How do you hide fry?

[Theplatymaster]

This question is simple.

Im doing my platy breeding project currently for colors, im up a stage of 3 females impregnated by the target male all in a 5gallon tank.

My issue is i that i plan to remove the females as they give birth in the order they were impregnated. They will be moved to a seperate tank, so if they are still pregnant, i will still get fry from them,

B. my issue is i dont have space to give each female a seperate tank. So i just have tons of moss on the bottom of my 5gallon tank as a hiding spots. my question is are there any other good ways to create hiding spots for the fry? Im not looking for the ACO article about plants, i dont want to buy anything new, but im kinda looking for simple DIY things that work well. Please post pictures.

[CJs Aquatics]

The best happy accident I ever had which also turned into the 2nd best fry hide I ever made was I used matala mat I had lying around the house to wall off 3 sides of the tank for better viewing. The original goal was to let moss attach to it and have a 3 sided moss wall but that never panned out. What happened by complete accident was when fry were born, they swam through it and congregated together on the other side of the mat in a small space where it was randomly sitting off the glass. The parents could have never got to them. Shrimp got smart and did the same. Leads me to believe if your looking for non traditional, maybe something as simple as a very course mat or sponge, or craft mesh divider, or yarn anything along those lines. Sorry for the long story it brought me back I couldn’t resist telling it. 
 

-photo was years ago, what it doesn’t show is fish in it, but there was a slight gap between the mat on the sides and the glass about 1/2 in and that’s where the fry all went 

[cavdad45]

Floating water sprite provides food and protection for my platies and endlers

[JJenna]

I first discovered my endler fry hanging out in a piece of weighted hornwort in my tank...I never provided any cover and if I were to guesstimate there's close 30-40 fry in the tank. 

[Theplatymaster]

On 2/7/2023 at 7:03 PM, CJs Aquatics said:

Leads me to believe if your looking for non traditional, maybe something as simple as a very course mat or sponge, or craft mesh divider, or yarn anything along those lines.

based on this advice i went searching through my filter media box for any large sponges, when i had a great idea. Bio-Rings. I bought a large bag of them in the past so i have some extra. They are practically tiny tunnels, that might also house bacteria. Here is a picture:

i am hoping this design will help/work, without being a risk to the adults.

[CJs Aquatics]

I like the bio ring idea I don’t see why it wouldn’t help/ work, I’ve seen guppy fry literally hide in large gravel substrate. I think they are very adaptable and it’s a great experiment 

[FLFishChik]

What about something like plastic canvas mat, just bend it into a cylinder shape and set upright in the corner of the tank. Big enough to allow fry in and out but not the parents?

Edited February 8, 2023 by FLFishChik

[TOtrees]

I like java moss on the floor and hornwort floating up top. 

[Jabberjaw]

I use plastic Christmas garland, the green kind that doesn't have a wire, it uses filament. (It won't let me turn the pics? Ugh)

 

[nabokovfan87]

On 2/7/2023 at 4:28 PM, CJs Aquatics said:

I like the bio ring idea I don’t see why it wouldn’t help/ work, I’ve seen guppy fry literally hide in large gravel substrate. I think they are very adaptable and it’s a great experiment 

 

[CJs Aquatics]

@nabokovfan87 that’s a pretty cool video