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I've got my first platy fry! I've had the adults for a while, but in a community tank so no babies ever survived. I had two females, along with cherry barbs and gouramis, stored temporarily in my 10 gal betta tank (minus the bettas of course!) and it seems my speckled female dropped her babies. Three swam through the mesh on the divider and survived as all the fish were on the other side. I have since removed all those fish and reinstated one betta, giving the fry a chance to grow. They are not quite a cm yet, how do I tell how old they are? How fast do they grow? When will they be big enough to survive other fish?

Just last night I did a water change on the tank and while pouring water back in I stirred up some really teeny tiny fry! They are probably from the other female. I suppose they could be cherry barb too but that seems doubtful. I feel bad about the water change, I probably sucked a bunch up, not even knowing it. These new ones are in the dart and hover stage, not much for swimming. Some are on the side of the tank with the betta but I think they are too small for me to catch, they just go to the gravel and I can't find them. I hope he leaves them alone. I have the blue/silver platy variety so even the older fry are all transparent and hard to spot.

When will the moms be ready to have more fry? I want to save more next time to use as feeders but I'm letting this oldest batch grow out. As they are my first surviving fry, I want to see how they turn out!

I know livebearer fry are no big achievement or anything but I am excited to have them. I'm looking forward to more!

Pictures of the bigger guys.

Fry 1

Fry 2

Also, how many fry does a platy have on average?

Hi. Since no one's said anything I guess I'll chime in

I've had the same experience about 5 months ago. I don't know how to tell how old they are just by looking at them, but I can tell you that they don't grow very fast, at least not as fast as other livebearers like swordtails.
Mine seem to drop babbies about every month, averaging about 17 fry (that I can count. no doubt some have been eaten or were born with kinky spines or simply are very good hiders)

I'd say when they are a bit bigger than the largest mouth in a tank, they will be ok, as long as you have some plant cover.

In my tank, despite having black skirts, several gourami, and other hungry large fish, the majority of the fry have actually survived to adulthood thanks to a ton of floating plants I have.

Here's a vid I took that may help you judge ages.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e4ih1-PJ1YM
The largest ones (excluding the large speckled adult that swims by) are about 3-5 months, the smallest maybe about 1-2 weeks. Ther are a lot smaller, but they usually never venture out of the plants at all, lest they be eaten by the patrolling pearl hehe

i have had one survivng fry in my livebearers tank wich i have kept for almost three months now...

it took about two months before i could put the platy into the tank with the rest, and even then he almost got eaten... i would say keep them separate from the adults (including your betta) for at least two months, but three would be better... also make sure the ones you add back into the tank make sure they are 3-4 times larger than the mouths of any tank occupant as they will be quickly eaten if not...

plants and deco are also very helpful to sucessful livebearer raising, something i have been working on...

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