# Platy babies



## michelle_w_04 (Feb 24, 2011)

One of our platy females gave birth to babies a couple of days ago. She was in our main tank so I'm not sure how many but so far we've seen two swimming around and hiding out(have quite a few plants as well as some caves they can swim into).

Today I noticed she had a boxy shape to her and her anal area was white. Sure enough, she dropped another baby. Now I don't know what they look like right when they are born but this one was folded in half and sank to the bottom. I noticed another one looking just like it too at the bottom of the tank as well. Excuse my ignorance but are these babies dead? Mama is still in the main tank with the others and she is acting fine. Also, how many more babies can we expect(in general)? I thought she was done the other day but I guess not.


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## konstargirl (Dec 2, 2009)

First of all congrats! Normally platy fry will just sit on the bottom or into the gravel until you move it around. Make sure you feed the fry Crushed flake food or better yet the Hikari First Bites. You get them everywhere now.


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## julem35 (Dec 22, 2010)

YAY!! Fry!! Move the babies to a separate tank or they will get eaten. If it turns out you only could save those two, they can live in a heavily plantes large cereal bowl if you dont have anywhere to put them. They come out folded. See video. Not mine.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XqCzCRCMgyw


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## Pandapop (Dec 29, 2009)

Congrats!! I always get excited when my mollies, platies or guppies drop babies. <3 

Just yesterday my silver molly (I believe it was) dropped about 15+ little marbled babies. Thankfully I got most of them in time, and put 'em into a breeder net within the main tank. About a week or two ago my bloodred molly had some babies... 17 or so, but I decided to let 'nature run its course' up until I had 5 babies left and was like, "STOP LOL." Those 5 babies are now too big to be gobbled up, and are in the main tank with the others and their mother. c:

Anyway, both *konstargirl* and *julem35* are right. Babies come out of their mother curled up, and some remain that way until they hit the bottom of the tank and spread out. I've noticed that roughly 40% of babies born in my tanks prefer to chill out on the bottom in between the gravel or the cracks of decorations, while the others swim up into the cover above. 

The only way to tell if the fry are alive, is to stir up the gravel beside them. Try not to touch them though, they are very delicate little things and could easily be injured if hit with some gravel, or even pushed further down by a finger. If they don't move, swirl the water above them. The current will force them out of hiding and they will try to swim back down if they are alive. If they aren't... well... you'll know. 

When I don't have any extra tank space, I use Tupperware containers, 1 gallon bowls or anything else food-safe to hold the babies in until they're a bit bigger. Just make sure to clean the water daily, otherwise mold will grow from uneaten food, and it's very deadly to small fry.

EDIT:

Forgot to add that livebearer's often hold their fry for a few hours or even days after dropping their first batch. There's a few reasons why they do this, but the most common is that they feel as though the environment around them (inside the tank) isn't safe for their fry or themselves, and will withhold any extra fry until they decide to drop again. Another common reason is that not all of the fry within the mother are fully developed. Some fry develop much faster than others, inside and outside of the mother. I've had this happen a few times to my platies and guppies. 

If she's still squared off, give her another day and see if anything changes. She might still have more babies.


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## Unknown10101 (Mar 5, 2011)

First off, you should pu them in either a separate tank or a net breeder. It's normal for fry to do that; they need to learn how to swim and all, after all, they've only just been aquatinted with the world! Like what konstargirl said, feed them Hikari First Bites or live foods like brine shrimp. Also, platies grow VERY slowly.


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