Platy breeding question

[Keith E. Loyd]

Howdy,

Suppose you bought 2 adult platys and put them in a good environment. Am I
guaranteed babies or do I need to buy a male?

background-
the tank is a heavily planted 37 g. with little other animal life
(otocinculus, snails, those Japanese algae eating shrimp). I am away from
town or busy or whatever, so my tanks have traditionally been all plants and
very little fauna. I had golfish but got rid of them recently. The tank
was in good shape but too boring after that, so I got these 2 platys to give
it some animation.

I remember hearing certain species' females store sperm, so that they can
have another brood even if they do not appear pregnant now.

I also intended to buy a male and female, but they both look like girls to
me now.

regards,
Keith Loyd

[Greg G.]

On Mon, 24 Nov 2003 15:55:46 -0600, "Keith E. Loyd"
> wrote:

>Howdy,
>
>Suppose you bought 2 adult platys and put them in a good environment. Am I
>guaranteed babies or do I need to buy a male?
> <snip>

Errr.... Yes, a male is necessary at some point. The platies you
purchased *could* have been impregnated in the store (they ARE horney
little devils), and *may* give birth later on - but if they don't
start showing or deliver soon, I wouldn't count on any young till you
aquire a male. I am not aware of any long-term sperm storage
capacity.

I have 7 sunset platies in my 75G planted tank, and I started with a
M/F pair. They were the first inhabitants of the tank two years ago.
The female died during childbirth after the third brood. Each brood
had two survivors. I made no effort to segregate the young from the
tank population, so I don't know how many may have been eaten. They
are born "on the run", and will seek shelter among the plants
immediately.

All but one of the young turned out to be male. I surely pity the
lone female when it reaches "puberty." The young males chase the
oldest male around constantly trying to 'mate' with him - they are
obviously quite confused. ;-)

They nibble at algae and chase each other around a lot, but are
generally peaceful residents of a 75G tank which includes 2 small
generic plecos, 3 Siamese Algae Eaters, 7 Shultz Tetras, 6 Lemon
Tetras, 1 Black Loach, 3 Corys of varying species, 3 brigesii snails,
6 Black Tetras and 10 Cardinal Tetras.

The sole loach does a good job of keeping the population of pond
snails at a minimum. I would get several more, as they are social
creatures, but no one stocks them - I bought it as an oddity two years
ago, and they had only one.

Good Luck,
Greg

[LeighMo]

> I am not aware of any long-term sperm storage
>capacity.

I am. :-)

I'm not sure how many broods they can get out of one mating, but it's more than
one. Three or four at least.

But you're right, there's certainly no guarantee.


Leigh

http://www.fortunecity.com/lavender/halloween/881/

[Mike Edwardes]

In article <A7vwb.27510$gr.15270@okepread04>,
"Keith E. Loyd" > wrote:

> Howdy,
>
> Suppose you bought 2 adult platys and put them in a good environment. Am I
> guaranteed babies or do I need to buy a male?
>

At the size they are sold, they will be impregnated when you buy them.
They start early!
http://mike-edwardes.members.beeb.net/Xmaculatus.html
I always had a hard time telling the sex BEFORE they were fertile - but
they had no problem!

Mike.
--
Mike Edwardes Tropicals
http://mike-edwardes.members.beeb.net

[Paul Murray]

In article >, Greg G wrote:
> On Mon, 24 Nov 2003 15:55:46 -0600, "Keith E. Loyd"
> I have 7 sunset platies in my 75G planted tank, and I started with a
> M/F pair. They were the first inhabitants of the tank two years ago.
> The female died during childbirth after the third brood. Each brood
> had two survivors. I made no effort to segregate the young from the
> tank population, so I don't know how many may have been eaten. They
> are born "on the run", and will seek shelter among the plants
> immediately.
>
> All but one of the young turned out to be male. I surely pity the
> lone female when it reaches "puberty." The young males chase the
> oldest male around constantly trying to 'mate' with him - they are
> obviously quite confused. ;-)

Is this an environmental thing? As far as we can tell all of our platy
fry are female. Might it be temperature-related?

-Paul

[RedForeman ©®]

Paul, I asked the same temperature/sex question over in the misc group.... I
was wondering if you have any articles pertaining to this idea that
temperature fluctuations determine or indicate the sex of guppies, platies,
or any livebearer...

Thanks.

--

RedForeman ©®





"Paul Murray" > wrote in message
...
> In article >, Greg G wrote:
> > On Mon, 24 Nov 2003 15:55:46 -0600, "Keith E. Loyd"
> > I have 7 sunset platies in my 75G planted tank, and I started with a
> > M/F pair. They were the first inhabitants of the tank two years ago.
> > The female died during childbirth after the third brood. Each brood
> > had two survivors. I made no effort to segregate the young from the
> > tank population, so I don't know how many may have been eaten. They
> > are born "on the run", and will seek shelter among the plants
> > immediately.
> >
> > All but one of the young turned out to be male. I surely pity the
> > lone female when it reaches "puberty." The young males chase the
> > oldest male around constantly trying to 'mate' with him - they are
> > obviously quite confused. ;-)
>
> Is this an environmental thing? As far as we can tell all of our platy
> fry are female. Might it be temperature-related?
>
> -Paul