Breeding Red Wag Platies

I have four red wag platies. 2 males and 2 females. I got them from my sister in law (mother in law put them in my tank) I think one of the males was her original male since he is much older than the other 3. He's darker in color and kind of hunched. (he's starting to straighten out a little though so it could have been water conditions in my SIL's tank.) They are in a 10g. The other 3 red wags are younger than the bigger male. One female is about an inch long. She's about half the size of the bigger male. Both the older male and younger male are taking an interest in her. As I sit here I'm watching the males follow her and the bigger one keeps chasing the smaller one away.

With her being so small, will they still breed with her? If so, how long is gestation? If these fish breed successfully, they will be the first fish I have bred....intentionally. I hope to expand into breeding many species, but since these kind of fell into my lap and I don't have the space or money to breed other fish right now, I figured why not try with these guys. I didn't think the males would take an interest in her this early though. The other female is waaaay too tiny to breed. She's about 1/2 a inch long. (how long does it take them to grow to breeding size?) I have a 10g I will be setting up to cycle soon that will be for any offspring they produce. I will also be using a breeder net/box.

Any advice, suggestions, questions, concerns?

I don't know about the gestation period and all that but will warn you that two males courting only one female could end badly. You should always try to have 3 females per male so that the males don't run the female to death. Good luck though.

Its only a 10g so I'm not sure if I can really put any more fish in that tank. I have 2 males to the female because my mother in law up and decided to put them in my tank. Now I'm stuck with them because she likes them and I don't want to upset her. I would move them up to a bigger tank but I have to wait until I move so I can have more space for more tanks.

10 gal I've had 10 platies in with no problems.

Really? I've always been told the 1 inch of fish per gallon of water thing. My tank is well cycled. Even with the 4 red wags and a 3 inch comet, there is no ammonia, no nitrite, and very little nitrates which I take out with weekly water changes. I'm moving the comet into his 30 gallon soon. Should I get a few more females?

I would add atleast two more female. Gestation period is usually about 3 weeks give or take , they can also store sperm for months and months so even if shes getting bred if might not be the males babies. Livebearers like platys and mollys will breed pretty much no matter what unless the water conditions are completely horrible.

They will eat their babies so unles you have lots of plants for the babies to hide in (flaoting plants and mosses are the best) they will get ate.

The two males on one female will over time exhaust the female from being chased around and bred and she could very likely dye so either take one of the males out and add another female to keep 4 in there or add atleast two more females to kinda distract them off just one fish.

Hope i could help!

I added 2 females and all is well. I'm keeping a close eye on the water and so far, they've been in there a week with no problems. I bought a breeder box to catch fry when the females are ready to give birth. I am setting up a 10g this week to cycle for the fry.

I'll update in the breeding board when I get some fry. :)

Yay im glad all is well! cant wait to see the fry i jsut had a batch of 30 redwag fry!

if you dont know that your tank is overstock try aqadvisor.com it will tell you

I have gotten nothing. Being the new fish are from Petsmart doesn't help matters. I have seen nothing as far as mating or pregnant fish. :( I'm tempted to re-home these fish and breed something else in the 10g, but not many fish breed in a tank this small.

hmm thats odd i have a bunch of redwag fry and blue platys if your interested in trying again or getting a new stock i do ship.

i have my platys and mollies all in a 10 gal. and they are doing the dirty like crazy... cant wait for my smaller ones to get big enough to go in with the rest...i have one black molly that should be ready to pop in the next week i hope so i will have fry ready before long.