Tiny Trapper
Fish Breeding Net or Trapper?
My grandmother is now the proud parent of unwanted platy babies, but we want to keep them alive and they’re still extremely tiny. She looks pregnant again, and my grandmother wants to breed again before separating them. We’re borrowing someone’s breeding trap, and I want to get our own for the next set of babies. The only problem is that I’ve heard that the babies can get through the side grates of the trapper? Do you guys prefer breeding nets or trappers?
From experience the breeding net has worked. A net breeder is a must if you wish to save large numbers of fry. Simply place it in a corner of the tank when one of the females has already spawned or place the female in it just before she spawns. Either way ensure the fry are the only fish inside the net. As a rough guide, a young female platy/guppy/molly usually releases 12 to 30 babies in her first batch of young. In comparison a large molly may be able to release up to 100 babies! I highly recommend you to purchase a “net breeder” made out of mesh rather than a plastic one as I have heard too many bad reports about them and my net breeder has worked flawlessly for me (plastic ones babies escape/get eaten or trapped!) The net breeder has a frame made of plastic and is covered in fine net to separate the fry inside the net from the larger fish swimming around in the aquarium. A few of common problems people have is that they have bought store bought fish which the store said were pregnant and yet you don’t have any babies. If this is the case, and you are sure that you have both females and males in your tank preferably at the ratio 2 females to 1 male live bearer then you can do a couple of things to enhance your chances.
1) Change 20% of the water in the aquarium each day replacing it with chlorinated water which is as close to the temperature already in the water as possible, remembering any differences will result in stress to the fish and more chance of your live bearer aborting her pregnancy.
2) Supplement your live bearers diet with vegetables which form an integral part of a live bearers diet in the wild I would recommend blanched zucchini (courgette) or cucumber, flakes are only so good and try to add to the meaty part of your live bearers diet with blood worms or adult brine shrimp.
3) This should probably be number 1 as it is the most important… Patience! there is nothing to stop your live bearer giving birth and the odds are stacked in her favour if you have followed the procedures already mentioned.
TDEKnives.com Case Wharncliffe Tiny Trapper Orange Knife Limit 1/500