When it comes to raising baby Platy fish, many different questions come up. Platy fish fry are way delicate than you think. Hence, you need to take care of the water parameters, water quality, tank mates. But above all, you need to give them good food for their growth. What Do Platy Fish Fry Eat? Do Platy fish eat their own fry? How often should you feed them, and what kind of food should you give them? These are all fundamental questions, and we want to help answer these for you!
Well, that depends on their age. Platy fish fry in the wild will feed off of live prey such as mosquito larvae and brine shrimp. However, it is advisable to feed them a mixture of commercial food and vegetables in an aquarium setting.
This blog post will discuss the different foods that baby Platy fish can eat and provide some recommendations on how often to feed your baby platy fry when in tank water or out of food!
What Do Platy Fish Fry Eat In Wild?
Platy fish are omnivores, meaning that in the wild, they eat both plants and animals. They will consume various types of leaves, algae (both dried and fresh), flowers, seeds (including nuts), along with other small insects like worms that fall into their watery habitat.
What Can You Feed Platy Fish Fry In Your Tank?
There are various food sources that you can feed to your Platy fish fry.
Live Food
One of the best foods for your new fish is live food, such as daphnia (water fleas), brine shrimps, or microworms easily obtainable from specialist supply companies.
It has been found that young fish grow much faster when offered live food. Platy fish will eat the shrimps present in the tank as well. Hence, Save you shrimps.
But they do need to be fed at least three times a day to eat the microworms as soon as they come out of their cocoons, or else they will die and pollute the tank. Similarly, these Platy fish eat snails crawling in the tank if you are not careful enough.
Baby Brine Shrimps
Another good option is brine shrimp which you can buy from your local pet store, although these need to be ‘gut loaded’ before giving them to the baby fish as they do not contain enough nutrients for young fry.
You should add a vitamin and mineral supplement for them in the tank (you can get these from the same store).
Baby brine shrimp are one of the best food to feed your baby Platy fish. This is because they are easy for them to eat, they have a soft body and will not damage their guts when eaten.
Mosquito Larvae
One of the best live foods for your baby Platy fish is mosquito larvae found in stagnant water. Platy fish will happily eat mosquito larvae if you give them in proper dosage.
The only problem with this variety of food is that you need not introduce any diseases or parasites into your aquarium, so always make sure that you are feeding your baby fish with clean larvae.
Mosquito larvae can also be used as live foods, but this should only be done if you have an extra tank in which the mosquito larvae can be placed after hatching. Micro worms are another type of live food that you should feed your baby Platy fish with.
Microworms
Another excellent option is microworms which are small, white worms found in most kitchens (you may need to ask at the store where you buy your fish food for some). They will breed happily in moist kitchen rolls and make an excellent live food source for your baby fish.
Vinegar Eels
For an even more easily obtainable live food source, you can also feed your fish with vinegar eels which are small worms that grow in vinegar (apple cider works particularly well). Again make sure that the water is clean when offering this type of food to your fry as it can easily introduce disease.
Daphnia
You can also feed your Platy fish fry with daphnia, which is small, freshwater crustaceans that live in the water and grow to around 0.75cm (0.25 inches) long. These can be found under stones or vegetation near slow-moving rivers where there is plenty of vegetation.
Vegetables
In the wild, Platy fish will also eat various plants, leaf vegetables from plants such as water lettuce and duckweed, which you can offer to them when you feed live food – be careful not to add any chemicals into the tank. Platy fish will nip algae present in the tank as well.
Infusoria
Another good source of food for your baby fish is infusoria which are microscopic, free-swimming organisms found in stagnant water or even inside the gut of larger creatures such as shrimps and snails. You can create a ‘Homemade’ infusoria culture by placing some leaves in a container of water and allowing them to rot down.
Commercial Food
Finally, there are various commercial food sources that you can purchase which contain all the nutrients required for your baby fish, including infusoria, brine shrimp, or micro worms.
These are very good as they take away any guesswork on what live foods to provide to your fish and save you the hassle of creating an infusoria culture.
You can feed them pellets, flakes, or tablets, which you drop into the water. These are very convenient as they don’t require any extra equipment for feeding. Also, Platy fish will eat betta food as well. So, you can feed them that if their food is not available.
In addition, this will prevent your baby fish from starving if their parents happen to eat all of the live food. Platy fish eat pellets, wafers, etc. that you can easily get from Amazon.
How Often Should You Feed Your Platy Fish Fry?
It is best to feed your fry small amounts of food at regular intervals throughout the day.
This will ensure that they are constantly receiving a supply of nutrients and prevent them from becoming bloated or constipated, which can be fatal if left untreated.
It is important not to overfeed your baby Platy fish as this will pollute the water and make it difficult for them (and any other inhabitants) to breathe properly.
What to Feed Platy Fish Fry When Out of Food?
If you run out of food, it is important not to feed your fry anything from the list above. Instead, you can feed them a small amount of boiled egg yolk or even an infusoria tablet dissolved in some tank water and fed with a syringe.
You can give them homemade foods like peas boiled in the microwave, or even give them some blanched spinach (make sure it’s not too much!).
It is important to ensure that you do not feed your baby Platy fish anything from this list. Platy fish will stop eating if there is something wrong with the tank condition. So, be careful of that too.
Also, these Platy fish might eat dead fish present in the tank, so it is better to remove dead ones as soon as possible.
Egg Yolk
Another good food source for your baby fish is egg yolk obtained from the supermarket and mashed up with a fork. However, you should note that this type of food does not contain as much protein as live foods such as daphnia or microworms, so you will need to ensure that your fish are getting a good supply of these in their diet.
Do Platy Fish Eat Their Fry?
If you have any adult platies, then the answer is YES! A female will start eating her fry.
It is not intentional, but she will do it. They can, and most often than not, they will eat their own fry! If you have more than one male in the tank or even two females with fry, then there is a higher chance of cannibalism, so watch out for that.
Do Platy Fish Fry Eat Other Fry?
No, baby platies do not eat their fry or other fish fry of the same kind. You should start seeing some results once your new plants are established in the tank, and you have dosed with a gravel cleaner to clear up any uneaten food. They are way small to fit other fry in their mouth.
FAQs
I have answered some of the frequently asked questions below.
When Do Platy Fry Start Eating?
They start eating once the female gives them birth in the tank. However, it might take them a while before getting used to their surroundings.
How To Look After Baby Platy Fish?
You need to maintain water parameters and do frequent water changes to ensure that their environment is healthy and conducive.
You should provide them with a good diet. It is important to feed them live food when they are tiny. However, you can give them commercial pellets once they reach about an inch in size and show their adult colors.
Conclusion
In conclusion, baby Platy fish are very tiny, so you should handle them with care and ensure that they have a proper diet. They are harmless to other fish fry and will not eat them. However, you should check their water parameters so that they do not get sick while they are small.
Finally, I hope you found the content of this blog post helpful in answering your question. If not, please leave a comment below, and we will get back to you as soon as possible.
Thank you!