No Platy Fry in Months, Stumped

[GoofyGarra]

This has been going on for a while but i figured id make an official post on it to see if anyone has any other ideas

Platies are notorious in the aquarium hobby for being easy to breed. All the guides say "they will make fry" so i cant find any information relating to my problem. I'm not getting any platy fry. This first started happening many many months ago, i dont quite remember when i stopped seeing fry its been so long.

Often when people talk about no platy fry, the problem is predation, cover, or water parameters.

I have a 20high community tank. My pH is 7.4, while my hardness tests are off  i use 1tsp per 20gallon marine salt after water changes to raise hardness, temp is 76. The tank is a planted tank and there is plenty of cover. Even if there is not enough cover for fry to hide and survive, i used to always see at least one or two fry running around after birth.

I've even had this issue when ive moved definitely pregnant females to a separate tank and have waited a month, no fry.

My albino corydoras have been doing great and breeding on the other hand so i have doubts it is an environmental issue.

At the moment i have three theories:

1. Food variety: Having many foods in a rotation can get expensive and im low on budget, i can only feed two or three foods right now, i was having lots of success with my platies when i had them on a big feeding rotation but  i dont love this theory because even just on tetra flakes i was getting fry.
2. Genetics: Maybe something genetic means im not getting any fry and id need to introduce fresh genes. my current stock comes is 2years of a few generations of fish from an original 6 so i guess inbreeding could be a problem
3. Im not good at observing: All the fry get eaten right after birth orwhen i isolate females i do something wrong so i dont get fry.

At the moment im stumped and would love to hear all ideas, care guides have not been too useful because i feel like im following them and getting no results.

Im happy to answer any questions and would really like to see some platy fry again.

here is a picture of my tank:

 

Edited December 22, 2023 by GoofyGarra
added temp

[Guppysnail]

What size tank?  How many total fish are in the tank?  
Sometimes when numbers are too high and space is low livebearers will stop producing fry or fry are eaten as they are birthed before cover can even be found.  It’s brutal but I’ve seen it happen when I had guppies. 
I never had success in getting fry when I moved the moms to smaller tanks.  I assume it was the stress factor.  

[Shrimptanks]

I'm willing to bet they're being eaten as they're being born.  You also may need denser top of the tank coverage as I see most of the foliage is located on the bottom half.

[mtnmonster]

I've noticed my platys have times when they don't produce for awhile then something just clicks and my tank is overrun with fry. Just give them plenty of food, cover, and identify anything potentially causing stress to the females. If you have too few females, a male will pester a pregnant female. If this makes her stressed in can cause pregnancy to be unsuccessful. She needs places to hide when she's ready. If not, other fish (corydoras too)will immediately consume fry. I'd remove males when you notice pregnant females. 

[GoofyGarra]

thanks to all for your responses.

I will ask my friend for his next guppy grass clippings and put those in my tank to try and add top cover.

I will also need to move out a few cories because i have too many right now.

[GoofyGarra]

I would like to restart this topic. I have taken these suggestions into consideration and these are my findings

32 days ago (the average gestation period of a platy) i moved most of my platies and albino corydoras out of the tank. The stocking is now:

11Albino Corydoras (still too many, working on it)

7 Platy Females

1Platy Male

1Bristlenose pleco

1panda garra

2mosquitofish

I tested my  water today parameters were:

Ammonia: 0

Nitrite: 0

Nitrate: 0

pH: 7.4

Hardness: 300+

Chlorine:0

At this point it in the area the platies like to swim it is barely crowded, parameters should be perfect for them, and there is 1 male to 7 females. As well as the fact that i have been able to breed and raise corydoras, shrimp, and endlers in my tanks, which makes me think it is an only platy problem, not an environmental condition.

This is what my tank looks like right now, the white basket has holes to allow platy fry to hide inside, however so far i've had no success

i have added more cover as suggested, in the form of a forest of hornwort, and i have found more information that makes me think cover is not my problem.Allow me to explain. About 2 years ago i brought a trio of platies to my buddy for his tank. To this day they have barely grown, despite good water parameters and healthy feedings. They have also not dropped any fry. The lack of fry might be attributed to lack of cover, but stunted growth, which i believe is part of the issue we both have with the fry, cover shouldn't be affecting that. This is what my friend's tank looks like:

With my females, they appear to be gravid, just never drop fry. My leading suspicion in genetics, yet in emailing Greg Sage, he said that he's never had infertility caused by genetics or inbreeding before.

Has anyone on here other then me had this problem?

Thus what i have, and why i am completely stumped. I will probably start emailing some of the pros in the ALA about this, and see if they have good ideas, because right now i have no clue what is going on, i feel like i'm doing everything right, and i've never heard of these problems before.

@PineSong

 

[MattyM]

What is your light intensity and schedule like? 

Are you feeding food that would be small enough for fry to eat? I know you're on a budget, but a pack of BBS or other frozen food might jump start them again. 

[GoofyGarra]

On 2/16/2024 at 4:12 PM, MattyM said:

What is your light intensity and schedule like? 

Are you feeding food that would be small enough for fry to eat? I know you're on a budget, but a pack of BBS or other frozen food might jump start them again. 

Lighting is ACO light level 3 from bottom (whatever intensity that is) for 14hours a day. I have been feeding live BBS once a week the last couple of weeks, i have only recently stopped because i realized i am running out and  want to save the BBS eggs i have for breeding projects

[MattyM]

On 2/16/2024 at 3:17 PM, GoofyGarra said:

14hours a day

That's quite a long time to have a light on, in my opinion at least. Not sure how that impacts breeding, but something to consider when trying to replicate a natural environment. 

[GoofyGarra]

On 2/16/2024 at 4:22 PM, MattyM said:

That's quite a long time to have a light on, in my opinion at least. Not sure how that impacts breeding, but something to consider when trying to replicate a natural environment. 

It fits my schedule best. I could try it turning off earlier though.

[PineSong]

On 2/16/2024 at 3:44 PM, GoofyGarra said:

I would like to restart this topic. I have taken these suggestions into consideration and these are my findings

32 days ago (the average gestation period of a platy) i moved most of my platies and albino corydoras out of the tank. The stocking is now:

11Albino Corydoras (still too many, working on it)

7 Platy Females

1Platy Male

1Bristlenose pleco

1panda garra

2mosquitofish

I tested my  water today parameters were:

Ammonia: 0

Nitrite: 0

Nitrate: 0

pH: 7.4

Hardness: 300+

Chlorine:0

At this point it in the area the platies like to swim it is barely crowded, parameters should be perfect for them, and there is 1 male to 7 females. As well as the fact that i have been able to breed and raise corydoras, shrimp, and endlers in my tanks, which makes me think it is an only platy problem, not an environmental condition.

This is what my tank looks like right now, the white basket has holes to allow platy fry to hide inside, however so far i've had no success

i have added more cover as suggested, in the form of a forest of hornwort, and i have found more information that makes me think cover is not my problem.Allow me to explain. About 2 years ago i brought a trio of platies to my buddy for his tank. To this day they have barely grown, despite good water parameters and healthy feedings. They have also not dropped any fry. The lack of fry might be attributed to lack of cover, but stunted growth, which i believe is part of the issue we both have with the fry, cover shouldn't be affecting that. This is what my friend's tank looks like:

With my females, they appear to be gravid, just never drop fry. My leading suspicion in genetics, yet in emailing Greg Sage, he said that he's never had infertility caused by genetics or inbreeding before.

Has anyone on here other then me had this problem?

Thus what i have, and why i am completely stumped. I will probably start emailing some of the pros in the ALA about this, and see if they have good ideas, because right now i have no clue what is going on, i feel like i'm doing everything right, and i've never heard of these problems before.

@PineSong

 

It looks like you are doing everything right. Good lord, people who are brand new to the hobby have boatloads of platy babies in tanks with two plastic plants, so I don't think your setup is at fault. How many males do you have? I am wondering if you have an infertile male, or if either your males or females have passed breeding age.

 

[Tony s]

Yeah, for platys, it's usually just add water and .... babies just happen. you may need another male or two. they're usually not aggressive toward each other but will tire the females out. I once separated the males and females, the females continued having fry. so, I gave up that plan.

[GoofyGarra]

On 2/16/2024 at 6:35 PM, PineSong said:

It looks like you are doing everything right. Good lord, people who are brand new to the hobby have boatloads of platy babies in tanks with two plastic plants, so I don't think your setup is at fault. How many males do you have? I am wondering if you have an infertile male, or if either your males or females have passed breeding age.

I have 1 male right now. I had 4males a month ago (with many more females), however i wanted to de-stock my tank so i got rid of many platies. It's possible i have a bad male, although it would most likely be a broader problem in the genetics if between my other previous males and my friend's male were all infertile.  I've considered introducing fresh genetics at some point, i just haven't done it yet. I would definitely swap out the male just to make sure the new genetics get all around.In that case would the females look gravid though? Mine look gravid as usual. It is also fully possible my fish are past breeding age, but in that case i should have gotten fry back when they were younger not just a complete halt.

I would like to make this clear as well: I had my platies producing fry very healthily for about a year and i was raising them up and giving them to the fish store, then at some point they just suddenly stoppped.

Also to be fully honest, i'm trying to figure out how to get my platies breeding again, not because i want my tank overrun with little platies and am fine with most of them getting eaten in my main tank, but because i have various platy colors that i want to line breed, or at least try, but my females are not dropping fry. Right now perfectly happy with any little platies though 🙂

@MattyM I have dropped the lighting 1.5 hours shorter, i will see if it changes anything. Maybe i will get less algae

 

Edited February 18 by GoofyGarra

[WhitecloudDynasty]

I do notice some male are more sexual active than other, plus those mosquito fish are great fry hunter

[Fish Folk]

Do your females box up gravid like they’re going to drop fry? If so, the problem is likely predation.

I would get rid of the Mosquitofish. Those are like Ninjas in the nursery!

I also would stop adding salt when performing water changes.

 I would bump the temperature up 2°,  bite bullet, and go buy a variety of quality foods.

Edited February 19 by Fish Folk

[GoofyGarra]

On 2/19/2024 at 6:39 AM, Fish Folk said:

I also would stop adding salt when performing water changes.

I have since the first post stopped the salt. I realized my tap water was hard enough as is and did not need any additives.

On 2/19/2024 at 6:39 AM, Fish Folk said:

I would get rid of the Mosquitofish. Those are like Ninjas in the nursery!

I will definitely look into rehoming the mosquitofish, i saw them go after shrimp before and i believe they would got after platy fry as well.

On 2/19/2024 at 6:39 AM, Fish Folk said:

 I would bump the temperature up 2°.

So 76? 78?

[Fish Folk]

On 2/19/2024 at 7:05 AM, GoofyGarra said:

I have since the first post stopped the salt. I realized my tap water was hard enough as is and did not need any additives.

I will definitely look into rehoming the mosquitofish, i saw them go after shrimp before and i believe they would got after platy fry as well.

So 76? 78?

Yes, 78°-F. 

[GoofyGarra]

Now that i think about it there is probably more of a market for infertile platies then there is for fertile platies. I wonder if i can strain breed for that trait 🤣

I have increased the temperature to 78, added cover, and turned down the hours the light is on.

I will have to see if that makes any difference. The next thing i will probably try is swap out my male for a new one to introduce fresh genetics. Anyone wanna trade?

Edited February 23 by GoofyGarra

[FishQween]

On 12/22/2023 at 2:53 PM, GoofyGarra said:

This has been going on for a while but i figured id make an official post on it to see if anyone has any other ideas

Platies are notorious in the aquarium hobby for being easy to breed. All the guides say "they will make fry" so i cant find any information relating to my problem. I'm not getting any platy fry. This first started happening many many months ago, i dont quite remember when i stopped seeing fry its been so long.

Often when people talk about no platy fry, the problem is predation, cover, or water parameters.

I have a 20high community tank. My pH is 7.4, while my hardness tests are off  i use 1tsp per 20gallon marine salt after water changes to raise hardness, temp is 76. The tank is a planted tank and there is plenty of cover. Even if there is not enough cover for fry to hide and survive, i used to always see at least one or two fry running around after birth.

I've even had this issue when ive moved definitely pregnant females to a separate tank and have waited a month, no fry.

My albino corydoras have been doing great and breeding on the other hand so i have doubts it is an environmental issue.

At the moment i have three theories:

1. Food variety: Having many foods in a rotation can get expensive and im low on budget, i can only feed two or three foods right now, i was having lots of success with my platies when i had them on a big feeding rotation but  i dont love this theory because even just on tetra flakes i was getting fry.
2. Genetics: Maybe something genetic means im not getting any fry and id need to introduce fresh genes. my current stock comes is 2years of a few generations of fish from an original 6 so i guess inbreeding could be a problem
3. Im not good at observing: All the fry get eaten right after birth orwhen i isolate females i do something wrong so i dont get fry.

At the moment im stumped and would love to hear all ideas, care guides have not been too useful because i feel like im following them and getting no results.

Im happy to answer any questions and would really like to see some platy fry again.

here is a picture of my tank:

 

You know, I thought my platy were eating all their fry but the babies are really good at hiding. If you move the deco around a lot, you'll probably see them scurrying somewhere else. I wouldn't worry much if none of the fish seem off or sick. Maybe the platy fry are hiding under rocks. 

As for the pregnant females in the other tank, I once had a platy that refused to give birth in the nursery tank. I returned her to the main tank and she dropped her fry there. Sometimes if they stress out they'll hold in the fry.