Mama platy concerned about her babies?

Question

Two weeks ago we bought a red wag platy from a pet store which was apparently pregnant since there are now little yellow babies in with her(no, we did not know of her condition upon purchase) Our tank has not yet fully cycled so I'm a bit concerned about that. I bought first bites to feed them which I dissolve in aquarium water first to sink it since they are still too tiny to go to the top. When I pour it in it disperses all over the tank(29 gal with just mom and unknown # of babies) How will this affect ammonia levels? How often should I do it? Are the babies eating it? I can't tell since they are all hiding in the pirate ship. I got a breeder box and put 2 babies in it(all I could catch). I accidentally left the lid off and the next morning mom was in the box with her babies still alive! She did not eat them! She had been staying near the box when I put them in, but I thought she wanted to eat them. Wow!! So, I let them go back out in the tank. But how to feed them?

There are 11 so far. I put the first bites on the surface and now can see it fall to them. Fun to watch them catch it. Plus they get tetra colors scraps. Still afraid to clean the tank though. Will take water sample to petco tomorrow

Answer 1

They will eat what ever they can find in the main tank

I often didn't know when i had fry until they came out of hiding when they where about 2-4 weeks old, the strongest ones will survive, and the weeker ones will die unfortunately, but i'm sure you will have some survivors

I usually just put once a day "First Bites" on the water surface, right where you supect your babies to be, and it will sink down to the bottom

As for your tank cleaning, just make sure you keep your ammonia levels in check, that they don't raise to high, check it every day, and when you see a spike just do a parital waterchange



hope that helps
Good luck



Feel free to email me for further help

Answer 2

Mom with babies okay, but you've discovered that; at least with this mom. You're probably putting in too much food, as the babies don't need much, but as they don't swim all over the tank, the food needs to be close to them. If you don't have surface plants like Java moss or Java fern, get some. They provide hiding place for the babies, so the kids will come out and play. Also, they'll be closer to the surface where the food is.
You need to do partial water changes (quarter to a third), syphoning from the bottom about twice a week to keep the ammonia levels down. You could also get some Corydoras catfish ( 4-6) to help clean up the excess food (but also feed them their own food just before lights out).

Answer 3

i would continue to do what u do for now but i would also filter out out the watewr more often just like the top of the tank and not the bottom because u dont want ur baby fries to get sucked in