separating platies

[vampirefish]

hi everyone! I had some luck recently with some platies and now have 5 surviving fry (started with 11 but some died over Christmas ) anyway, I'm pretty sure I should start separating them soon so I don't end up needing a swimming pool to keep them all in are platies the same as guppies in the way you tell them apart?

 

[Newman]

yes. same as all the popular livebearers.

also be warned as the females will store sperm from one mating to have up to 6 diff broods. so even if you separate now they will keep spitting out babies for 6-7 more months

 

[bassbonediva]

You know, everyone uses the phrase "breeding like rabbits" to describe someone or something that breeds prolifically. I think that should actually be changed to "breeding like guppies/mollies/platies/livebearers in general." lol

 

[fiddlybits]

You can guess at the sex of the fry by looking at their shape- the females willl have a deeper belly. But they can still fool you (see my post re hermaphrodite platy) so you need to inspect them often. Females tend to mature a bit sooner than males, this could be around 3 months. They can mature at different rates depending on conditions but should all be mature by 5 months.

"Breeding like---" flies?

 

[vampirefish]

thanks everyone, I'm going now to try and separate them. Can platies go with bettas and female guppies?

 

[bassbonediva]

Yeppers! I have my five platies in with four male guppies and they're fine. Before that, I had the five platies in with female bettas. With male bettas, you have to be careful, though. I put a male in with my platies that was an a$$ to begin with and he got his butt beat by the platies, who ganged up on him. If your male is docile, though (which he should be considering the community he's in), then you should be fine.