My Fry Aren't Swimming!

Jun 21, 2011
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#1
Ok, so I'm new to this who breeding thing. I've got a bunch of fat platies and apparently one of them had babies yesterday. I'm really excited! I was able to catch 18 of them all together. I've put them in a breeder net, but now they're all just sorta hanging out at the bottom. A couple swim around, but not very much. Are they all dead??? What should I do? I have the "first bites" baby fish food for them and have put some in there, but I'm not sure if they're eating it or not. Any advice?? I'm thinking I should have left them alone in the gravels instead. :/
 

Kiara1125

Superstar Fish
Jan 12, 2011
1,142
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Florida
#2
How old are the fry?? The fry don't swim around a lot for the first week and for the first few days they are still absorbing the rest of their yolk sac. The best thing is to do is make sure that you have plenty of hiding spots so the fry can stay alive and let them go back into the tank. The gravel is a good place for them to hide as I have seen. My fry always found a way to get out of my breeder net so I just let them be. Take a toothpick and wet the very tip of it, dab it in First Bites and put it in the tank. Just make sure that the adults are well fed and you shouldn't have to worry about your babies dying.
 

Jun 21, 2011
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#3
I'm assuming they're only a day or two old. They're all clear and tiny. I just got home from work and there are only 11 in the net now when there were 17 or 18 in there this morning. The ones that ARE in there are swimming around now. Thanks for the advice!
 

Kiara1125

Superstar Fish
Jan 12, 2011
1,142
0
0
Florida
#4
Your welcome!! The fry that are not there probably escaped. Once all the fry are swimming then you can start to feed them. If you let them go in the tank (with a lot of hidding spots) you will see that their stomachs turn a blackish green color. This is from them eating the microscopic infusoria that's growing in your tank. I never feed my fry until they are big enough and confident enough to come up to the top to search for food. They normally do this at 2-3 weeks of age. My lfs doesn't sell any of the First Bites, so I feed my fry finely crushed up (basically powder) freeze-dried bloodworms, tropical flakes, tropical crisps, micro wafers, and I also feed them a bit of frozen and live baby brine shrimp. With you, I would probably do the First Bites and live baby brine shrimp from a homemade culture. Just buy a baby brine shrimp kit with eggs for around $10 and have an air pump for around $7. Here are a couple of links for the baby brine shrimp hatchery kit and the air pump for a 10 gallon tank (that will be ok for the baby brine shrimp).

Baby Brine Shrimp Hatchery
Brine Shrimp Hatcheries: San Francisco Bay Brand Shrimpery Kits

TetraWhisper 10 Gallon Air Pump
Aquarium Air Pumps: Whisper Air Pumps