I was cycling my tank with 1 female platty, and 1 female balloon molly, and some neon tetra's (its a 55 gallon) today I put in a royal Pleco. (These will all be moved into seperate tanks shortly) As I was watching him, I noticed something tiny scooting on the bottom, at first I thought it was some sort of insect, until I looked closer, and it was a exact replica of the platty, I was jumping for joy :lol: ! In a secend I lost sight of it again :angry: .

What should I do? The gravel is quite large (it could squish them) and the filter is pretty strong, and I cant find the poor guys anywhere :( !

Congrats on the baby platy! Is your female platy new (came pregnant) or was she in a tank with a male previously? Baby platies are pretty big (compared to egg-laid fry) so they may survive being eaten by the adults. You can put in fake or real plants to provide more hiding places. If you want to catch and move the fry, a turkey baster might work or just a Dixie cup if you're fast enough and lucky enough. Don't use a net as that will squish them. You can cover the filter inlet with a piece of pantyhose temporarily if you're afraid they might be sucked in there.

Thanks! I covered the filter up,and added lots of hiding places. I think she came pregnant, because I never had her with a male. She probally hasnt been with a male in 60 days. I read in a couple places that they could keep the "stuff" from a male for up to 8 months ( which would explain how she gave birth out of no-where which I thought until recently!)

Good idea with the panyhose Robyn! I have just been using a small block of filter foam from an aqua clear filter, it works good and catches bigger stuff before it goes into the filter.......like the babies!! Actually the food gets stuck on there and my babies eat off of it all the time. Most of my babies are big enough now not to get sucked in but I am keeping the little foam block on there because they seem to like it.

I finally found the baby. I think there's only one of them. I thought they gave birth to 20 to 30! I put him in a small tank that I had around and its now floating in the water. Should I go out and buy a net breeder or leave it in the little tank?

AL, I see in your sig that you are going to have a Seahorse tank soon. Can you posts some pics when you get it up and running? :)

I'm afraid the other platies may have been eaten or died for other reasons. I'm glad you at least found one. If the small tank is adequate (size wise and so on), then the baby can stay in there. I've found that's it's easier (less work) to raise fry in net breeders since the baby is then in the same tank as the adults with clean water flowing in. Plus, the adults see the baby and are less likely to chase/bother it once it is released from the net.

Thanks, I'm going to get a net breeder today. The tank that he's in now is temperory.

Btw, when I get the seahorses I will definetly put up pictures, but I can't find any of the species I want for under $200 (for one!) Plus, none of the places selling them (all online) will guarantee live dilivery!