its been a while since ive been here. i have had a few fish come and go...petsmart is a horrible place to get fish and i have learned that the hard way. anyways the last fish i bought from there a couple months ago were 2 platy's....they had babies about 3 weeks before they both died... :( anyways of the 6 fry that lived i still had 3 left as of yesterday...they have been doing great for about 2 months or so and are looking awesome. but all 3 are females so i went to petsmart...i know bad move but im hoping it works out good...and i bought 2 more males and one female. so now i have 4 females and 2 males. im really hoping in 4 weeks or so ill have some more fry! so any advice to make them get in to mood besides low light and marvin gaye?! haha im kidding....i just want some babies..making babies is cheaper than buying fish from petsmart.

Welcome back


All my fish come from petsmart for 90% of the stocking, in 5 years only got 6 bad fish which ended up being a "bad batch" because all these same exact fish died within hours of aquirement.

You want them in the mood, frozen bloodworms and do a 50% water change however when adding the water back to the tank, keep it a few degrees cooler, the cool water simulates a cool rain shower and that USUALLY sets them off. Its how I control my egg-layers, my livebearers get the same treatment but Ive come to the conclusion they can be in a tank of gasoline and still produce more babies then Id like them to.

what petsmart location was this? I am sorry for your experience but your store might be bad as in their care of them. also most fish are there for a maximum of 7 days, its not always the retailer's fault you end up with dead fish, and a couple of months means nothing those fish could have been old fish or like I stated in my case "bad fish"

yea its not so much petsmart as a retailer as much as that particular petsmart does not take care of the fish like they need to be. the tanks are all dirty and there is always dead fish there...they have been dead a while and its obvious. this is the one in warner robins ga....the one in macon ga is really nice. i feel so bad for the fish at the w.r. petsmart.

i will try your methods of getting them in the mood! hopefully i get some fry....i have a 38 gallon with 6 platies in it and a 10 gallon with nothing in it as of right now.

got some blood worms today and they love em'....now if i can just get em sexin' and poppin out fry!

livebearer fish sex happens in split seconds, its hard to see it happen unles you are at the right place at the exact right time and usually then its just a quick jab and its over.

cooler water just a few degrees cooler then your tank and the bloodworms should do it.

cooler water and blood worms today and im not sure but it looked like i got some action twice at least. the female would kinda roll and flutter a little and the male would take a swing on her...looked like fighting for a very short period but was that them getting it on?

update: i lost one today...came home from work and had a female dead and floating. nitrites are zero, pH is 7.2ish, i have 5 platties in a 38g so im not overstuffed. they are all healthy looking also. is it possible the males killed her while trying to breed? i had 4 females and 2 males....now 3 females and 2 males

nope not while breeding problely something else

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