When you get a Platy, you might be waiting for the Platy fish to lay eggs. Maybe you have seen movies and cartoons depicting fish laying eggs and protecting their eggs. Surprisingly, you have to wait for centuries before your Platy lays eggs!
No, Platy Fish don’t lay eggs. Platy Fish belongs to a group of livebearer fish, which means the eggs remain in their body until the fry inside the egg is mature enough. After the fry has matured, platyfish will undergo labor and give birth to fry directly. This method is unlike the egg-layer fish, which lay eggs, fertilize them, and hatch them outside the body.
Today, I have written this article to clear your confusion on whether Platy fish lay eggs or not, in what condition do Platy lay eggs, how you can control Platy population, about Platy fry, and many more.
So, Do Platy Fish Lay Eggs?
Platy fish are livebearer species along with Mollies, Guppy, Swordtail, etc. Such Livebearer fish don’t lay eggs. But, instead, such fish give birth to fry directly without laying eggs.
I’ve told you that your Platy won’t lay eggs. Let me also tell you that these Platy have eggs inside of them. But, instead of laying the eggs, those eggs develop inside your Platy fish. After the development of an egg into fry has been completed, only then will your Platy will go into labor. After that, the fry is released from your Platy’s body.
The entire steps of pregnancy happen inside your Platy’s body. In a way, Platy fish undergo pregnancy like human beings. But, the difference is that Platy fry derives nutrition from egg yolk whereas we humans derive nutrition from the placenta.
To sum up, Platy fish don’t lay eggs but give birth to fry directly.
Instances Where Platy Fish Lay Eggs
I’ve made this entire article to tell you that Platy fish don’t lay eggs. But, there are some instances where Platy fish seem to be laying eggs. These eggs won’t hatch though.
Note: If you see your Platy laying eggs, remember that such eggs don’t survive. So, you should remove those eggs to prevent infection in your tank!
Platy Fry That Never Formed Properly
Sometimes, your Platy can give birth to some partial fry and egg hybrid. This happens to fry who haven’t formed properly and are still in their egg. When you look inside the eggs, sometimes the fry looks alive. But, such a hybrid doesn’t survive for long outside the mother Platy! This is because the egg needs the mother Platy to survive.
Your Platy Fish May Lay Eggs That Are Unfertilized
If you notice your Platy dropping eggs before releasing her fry, chances are, those eggs weren’t fertilized in the first place.
It may be that the male Platy didn’t deposit an adequate amount of sperm in your female Platy. Or it may be that the egg was deformed in the first place so it couldn’t take the sperm to become fry.
How Do Platy Fish Reproduce?
To make your Platy fish mate is the easiest thing you can do. Just keep the proper mating ratio in your breeding tank, and your job is done.
When your Platy reaches 6 months, they are ready for reproduction.
So, the male Platy will relentlessly chase the female Platies to deposit his sperm through the gonopodium into the female anal fin. When the sperm and eggs inside the female have fertilized, the zygote is formed. This zygote slowly develops to fry inside your pregnant Platy’s uterus. The pregnant Platy fish will store the fry in her belly for 24-30 days. There is internal fertilization in a Platy fish this way!
After 30 days, your female Platy will undergo labor and bear cute fry. The number may vary from 20-80 fry.
How Often Do Platy Fish Give Birth?
Platy fish are voracious breeders. This means that if you keep the proper ratio of males and females in your tank, you will get fry every other month!
Since the Platy fish is pregnant for 30 days, she can technically get pregnant every month. And you need to take care of pregnant Platy fish because she holds all eggs in her belly. Once your Platy has dropped all her fry, she is ready to be pregnant again!
Even if you keep all female Platy in your tank, you may get fry every month. How is this possible, you may ask? Well. This is because Platy fish can store sperm in their belly and use this sperm to get pregnant every other month.
So, if you’ve kept female and male together sometime and separated them, your Platy may still get pregnant as she may have stored sperm in her belly.
About Platy Fish Fry
At the end of 30 days of your Platy’s pregnancy, at least 50-100 Platy fries are dropped directly by your Platy.
You can whip out a magnifying glass to capture the detail of this cute fry. These Platy babies are really tiny (around 0.25 inches), you see! Because of this tiny size, other fish (including their own parents) can mistake the fry for food.
You need to care for your Platy fry first. For this, you need to keep live floating plants in your tank. Platy Fry is quite independent even after they’ve come out of their mother just a minute ago. That’s why your fry can hide in the plants easily. You can also keep a breeding box or separate your Platy fry in a separate tank for their survival.
Controlling Platy Fish Population
Obviously, when you keep the proper mating ratio in your Platy tank, you will get hundreds of Platy fish every other month. That’s why controlling the population of Platy is important. Especially if you don’t want loads of Platy fish filling your tank!
Separate Males And Females
Identifying a male a female Platy fish is very easy. So, you should separate females and males in a separate tank. When you separate males and females, the females can’t bear fry every month.
Note: This will be useless when your female Platy has already stored sperm for the future!
Don’t Keep Hiding Places
When you keep hiding places, the Platy fry can take shelter in those plants from predators. This ensures their survival.
If you don’t keep plants and hiding places, then your fry will be exposed to predators in the tank. Most of the time, the Platy parents will eat up their fry.
Keep A Fry-Eating Fish In Your Tank
I don’t like this method because that cute platy fry will be eaten up by other fish. But, if you believe in survival of the fittest, you can let fry-eating fish like Betta eat up your extra fry!
Sell Your Platy Fish
This is the best method to control the Platy population. Your local store may love to buy Platy fish from you because Platy fish are always high in demand.
Moreover, you can give your Platy to your relatives as a gift too.
Livebearers
There are around 200 Livebearer fish in this world. Some Livebearer fish you’d like to know:
- Mollies
- Guppies
- Swordtail
- Endlers
Livebearer fish are most popular for giving birth to baby fry directly. Such fish don’t lay eggs like other normal fish. These fish undergo internal fertilization inside their body, unlike other fish who have external fertilization.
Livebearers thrive in cold water and maybe that’s why these cold fish don’t bear any parental instinct towards their babies.
FAQ
How Many Eggs Do Platy Fish Lay?
Platy Fish bear around 50-100 fry in a single pregnancy. But, no, Platy fish don’t lay eggs. Platy fish develops the eggs inside her belly, only releasing the eggs after they have hatched into fry.
Do Platy Fish Eat Their Babies?
Platy fish don’t have any parental instinct towards their babies. I’ve heard that mother Platy fish will resist eating up her babies (for few hours) due to hormones after fry birth. But, most of the time, Platy fish readily eat up their babies without any remorse.
Conclusion
I think you now know that Platy fish don’t lay eggs. But, instead, they give birth directly to fry!
Sometimes, you may notice eggs coming out from Platy during delivery of her fry or just for no reason at all. Oftentimes than not, such eggs don’t survive. So, you need to remove those eggs to prevent further fungal infection in your tank.
