New to Livebearers

[SomethingFishy]

My daughter just got 4 platys (2 male 2 female). Two days after they were put into the tank we noticed one (maybe 2) small platy babies. These have since been eaten. Since we are new to this we have some questions:

1. Is the male/female ratio ok? We did not specify at the LFS it just turned out that way.

2. How often do they breed?

3. How many fry usually?

4. What temp and water quality?

5. What food to induce breeding (if any) and what to feed the fry?

Thanks to all of you in advance.

[Guardian]

1. 2-3 females per male.

2. Up to the fish.

3. varies, up to 40-50 per pregnancy.

4. 75-78F and ph 7.5.

5. baby brine shrimp for both.

[Doomhed]

corrections to the guardian (i own about 35 platies now)

1. Any ratio, preferably a little better than 1:1 (4 females/3 males, 5 females/3 males, etc.),

2. about evry 30 days or so, depending on diet

3. anywhere from 5-60. platies usually will not eat their own kind. if you put the mamma in a breeder net, you can catch most of the babies with no trouble.

4. mine breed in any PH (within reason like 5.0-8.0), and any temp from 65-80. they are not picky (what livbearers other than pikes are?)

5. i recommend frozen bloodworms to induce breeding (although it does not seem to matter, they will breed no matter what), and very finely crushed flakes and/or freze dried bloodworms (avail @ wal-mart for cheap) for the babies.