Fresh Fries

On June 9, 2009, as I was cleaning out one of my tanks, I realized that one of the platies had delivered a new batch of fry. I could only find 5 survivors so I immediately scooped them up and put them into an emergency tank. I have not filled the tank all the way up because I need to clean the tank at least once every other day depending on the water conditions. Since fry need almost constant food, the ammonia levels can quickly escalate. I went out and purchased frozen brine shrimp that I break off a piece, thaw and keep in the refrigerator for feedings every other day just before I clean the tank. I discovered that if I use an eye dropper, I can plop a few tiny shrimp (that are about half the size of the fry) into the water without making a huge mess of their water. I also added a "wonder shell" to the water to add vitamins and calcium since platies thrive in harder water than I have. These two factors have seemingly helped since none of the fry have died yet, but I'm certainly not holding my breath that any will survive into adulthood.


When I discovered them in the tank, they were no larger than the head of a standard straight pin. Now they are about three to four times that size and seem to be growing rapidly. Here are some photos of them. They still do not have any "color" or any wag markings. They blend in to the rocks that I have on the bottom of the tank, which seems to help them to feel a bit more secure. I find it interesting that they do seem to "pop out" from hiding more with this batch, than the last batch. The photos are difficult to take clearly because the fry are so tiny and they dart so quickly, that mostly, all I have left in the photo is a blur.... Considering the fact that they are less than 1/4 of an inch long, here are the clearest of the images that I could get. In the photos, they appear to be an inch long, but in real life, they are one-quarter of the size you see in the pix. Yes, their eyes really are as large as their stomachs, which you can still see through their translucent flesh....