platy babies

[valdok]

much to my surprise, i bought a few platy babies about three days ago, and i was looking around in my tank and i realized that one of the 5 females i bought was actually giving birth! all in all, i caught 7 babies, a few got away, and i have no idea where they are/who ate them. anyways, i don't have another tank to use, and i really want to raise these to put them back in the tank someday. how long does it take for baby platies to grow to a decent size where they won't be tormented by the other fish in the tank (which only include other subspecies of platies, btw)? Right not they are being kept in a make-shift net which is hanging on the inside of my tank, where the babies have access to water and food, but the adults cannot get at them. approximately what size should they reach before i can put them in with the older fish? and how long does it typically take? i've read around, also, that platies can have in excess of 30 babies... and mine only had around 10, tops. does this just mean it's not fully adult yet, or not big enough to birth more?

thank you for your answers!

[FroggyFox]

I think a few weeks...say 3 or 4 when theyre not small enough to fit into the adults mouths you can put them in with the adults

I think with most livebearers (esp guppies...probably platies too) young females have smaller batches of babies...and they get bigger as time goes by.

[izabeau]

I would recommend letting the babies grow at least 3 months, before putting them back in the tank, like froggyfox21 said, your fish will eat anything they can fit in their mouths. I have a small 2.5 gallon tank with no filter, no heater and a lid, you LFS should have one, they're about $15.00 Canadian, that you can put your babies in if you want, until they are big enough to survive on their own in the big tank, that's what I do, and they are doing just fine.