size of babies
- Thread starter fiddlybits
- Start date
darn, I remember someone posted this exact information on this forum a while back 
If only we could find it...
But anyway since I can't I'll give a very rough approximate on everything BUT swordtails:
Guppy ~3-4mm
Platy ~4-5mm
Molly ~6-8mm
Swordtail ~I have seen anything from 5mm to 8mm newborns from my swordtail
Normal swordtail (the small swordtails that you often see in LFS) give birth to fry that are similarly sized to platy
If only we could find it...
But anyway since I can't I'll give a very rough approximate on everything BUT swordtails:
Guppy ~3-4mm
Platy ~4-5mm
Molly ~6-8mm
Swordtail ~I have seen anything from 5mm to 8mm newborns from my swordtail
Normal swordtail (the small swordtails that you often see in LFS) give birth to fry that are similarly sized to platy
A couple of years back, one of my Platies gave birth to at least 84 fry, (that I found)and possibly more. She had not looked very full. I wondered how she had packed them all in there.
One of those fry became my main breeding female, and she was the mother of the hermaphrodite I mentioned in another post.
One of those fry became my main breeding female, and she was the mother of the hermaphrodite I mentioned in another post.
That's about right Newman! Molly babies look huge compared to platy and guppy babies. Sorry to get off topic, but fiddlybits, is the mating structure on your hermaphrodite like a boxy, yet short gonopodium? I think I might have a hermaphrodite as well, as he/she has a malformed anal fin and although she appears to be a girl, she tries to mate with all the other girls.
I don't have the hermaphrodite any more, but the gonopodium looked the right size and shape, and could be rotated in different directions. The body size and shape was like a large adult female. The two males were always following it around but I did not see any actual attemps to mate, either from the males or the hermaphrodite. I saw no 'male' behavior like courting females, from the hermaphrodite. It would occasionally get fed up with the males and chase them off, especially Jerry. I kept Jerry, he never gave up trying. I kept the hermaphrodite as long as I could, to see if it would produce babies, but there were none.
Newman, thanks for the info about the size of the babies. I have not yet seen newborn swords or Mollies, and was wondering.
My extra fry that survive to 3-4 months are usually given away to friends or a few times have gone to an independent LFS for credit. I am limited to what will fit in my tank. I sometimes keep a fry or two to replace an adult. It would be fun to breed platies on a larger scale, but have no room at this time.
My extra fry that survive to 3-4 months are usually given away to friends or a few times have gone to an independent LFS for credit. I am limited to what will fit in my tank. I sometimes keep a fry or two to replace an adult. It would be fun to breed platies on a larger scale, but have no room at this time.