How To Stop Platy From Breeding | Here Is How !! |

How To Stop Platy From Breeding? It is not easy to stop Platy from breeding. However, if you are serious about stopping them from breeding, you should separate the male and female. Still, there’s a chance of having babies even without a male.

Some fish breeds are hard to breed, while others are extremely easy. Platies are one of those fish that are extremely easy to breed.

Platies, by nature, like to mate and breed often. The only thing that might be stopping them from spawning is the lack of space.

When you decide to get Platy, you should know that you will end up with fry sooner or later because they really like to spawn.

This guide teaches you how to stop Platy from breeding while eliminating unwanted babies.

How do platys breed?

Platies are livebearers which means that there are no eggs to be laid. Instead, they give birth.

When platies are ready to spawn, the male will contact the female through his gonopodium to release the sperm (milt). The male then releases the milt into her vent, which fertilizes the spherical eggs inside her.

The fertilized eggs then stay in the female’s abdomen until the eggs are hatched. Then the female Platy will release free-swimming fry into the water, where the fry swims off to explore.

Why does my Platy keep having babies?

Platies are one of those fish that can store sperm.

That means, if the mother has been inseminated by a male previously, she can still have babies from that male’s sperm.

This allows them to breed even though there is no male fish as the female already has enough sperm to fertilize her eggs for up to 6 months.

Another reason why your Platy keeps having babies is that she has not given birth to all of her fries. Some females do not fertilize all of their eggs at once.

They will fertilize them one at a time. This means she will give birth to fish fry one at a time over a few days or months.

Do platys always breed?

Yes. Platies are highly fertile fish that easily breed in just about any environment.

To start breeding, they don’t require encouragements like conditioning, water condition changes, etc. Platies will reproduce as long as there is a male and female fish in the tank.

Even though there is no male in the tank, the female fish still can breed if she has already spawned with a male somewhere else.

Female platies are almost always pregnant with eggs, and all they need is some sperm to fertilize them. Usually, female Platy can give birth to new fries every 4 to 6 weeks if there is male Platy or have sperm stored in her belly.

Will platys breed in cold water?

Platies are incredibly hardy species that can survive in cold water as long as the temperature doesn’t fluctuate often.

However, they may not breed in cold water because they need a warmer temperature to get the hormones going. However, platies will still easily breed in colder water than other tropical fish such as guppies.

How long is Platy pregnant for?

The gestation period of Platy is about 24 to 35 days.

Once the eggs mature, the female fish will fertilize them, and the eggs will stay inside her belly until they hatch. This can last from anywhere between 4 weeks to 6 months if the female fish has sperm stored inside her.

How often do platys reproduce?

As we said before, the gestation period of Platy is about 24 to 35 days.

Once the eggs are fertilized, and babies are out, the female can get pregnant with new eggs again. So, she can have another set of babies within about 4 to 6 weeks. This cycle will continue as long as the female Platy has enough eggs to give birth.

How many babies can platyfish have?

Platy can have anywhere between 10 to 60 fry in one birth.

The average is about 25 baby platies or so. However, this number is very much dependent upon the age and size of the Platy.

How to stop Platy from breeding?

As you see, having only one pair of Platy can result in a few dozens of platies within a few months which can be a nightmare for you if your tank is small.

So, if you want to keep your tank clean and have only a few platies in it, you would need to stop your Platy from breeding.

While there are no effective methods of preventing them from breeding, you can try the below methods to control the breeding.

Keep male-only tank

Keeping male platies only in the tank can be the easiest way to stop your Platy from breeding. Since they are livebearers, only one female in the tank is required to give birth to hundreds of babies.

But, this also might be the most difficult method since not every fish keeper will have same-sex platyfish. You cannot even determine the sex of your Platy until it gets older and starts to show different breeding signs.

Keeping female-only tank

This is also another option to stop the breeding in your platyfish tanks. However, this method will not be applicable for many fish keepers since raising fry requires a lot of effort.

Keeping Platy with other species

As you know, Platies are livebearers which means they give birth to hundreds of healthy baby fish. So, if you have other fish species in your tank, too, chances are that other fish will eat these babies when they are born.

So, this method of stopping Platy from breeding will be applicable if you have other carnivore fish species in the tank. 

Separate males and females

Suppose you already have platies of two genders in one tank. Although it is too late, you can separate male and female platies to control breeding.

Maintaining two tanks is the best way to stop your Platy from breeding. You can keep them in different tanks to reduce the breeding.

Limit feeding your fish

Like any other fish, platies need to be healthy to continue reproduction.

While this is not a humane method, it is quite efficient as your fish do not have enough strength to reproduce. Further, they may control their population by practicing cannabilism (eating their own fry).

What do you do with too many platy fries?

Suppose you have done everything you can do to control breeding, and still, you are getting plenty of fish fry in your tank.

Then it is time to get rid of them for the sake of your adult fish. Increasing fish amount in the tank is an indication of an overstocked tank.

Make sure that you do not keep more than ten fish in a 10-gallon tank and prefer a lower number as well.

In this case, you have three options.

Sell them away

Platies are incredibly cheap and easy to sell. So, when you have excess fish fry in your tank, you can separate them from the main tank and trade them away. That will bring some money to your pocket and help you buy new fish.

Give them away

If you didn’t have luck selling your excess fish fry, you could give them away to someone else. You might need some help from the Internet to find that person.

Cull them

While this may seem like a harsh method, it is the most viable option when you have too many fish fry in your tank. Culling means eliminating excess fish to maintain a healthy aquarium. So, you will need to thin down your fish population by removing the under-developed and extra fry from the tank.

The easiest way to cull the fish fry is to keep carnivore fish in the tank. So, once your platies give birth to new fish fry, other fish will take care of the rest.

What fish will eat baby platys?

Any carnivore or omnivore fish will eat baby platies as they are small enough to fit in their mouths.

However, do not choose fish larger than adult platies as they may even eat adult platies in the tank. Some popular choices are,

• Guppies
• Tetras
• Mollies
• Bettas
• Danios
• Catfish
• Angelfish

Will platys eat their babies?

Yes. Platies also eat their babies. As platies are voracious eaters, they don’t see much difference between food and their own babies.

So, once the baby platies are born in the tank, your adult platies may eat them out. So, if your tank doesn’t have many hiding places, fish fry may not have many chances to survive even if it is a platy-only tank.

Conclusion

While Platy is a cute little fish that can color up your aquarium, it can be a nightmare once they start breeding in your tank.

You have to separate males from females to stop platys from breeding. Still, they can continue breeding for up to 6 months even without a male fish.

So, you’ll have to get rid of excess platy babies to maintain a healthy aquarium.

Guppies, tetras, and mollies are fish that will eat the platy fry. You can also cull them to maintain a healthy aquarium. However, you can sell away or give away excess fish fry if you don’t want to deal with them.

Read Next : 
How To Stop Guppy From Breeding | Easier Than You Thought |
How To Stop Mollies From Breeding | A Simple Way |
17 Emperor Tetra Tank Mates For Your Beautiful Tank

Sharing is caring!