What can I do to keep baby platy fish (fry) from taking over my small tank?

Question

I have a very small tank - only 5 gallons. In it I have 3 platies, two of which females. Obviously, I can't have tons of babies in there, too. I'm thinking about removing the male, but one fish is already (VERY) pregnant. How can I insure the babies won't stay???? Is there a good chance that my other fish will eat them? Thanks in advance!!!

~Emily~

Answer 1

add a betta. it will eat any little fish he will find.

I used to feed my betta with little guppies.

Answer 2

If there are no plants for the babies to hide in, the adult fish will eat most of the babies pretty soon. Removing the male won't make any difference, since a female platy can give birth a number of times (every 28-30 days) before she needs to see the male again.

A Betta will be a very efficient baby eater, and doesn't need much space.

A 5 gallon tank will be a little too crowded, and you are stretching your luck unless you have good filtration and live plants.

You could always get a second tank (10 gallons) and continue from there - this way lies addiction, but oh, what a delightful way to be addicted.