My platy fish had babies, I tried netting one but it died - what now?

C

ChrisWF

New member
Well geez, where to start...
I have several platy in my tank - different breeds I guess. Sunset, redwags, etc, and some strange black mollys too.

Something fry'd out a load of offspring. They're hiding in my tank gravel - even though the gravel isn't big, it's very impressive of them. It's like they start out with brains but get stupid as they age.

Anyway, I caught one trying to make a run for my Squidward house and I netted him swiftly but gently, dropped him in the breeder (my adult platy are like 2+" long, the breeder is just too stressful for them to stay in there). When I released the baby in the breeder ever so gently, he sunk to the bottom.

Instant death from stress? I highly doubt the net hurt him.... I dono.

Should I just let the others go? I have like 16 platy/mollys in the tank - it's pretty dangerous but evidently I'm more dangerous to them.

90 gallon tank, dual filtering system, 7 different fake plants, a squidward house (from spongebob), and 2.5 inches of gravel if any of this matters. I know shelter helps, but against 16 fish active fish? 2 plecos?
Should I remove the fry?



PS I was going to start swapping water out - seeing how I just treated my tank for "ick". My 2 black mollys infected lived (yay). Should I wait on swapping water out too?
Ohhhh geeeeez!

Man, 23 year old male freakin' out over his fish!

2 days? On the little guy to get better? Or...

While I'm typing this- I watched one of the sunset platy chase a baby down and eat him. This sunset is a fat male (I guess he's been munching on Fry all day b/c he's not prego lol).
 
Ah, so you have a Tiki house, it's what it's called.

about the sudden death, you know, fry are very delicate and they can die in an instant without proper care or sometimes just because they are still a fry and they are not used to aquarium activites like netting, cleaning tank or what so over.

I think, if they are not that endangered in he tank, let them be in there and just dont mind them at all. or you can scoop them with a small styro cup to be transferred in another tank.

So, if the tank is with fishes with ich, you must remove the fry for safety...
 
I know it is heartless, but unless you are trying to increase your stock I would let nature take its course and let the strongest and smartest of your fish survive. If you would like to help them some floating plants or java moss would give them a good place to hide. Maybe some of that fake baby grass since you have those plecos. But trying to chase fish really can stress everyone out.
Another option if you can't stand to see them disappear is to make a "fish trap." There are instructions on YouTube on how to make one out of a water bottle. You might be able to save a few that way.
 
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