[Fishly]

I've been wanting to get some more fish for a long time now. I decided to get some black neons last week, but since they were in very bad condition, I chose to wait. Yesterday, I wanted to get them, but they were still looking pretty bad. I decided to go with my next best option- platies. One or two would be cool, right? Right. So, while waiting to be picked up, I decided to check out the Bettas- after all, one of mine died, so I had room.

Oh, boy. I ended up with 1 female Betta, 3 male Bettas, and 7 female (!) platies. I spent five hours last night preparing their new tank while acclimating them and I still have work to do.

When I was buying them, I thought I had room, and I do. It's just that, right now, I already have a bunch of work to do on my tanks (not to mention everything else in my life) and adding another one just makes it that much harder. I feel like an idiot.

I just wanted to tell someone about this. I'm not exactly sure what I'm going to do. I really don't want to take the fish back to the store, but I'm wondering if I should, since I got them for breeding (I've been bitten hard by the breeding bug) and if I can't handle the extra work of the parents, fry are just going to make things worse. I know this was a mistake, but I really just want to push through it instead of trying to undo it.

 

[albirdy]

If you want to breed bettas, you should have reversed the ratio. You want 1 male : 3 females. And of course, you want a male platy. So to fix your situation, without returning your fish, you will need to buy around 8 more female bettas, or you may want to buy in-tank separators or small enclosures so that your male bettas don't get too rough on the others.

if you are so stressed, and obviously guilty for making a big purchase, I think you should just return it. Wait. and buy what you originally intended: black neons (which look a hell of a lot better anyway) because settling sucks.

Food for thought.

“We all want progress, but if you're on the wrong road, progress means doing an about-turn and walking back to the right road; in that case, the man who turns back soonest is the most progressive.”

Good luck

 

[Erlian]

No problemo! (sorta)

OK you definitely need to return the platies ASAP!! You may have bought pregnant platies, and if you're really unlucky, half of them could soon be shooting out fry!!! Also, if you really like the way the male bettas look (I do), you should give each one a smaller showcase space (maybe tank dividers) and try the female on each one (poor old girl ) if you want to breed them. Of course, if you want to have more platies, keep one or two that look very healthy and pregnant (should be a little larger in the stomach area and will be constantly looking for shelter near the tank bottom). MAJOR impulse buy, but you can recover! Cardinal tetras are cool too by the way.

 

[wendyjo]

So you plan to put all these fish in the same tank? 3 male and 1 female betta in the same tank? BIG mistake! Take those fish back or go out and buy a bunch more tanks cause that set up will never work!

 

[lauraleellbp]

Your post leaves me clueless about what you want to breed and how you want to go about it.

If you want to breed platies, why'd you only get females?

If you want to breed bettas, that's a very involved undertaking... you can't just randomly stick 2 fish in a tank together and hope it works out- you need to condition them first, set up a proper spawning tank, and maintain separate tanks for your breeder adults before and after spawning. If you have a successful spawn (which can easily run 200-300 fry) you'll need fry rearing tanks and also need a way to separate out all the juvenile males once they grow out and start fighting among themselves.

Check out www.ultimatebettas.com and www.ibcbettas.org if you're seriously interested in breeding bettas.

 

[Axelrodi202]

You could always pass on some platies to a fishkeeping friend.

 

[Fishly]

Okay, I know this is an old post, but I wanted to explain a few things.

First of all, the reason I was so stressed out about this buy was that I usually only buy things if I already have them on my shopping list. I don't usually make impulse buys, so when I did, I was afraid that I had made the biggest mistake any aquarist could: getting fish without being ready for them. After sitting back and looking at what I had and my plans for my fish, I realized that although I did go overboard, I wasn't overwhelmed like I thought.

Here's what I ended up doing with the fish: 2 platies and 1 male Betta died in quarantine, so I took them back to the store for a refund (not replacement). I returned the female Betta and another one of the males. I bought two different male Bettas for breeding (a copper crowntail and a blue marble/butterfly crowntail- both unusual colors worth breeding, IMO). Now I have five Bettas total: two breeding males, one non-breeding male, and two females which I have had for about a year now.

The Bettas were separated from day one. I have the two new Bettas in a divided 2.5g tank and the other Betta in a divided 10g. I have my two female Bettas in another divided 2.5g tank. I am well aware of the requirements for breeding Bettas. The males are too small to breed with the females at the moment, so they will be allowed to grow for the next couple of months while I work on the rest of my tanks.

Which brings me to the fate of the platies: there are five left, all in a 10g. I haven’t seen any fry yet, but I have no problem culling fry if there are too many. When they do come, I have several fry tanks that just need to be washed out for them. Since these are pet store platies that were kept in tanks with males, I assume they are already pregnant and I don’t need to buy any males.

The work I need to do on my tanks includes painting a DIY stand (which will hold two 10g tanks), setting up a store bought stand (another two 10gs), buying clay for MTS (the soil is already conditioned), mixing up CO2, and buying plants for all my tanks. As you can see, although there are several things on my to-do list, there isn’t so much that I can’t handle these new fish.

After the 10g tanks are done, I plan to start working on my 55g tank (dry right now) and breeding the Bettas.

Your post leaves me clueless about what you want to breed and how you want to go about it.

The reason I want to breed is twofold: first, I would like to do research on platy genetics, and second, I would like to have some experience breeding egg layers (Bettas). As far as I know, platy genetics are not as well known as guppy or Betta genetics, so I would like to do some research of my own on them. I have already created a strain of guppies and they’re only one or two generations from being fixed, so I wanted to move on to platies.

Bettas were the fish that introduced me to aquariums and I have always wanted to breed them. I am very familiar with their genetics and I intend to start by breeding the copper crowntail to my royal blue female, which should produce a 50/50 mix of copper and royal blue mask. If I can breed these pet store Bettas successfully, I may try some more expensive ones. I’m sure not going to spend $100 on a pair of show Bettas just to end up with one failed spawn after another.

I know I was worried and stressed out when I first bought all these fish, but now that I’ve thought through what I will do with them, I feel much more comfortable with my decision. Thanks everyone for your help and for enduring my raving.

 

[macclellan]

Did you even cycle the tank? You said you were "Preparing their new tank while they are acclimating".

 

[Fishly]

Yes, the filter was seeded. The "preparing" invoved a 100% water change and repainting the back of the tank (with 45 minutes between coats). I also had to modify the Bettas' cups so that I could float them in the tank while I cleaned my DIY barracks. I think I had to do a few other things, but I can't remember what they were. That was one of the slowest and most gentle acclimations I've ever done.

Like I said, although I really wasn't prepared to bring fish home that day, I did have room for them.