Platy tank

[babarian16]

Hey yall, so i just got rid of my convicts in my 20 gal and traded them for 4 platies 1 m 3f. Id like too know how long you think it would be b4 i have ALOT (feeders) of them once they start breeding? Im only keeping them in one tank and at most id buy a breeder. But i do have some good plant cover so i dont even know if thats necessary, what are your thoughts?



I think that the java moss shud be rly good cover for fry

 

[tankboi]

Platies are great feeders and breed prolifically enough but to me the growth rate is much slower than guppies and mollies. I myself like them in the fact they are to me the cold hardiest and when I mixed them with guppies they evetually outnumbered the guppies. The guppies do breed and mature faster but I think the babies don't have as much of a chance as the platies which are bigger at birth. Platies usually don't eat their babies and that is a plus and they stay at the bottom versus the guppy fry which stay near the top. Since you are starting with a rather small number and to get a good supply going I would give about 6 to 8 months to initially start a good culture going. It will take awhile but you will have to let at least second generation mature to some extent. You can feed some along the way but I would make sure to only use males at first but make sure you have some males in your breeding colony. The bigger your breeding tank the better and they may be more prolific too. I plan on raising mine outside as soon as the weather gets warmer in the spring! I'm no expert but these are my observations and this is what works for me. I can give you more details if you like and I hope this helps!

 

[babarian16]

Yess this is exactly what i was looking for. i wanted to know how long b4 the colony really 'boomed'. Wud it go faster if i were to add another male and female? Like how many fish to start off wud you suggest do give the highest fry survival rate and as well the largest growth numbers wise. I have a colony of microworms to feed fry and they all grow ridiculously fast on this, my old convict fry included.
In terms of foliage and plant cover does it look ok? do you think i can get away without breeder net?
Anything else i missed that you can add wud be great too

cheers

 

[babarian16]

??

 

[Diseased]

Your plants look like good enough cover, I started off with six platies and now only like 4 months later I have at least 50. It dosn't take as long as you'd think, and the platies really don't eat their babies as much as guppies do. You'll have a lot eventually,

 

[FishForLife]

great tank but should get a more varied group of fish?

 

[babarian16]

Thats reassuring diseased. My finals stock is 6 platies (1m 5f) and 3 algae eaters. Hoping that the 1 feeder platy i bought will drop soon, she's th smallest one by far but looks pregnant which is why i bought her (49cents).