Breeding Traps yay or nay ?

[mcrudd]

I went into my petshop and told them that several people told me that my two female platty cross swordtails are pregnant and that I should get a breeding trap, because the male harasses them by ramming them from behind. They try to hide away a lot and the black spot on their tummies is getting bigger by the day. They said that yes I should get a breeding trap, which I did, bought the biggest one they had, but it looks so cruel, what should I do guys, I am so torn at the moment, Want them and their babies safe, but don't want them all trapped like that. Here is a vid of them

http://s265.photobucket.com/albums/ii23 ... nt=004.flv

[Scottie841]

You could get a couple of little 20L tanks for them so they have a bit more room

[mcrudd]

You could get a couple of little 20L tanks for them so they have a bit more room

Won't they eat their own young then? The breeder trap has the special partician for the babies. Gosh I feel so bad for them, can you see, are they deffinetly pregnant?

[mcrudd]

I could not cope with it anymore and took them out. They are now in the big tank, I will look around on trademe for a smaller tank to use just for them

[Caryl]

I found livebearers did not like the traps. It is preferable to have them in a tank with lots of floating and fine leaved plants so the fry have plenty of places to hide. If you leave it until the last moment to add the female she will often abort too.

[Adrienne]

My opinion is similar to Caryl. People do keep their livebearers in the traps until they spawn, however heaps of plants in your tank and in particular floating ones or ones that are leafy i.e. indian fern and spread the height of your tank will 1. give the females somewhere to hide 2.give the fry a place to hide from the adults. Unless you are breeding for a purpose and want every single fry to survive then this is a good realistic option that does as nature should (only the strong should survive).

If you put platys in the trap they may abort anyway and some will hold onto the fry until you give up and release them anyway

[alanmin4304]

It is all relative. I used to breed a lot of livebearers and kept the females almost permanently in traps. They were in tanks 2ft x 2ft with traps only slightly smaller.

[mcrudd]

Thanks for all the replies. I decided to return it today, Animates were nice enough to say I can return it. I am browsing around on trade me for a smaller tank with filter, I don't want to use my quarantine tank just in casse fish get sick.