Do platys need breeding traps?

Question

Do platys need breeding traps?

Answer 1

Yes, all cichlids don't need except live bearers such as platy, guppy, and molly. They need breeding traps because live bearers tend to eat their fry when they are born, thus putting it in a breeding trap helps fry to escape from its parent.

Answer 2

you don't really need a trap.you can just put in some plants or like a bridge with holes that the fry can go thru the hole and come out.

Answer 3

It would be best to put them in a plastic one with slits for the fry to fall through.

Answer 4

hope this helps it may be long

Breeding nets;

Breeding nets are quite controversal and in the scenario of moving the pregnant fish before fry birth I think it depends more on the scenario the pregnant fish is in.

When a pregnant fish gives birth she releases scents into the water which other fish will/may smell and harrass her to either:

A. Make her lose her guard and deliver the fry in an unprotected area of the tank so that they can eat them as she gives birth to them, or

B. So she dies and they can munch on her dead body.

Not all fish do this but there are some fish with a bigger tendancy to do so than others; if you have a pregnant guppy in the tank with tiger barbs for example, the tiger barbs will almost certainly harrass the mother and eat as many fry as they can.

Not only will you be likely to lose alot of fry from this but also the pregnant fish could die from stress, so in this case I think it advised she is separated from the tiger barbs before she delivers the fry.

On the other hand it is only advised you put guppy or platy sized fish in breeding nets and only one per net, if the fish is bigger than a guppy/platy the stress from the net usually outweighs giving birth in the main tank.

You should aim to only have her in the net for a maximum of 4 days, after that release her back into the main tank.

Setting up the breeding net; when you set up the net, try to put it where it isn't directly under the tank lights (if you can't find anywhere, find somwhere to shade it) but still has a good flow/current from the filter.

Put a piece of plant in the net and rock to help weigh the net down (the plant will help make the pregnant fish feel less stressed and more at home).