three questions.. that need answers please!

[tiffsplaties88]

ok so

#1. will cory cats eat platy fry?
#2 do fish really give off hormones that keep fry from reaching mature sizes?
#3 what is the cause of mothers death shortly after or during birth?

[akangelfood]

I can't answer most of those questions, but I ended up with a tank that had breeding platys as well as corys in it. Some of the platy babies survived, most did not. I can't, however, be certain it was due to the corys.

[fishbguy]

1. no
2. yes
3. stress, health, harassment by neighbors, etc.

[COM]

1- maybe but not likely
2- maybe but not likely
3- stress, low energy, incomplete birthing, open wound, harassment, etc.

[Ichthius]

1. Yes, it's possible that cory cats will eat fry. However, I've bred platies in a community tank with corydoras, and didn't have a noticable problem with them. Fry will tend to stay at the top of the tank if you have cover/floating plants for them, and obviously cories spend the majority of their time on the bottom. Not a big problem, in my opinion.

2. Yes, they do, and it happens quite often in poorly kept/planned tanks. As long as you have a large enough tank suitable in size for the adults and fry, or move the adults to another tank when the fry come along, they should be fine.

3. Poor diet during pregnancy, stress either from the births or by other fish, bad tank conditions...

[gil_ong]

i've seen my peppered cory go after my platy fry.

[JustOneMore20]

I have Platy fry in my 55g that somehow survived (in with an Angelfish, lots of Platy adults, Cories, large Gourami).....and it stays towards the bottom because thats where the most plant cover is. Its a brave fish....swimming out in the open sometimes, right near the Cories and I haven't seen mine go after it yet.

So, your experience may vary. If you don't have alot of small hiding spots and cover for fry, its likely that Cories may eat them.

[hacket]

Most, if not all, cories are not naturally aggressive, so the only risk that you would run is that it would mistake it for a piece of food. But since most fry stay toward the top and are usually moving around this should be a problem.

[emc7]

I don't believe in vegetarian fish. Generally if a fish can get another fish in its mouth, it can get eaten. Give them enough cover (live or fake plants) and the fry will have a decent chance of living until they no longer fit.

Stunting is real. Its not that adults are in the tank, its when you have too many fish. Keep up regular water changes and if the fry seem to stop growing, make them larger and more frequent.

Livebearers often do die before/during/after birthing. Platys don't have placentas, so they don't bleed to death. But they can get "fry-bound" and have decaying, dead fry in a sack attached to their bodies. That can't be good.

[tiffsplaties88]

thanks for the info...