New Platy Owners

[nuc]

Hi, new to the forum and platys and have a new 25 gallon aquarium
So we bouht the tank two days ago and set it up and stocked it on same day. Stabilized the temp.
We bought seven platys today to start, rainbows, neons and red wagtail(sp?) with a female from each sort, making 3 females and 4 males.
We got home home we let them adjust to the temp and set them free. They were a little nervous and a bit aggressive so we fed them and used a stressed reducing formula along with cycle and a waste control.
After about 1hour we saw the neon platy female drop a baby. Shocked, we quickly rinsed a plastic breeder cage and scooped up what fry we could and the elusive neon platy. I tried crushing up some flake food but when the babys swam up the mother ate two of her fry so we moved her out. We have five rescued fry left in the breeder.
Is there any special care for the fry I need to know?
How quickly do they grow and when can we let them out with adults?
Will the plastic breeder be enough room or should we move them to our ten gallon tank?

Also how long until our cloudy water should clear up?
Our water is "moderately hard" should we try to condition it? Its city tap water but we're using aqua plus.

Are platys normally aggressive or was that just a consequence of moving?
What other types of fish would play well with platy's? I read catfish might be good.
How many fish do you recommend for a 25 gallon tank?
We would like to get live plants when the water is ready, are there any plants we should get/avoid with platys?

Sorry for so many questions, here are a few pictures of what we have right now.
setup

new fry

fry with unknown sphere

[shev]

It's not cycled. Fish produce ammonia, certain bacteria break ammonia into nitrites, then more bacteria converts it to nitrate, which are removed with water changes. but when you set up a tank, there isnt enough bacteria to eat the ammonia. ammonia is toxic to fish, so are nitrites, and nitrates at higher levels. the bacteria kicks in in the presence of ammonia and nitrites, so the tank should be set up, with a source of ammonia, and let it sit and wait until there are large enough bacterial colonies to eat the ammonia produced by the fish. you shouldnt add too many fish at once, and with that many in a newly set up tank will produce a lot of ammonia, and theres no way theres going to be enough bacteria to "eat" it all. I'm not sure why water is cloudy when cycling, maybe thats the ammonia in the water.

[nuc]

I head about doing a fishless cycle, but didnt know how it was done.

I have done an ammonia test, and there was zero, but it has only been about 6 hours so far

[shev]

Fishless cycles if done properly can take less time that with fish. ammoni is ammonia, whether from fish or the grocery store. the bacteria that converts ammonia to nitrites into nitrates is everywhere, but only kicks in in the presence of ammonia. to do a fishless cycle you need a supply of ammonia, which would be pure ammonia from the store, with no fragrences or additives. I think the reading should be around 2ppm. increases temperature speeds up chemical reactions, so 86 degrees should be good, but not with fish, that will stress and kill them. Keep supplying the bacteria with ammonia, there will be spikes, then spikes of nitrites. the more bacteria there is, the faster it grows, so seeding the tank will speed it up a lot. if you can get bacteria from an established tank, the bacteria is on all the surfaces, so grab something with lots of surface area, like gravel or decorations, filter cartriges.

[nuc]

Thanks for the info shev about the cycles.

Any clue about the other things we are wondering about from the 1st post?

[shev]

The breeders net should be large enough. dont change your water chemistry, its better to just leave the ph alone, unless you have discus, or are breeding fish. platys prefer a ph above neutral anyway. you are alos goin to need the dechlor the water before putting it in your tank. city water is going to have chlorine, you can age it for a day, or use some dechlor water conditioner. dont add anymore fish until the tank is cycled. A little salt may help them, not table salt, aquarium salt. just a couple teaspoons. I think salt reduces the affects of ammonia or nitrites on fish. you may have to do frequesnt small water changes, like 10% a day.

[Jobrien323]

The fry will be fine in the breeder net. I had caught about 4 fry and put them in the breeder net and fed them crushed flake food for about a month and a half and then I noticed there were some that survived by hiding in the tank, and they were doing quite well also..

When my second platy had her fry, I didn't do anything figuring survival of the fittest and my tank is now on auto-stock mode (5 danios, 4 adult platys and 7 fry of varioius sizes)

[doggydad38]

There are other threads here that discuss feeding fry. I breed fancy guppies and feed baby brine shrimp for the first week and then crush the food you'd use the adults followed by baby brine shrimp for the next 3 weeks or so. The shrimp is used primarily to trigger the feeding response in the fry and get some size on them quickly. If you don't want to bother with hatching your own shrimp, food crushed to a fine powder will do nicely. Good luck with your babies and keep us posted on their progress.
Tony

[nuc]

I have another question.

It seems like evertime I feed them, one one the male's gets very aggressive and attacks anyone who comes close to him. Is this normal for platys?
Could it be that I am not feeding them enough and they are fighting for what I am giving them?

thanks

[swimmers]

I've had a couple aggressive male platys. Is he maybe guarding one of the females so she can eat? You can try feeding at both ends so the less aggressive ones have a place to eat, he can't be at both ends at the same time. Do you feed just once a day? If so try splitting the amount into 2 feedings.

[nuc]

I do two feedings a day. And I have started to feed at both ends as you suggested, and it does help.
Thanks for the idea

[swimmers]

You are welcome! Feeding rings work well too I think. I've got them in all my tanks, helps with the food floating everywhere, not so much waste.

[lizardbill86]

The cloudyness of the water is called a bacteria bloom, its when the ammonia eating bacteria reproduce rapidly and cloud the water. The bacteria will die down to the the appropriate level usually in less than two weeks. Doing large and frequent water changes in response to the bloom only prolongs it. You have too many male platys, try to have 2-3 females per male in order to keep their aggressiveness to a minimum.

[fishboy]

I had cloudy water and found a $3 gravel vac cann work miracles in de-clouding