More Babies
Two days ago we moved our pregnant female Platy into a little breeding tank so she could have her babies without being harassed. The tank also has a little ‘trap’ so that the babies get separated from the mother after birth so they don’t get eaten. Well, when we got up the next morning, we looked in the breeding tank and noticed numerous pairs of tiny eyes looking out at us. A brief count revealed about 47 baby fish! This morning, we moved the mother (now considerably less bloated) back into the main tank, which she seemed very relieved about. I don’t know what I’m going to do about all these baby fish. They are very tiny right now, but they will grow. Not all will survive, in fact, I’m expecting about 50% mortality as the weaker ones die, or are eaten by the others. Its a harsh world, but its part of the strategy for animals that have lots of babies. However, even if we are left with 20 platys, I don’t know how we will take care of them. I suppose I could put an ad in the paper or something.
As soon as I’m able to get a good picture of these little guys (they are awfully hard to photograph) I’ll post them. They really are quite cute.
5 comments Thursday 02 Oct 2003 | Sam | Announcements
Awwwwww! How cute! But you know, MOST people don’t put ads in the paper selling their children… just a thought.
When you were born, Jana wanted to put YOU in the paper with this ad. “Free to any home (good or bad): One squalling infant. Wrinkly, smells like cabbage, answers to name of Greg.”
However, I told her not to. So you can thank me for saving you.
wasnt greg’s name supposed to be shawmbugs or some such thing? or was that brad?
Sam choice for Brad was “Shawmbugs” if the baby was a boy, and “Shawmbina” if it was a girl. Sam AND Brad’s choice for Greg was “WHAT WERE YOU TWO THINKING? HAVEN’T YOU LEARNED ANYTHING?” I had to explain that name was way too long to fit in any of the little name boxes. They didn’t like that explanation so I bribed them with something tasty. We moms have our ways.
Well our platy just had over 75 baby fish yesterday. Unfortunately, she didn’t survive today. But we do have all of her babies to remember her by!