# My fish had babies, what on earth do i do?????!



## freakumDRESS (Mar 16, 2011)

I have a boy betta, 3 boy platies, and one female platy in a 10 gallon tank. One boy nips at my betta, but thats the least of my worries now. Just now i saw some freaky baby fishies hiding behind my pebbles and plants. What do i do? I have an extra five gallon but its enptyand not cycled.


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## monroe0704 (Nov 17, 2010)

To warn you, platys reproduce like crazy! So it's best to remove the female and all babies asap unless you want them to keep having babies. I had this happen once! You can leave the babies in the tank though if you want and the bigger fish may clear them out for you...


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## shadowsbiker (Mar 1, 2011)

If you want to raise the young just buy a mesh nursery that hangs on the back of the tank, net them and put them in there. You can feed them crushed up flake food. I did this a few years ago when I had a surprise batch of mollies.


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## freakumDRESS (Mar 16, 2011)

Okay i'll take shadows idea. How much do one of those cost at petco or petsmart?


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## 1fish2fish (Sep 10, 2009)

Usually about $5 or so. But I agree with monroe.. you better get that female out or your going to find yoruself over run with babies and you'll overburden your tank, getting ammonia spikes.


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## shadowsbiker (Mar 1, 2011)

Yes, please remove the female. They have the ability to store sperm for months so you need to get her away from the males. In addition, the males will continually mate with her and she will become stressed. As the young mature you will want to look into how to differentiate the sexes and probably keep the females separate.


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## freakumDRESS (Mar 16, 2011)

Thanks, all. The uneaten fry are under the pebbles hiding. do i fill up my spare tank with water, remove the filter on the 10 gallon, put it on the spare, remove the betta, put him in a jug for 2 hours, remove the platies, put them in the spare tank for two hours, and then remove every pebble and plant from the bottom of the ten gallon, being careful not to crush the fry? Good plan or no? I'll put everyone back in after i'm done. Hopefully my fry will be alive until tomorrow when i can buy that fry nursery and feed them. Maybe the fry were in there from yesterday, thats when my female's belly got suddenly less buldgy.    ...  uh oh


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## LittleNibbles93 (Feb 7, 2011)

My opinion: Put the female in the spare tank. And leave the betta and the males in the 10gal, and put the babies in the nursery in the 10gal.

What to do when the fry get bigger, I don't know....


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## freakumDRESS (Mar 16, 2011)

I mean i have to remove all my rocks carefully to get the fry out, and i'd have to move all my big fish out while im doing that. Then i'll put everyone back in. Except for the female, ha. Good idea.


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## Here Fishy Fishy Fishy (Oct 29, 2010)

freakumDRESS,

Congrats on your surprise fry!


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## freakumDRESS (Mar 16, 2011)

I think they all should be dead now. O-o  I still havent gotten to the store


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