# Breeding platys?



## imdanny (Feb 23, 2009)

seperate her 30 days after the last time she gave birth. you can also tell by lloking at the gravid spot because it gets really dark.


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## Superedwin (Jan 19, 2009)

Hi hilide I have breed platys before i actually have alot now! Well first get 3 females for every 1 male IMO. The bigger the female the better the males love big females lol. Well then you wait maybe about 1-3weeks if its planted they should be find. But if your very worried then just see if any females look very fat and if you can see tiny eyes, and dark stomach then separate them in the breeding net you have. And there you have fry! Also i recommend green water ( algae bloom) they breed like crazy in that!!!!!

HOPE THEY BREED!


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## Hilde (May 19, 2008)

I have 3 males, 1 adult female, and 3 young female. Guess I need more females. Two of the males are long finned. I thought newest long finned was a female but saw it was a male when I got it home. Can't find long fined female platy.

Has anybody breed the long fined with mickey mouse platy. I wonder if the long fin is a recessive gene.


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## bulrush (May 7, 2007)

I have pea gravel in my 20g and the baby platies are small enough to hide between the grains. They like to hide under stuff, like under decorations, rocks, etc.


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## Superedwin (Jan 19, 2009)

Hilde said:


> I have 3 males, 1 adult female, and 3 young female. Guess I need more females. Two of the males are long finned. I thought newest long finned was a female but saw it was a male when I got it home. Can't find long fined female platy.
> 
> Has anybody breed the long fined with mickey mouse platy. I wonder if the long fin is a recessive gene.


Can i see a picture? I dont think it would be a problem my platy breed with high fin and assorted platy( dont know which kind).


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## Hilde (May 19, 2008)

The fish look like this. 









Only have 1 small female the rest are mickey mouse platys. I wonder if they breed if I will get any top finned platys. 

This is a picture of my tank. I have a 10 in which got 2 fry from new fish. 
http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3426/3295047879_f9f0e6f58f.jpg


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## Superedwin (Jan 19, 2009)

Hilde said:


> The fish look like this.
> 
> 
> 
> ...


Nice tank  Yeah they'll most likely breed my hi fin looks like that fish in the pic and breed with a non topped fin. When they breed some round fin and some hi fins


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## Hilde (May 19, 2008)

Superedwin said:


> When they breed some round fin and some hi fins


What percentage I wonder? I wonder if this is a recessive gene or man made manipulation?

Just read that the top fin is come from Swordtail cross breeding. Thus logically only 25% will have high top fin.


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## sewingalot (Oct 12, 2008)

The secret to encourage breeding is using live food. Or even freeze dried. I daily feed freeze dried blood worms and there is at least two drops a month from my girls. Live food also discourages my fish from eating the babies.

From what I understand, the hi fin is a semi-dominant gene. I have a male high fin and nearly all of the fry from his brood with a short fin platy came out high fin. However, the female high fin rarely drops more than half hi fins. (The adult males are all current high fins.)

If you want your platties to breed, you will need a higher female to male ratio, or the females can be pestered to death. I have platty (and mollie, guppy) fry in my tank with cories, otos, guppies, mollies and danios. Look for a grass like plant (I use blyxa) or najas (guppy grass) This is very helpful for the babies to hide away from adult fish.


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## sewingalot (Oct 12, 2008)

Oh, and talk to rekles. He has like 100 platties right now.


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## Hilde (May 19, 2008)

sewingalot said:


> If you want your platties to breed, you will need a higher female to male ratio, or the females can be pestered to death. Look for a grass like plant (I use blyxa) or najas (guppy grass) This is very helpful for the babies to hide away from adult fish.


Yeh, I accidentally got to many males, for I bought a few when I didn't have my glasses with me. Obviously even though the employees said they knew the difference between the females and male they were lying. Strangely I haven't seen them harassing the females to much. They seem busiest eating the algae on the tank. Possibly I am underfeeding them, for being cautious to not overfeed them.

I don't have access to blyxa or guppy grass. I will try to make something with xmas moss for them. I am thinking it is best to put 1 in the netted box with some moss when I see her a black area on her belly. I hate to keep 1 in there for a long time though. 

So the percentage of getting high fin is larger than I thought. Great!!! Strangely the 1 female with high fin is as small as the platy fry, which are 4 months old.


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## sewingalot (Oct 12, 2008)

Hilde said:


> Yeh, I accidentally got to many males, for I bought a few when I didn't have my glasses with me. Obviously even though the employees said they knew the difference between the females and male they were lying. Strangely I haven't seen them harassing the females to much. They seem busiest eating the algae on the tank. Possibly I am underfeeding them, for being cautious to not overfeed them.
> 
> I don't have access to blyxa or guppy grass. I will try to make something with xmas moss for them. I am thinking it is best to put 1 in the netted box with some moss when I see her a black area on her belly. I hate to keep 1 in there for a long time though.
> 
> So the percentage of getting high fin is larger than I thought. Great!!! Strangely the 1 female with high fin is as small as the platy fry, which are 4 months old.


Lol! It's sad how many LFS employees can't tell the difference between a male and female platty, the easiest fish in my opinion. Xmas moss will work great as well. I personally don't like the breeder boxes for platties since I had a higher rate of premature birth and even death to the mother from the stress of being confined. Others have had success though. I think it depends on the fish's temperment. Good luck!


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## sewingalot (Oct 12, 2008)

double post sorry :icon_roll


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## Trallen44 (Dec 10, 2008)

When I was raising swords and platties I had the best luck with the AQUA-NURSERY - Automatic Circulating Hatchery from Penn-Plax. I would wait till the female got really big and her belly took on a semi square shape to it to put her in. She would have fry within 24hrs of moving her. It does a great job of seperating the fry, and then you can take off the little tank with the fry in it and pour it into a fry raising tank. The only other option that has had partial succes for me is lots of moss in the tank. And even then I had many of the fry eaten by the parents. I am sure other people have had other ways work for them, this is just what has worked for me. The breeding net never did work very well for me either.


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## Hilde (May 19, 2008)

Interesting info! For I read that if 2 hyfins mate the fry will not live. Also read the the top fin platy is infertile. You can't always believe what you read but his response to the female makes me believe he is infertile.

Now I got a male platy with and extra long tail that has a spike in the middle. I wonder what kind he is. Due to deaths, with the new addition only have 2 males and 3 females. When I get back from visiting my mother I will add more females.


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## i<3fish (Aug 31, 2010)

how do u know if they have mated, do the females act funny and i have a male that has a dark, dark gravid spot is that normal for males to have


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## Eden Marel (Jan 28, 2010)

Only females have gravid spot. They can store sperm from previous breeding, so chances are your platy is probably already preggo and the babies are developing.


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