To Separate or Not to Separate: Soon to Give Birth Platy Females

[Thomas]

My Platies are still growing up and have not reached maturity yet. But I am just asking for the future. So I know that there is a debate between the idea of scooping out a pregnant Platy that is about to give birth into a breeding net or to leave her in the main tank to give birth naturally. I want my first batch of fry to all survive as close to 100% as possible. The only way this is possible is to scoop out the pregnant female. But others have said that scooping out the pregnant female might cause her to abort the fry. But I know that if I leave them in the main tank, all the adults will eat the fry up and I'll be left with a small number.

Just for reference, the tank in question is a 40 gallon breeder, currently stocking (25) 44 day old Platies. I a lot of Anacharis/Elodea planted in 1/3 of the tank on the side and a 3 small Java Ferns on the other end of the tank. I am expecting the Anacharis/Elodea to fill up a good and dense chunk by the time my Platies are able to breed.

Edited May 24, 2021 by Thomas

[KhuliGuy6]

In my experience, I had the best luck using large breeder boxes in the main tank. I have also had equal results by using a divider to separate the pregnant female to one side of the tank, and letting her give birth there then moving her back to the other side of the tank divider. If the divider is the chosen route there are also two paths which I have taken that have worked for me before. I preferred to let the fish give birth on the more heavily planted side so I could let the fry grow in the main tank. I also found the plants helped protect the newborns if I wasn’t able to pull the fry or move the parent fish right after birth. If taking them out and putting them into a grow out tank is the plan then using the side of the tank that has little decoration or plants can make it much easier to catch the fry but it also makes it easier for the parent to catch her fry. I hope my experience with platies helps!