish with food since it never seems to eat anything besides earthworms and fish.
 
Wait, pH is at 8.8?? WTF???
Add some peat into the filter or throw in some large peices of driftwood in to get it down. 6.8 would be a good reading. Not even marine and africans have 8.8 as thier pH.
 
A lot of africans have 8-9.. but yes considering the tank and the fish, you'd do better with a lower ph
 
I greatly appreciate the input and feedback. Very informative, thank you. I have a bog log wood in the tank, I used peat but it just didn't do it, and I use Ketapang/Almond Tree leaves I import personally from a friend who picks them in Singapore.

This is as natural as a true river environment would be. It's pure clean well water from a 300 ft underground vein, my water takes on a tanin/amber hue from the Leaf Tanin, I avoid fish that don't handle that high level. I know it's some crazy numbers, but my fish are amazingly healthy and thrive. They all have grown at almost double the growth rate I see as listed averages anywhere online or MFK.

I keep it clean, virtually introduce no chemicals except salt, some stresscoat and Melafix if necessary. I tried hauling r/o water from the nearest town, forget it-6 mos out of the year it's frozen solid outside with 4x4 access, rough living in rough country. There's so much glacial flour in the water, it's just the way it is. The fish are fine!

I'm liking this baby thing, I hope it works and they make it, but we'll see!
 
Merbeast;1390816; said:
If your ammonia, nitrite and nitrate are all 0, you are the awesomest fish keeper ever!
Click to expand...
Only if you can keep nitrates at 0, are you considered an awesome fish-keeper. Any old shmo can have 0 Ammonia and Nitrites. Then again, you may only be keeping a single shrimp in a 240. :ROFL:
 
I don't consider myself 'really great" at anything. I have learned in the past 4 years how to have fish. Bfore that, I never had any. I found MFK, posted everything, knew nothing, was totally a newB spazz annying pain is ze azz but I learned an awful lot right here. Applying what I've learned, I have worked really hard to keep water going once it was established. I never wanted to go throught that algae bloom fish keeper idiot hell lesson again. So this water has been continuing that long, i think it's just super duper establish and almost zero chemicals. I hope it keeps working, it's wonderful.

I love watching those cool little dudes zooming and zipping all over the place, they are more fun than TV sometimes. (Usually!)I just watch them some nights for hours when I can't quite sleep....it's fascinating at time, and usually funny! Dojo Loaches=Otters!
 
Im just curious, are you saying you don't do any water changes at all? I can understand how it works in a natural environment, but how do you get rid of all the waste? I would imagine after a time it would become a layer of filth you'd have to do something with? I'd love to set up tanks like this if I could.. the thought of a self sustaining, or even nearly self sustaining tank is orgasmic.
 
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