We had a BABY!!!

[mmoreno24]

[FONT=Arial][SIZE=1][COLOR=Indigo] OK, so, we bought 2 mickey mouse platies a couple of weeks ago and 1 of them died shortly after. we noticed tonight that we have a BABY!! does that make sense then that one of them died? maybe it was the mother? i only ask b/c the last time i had babies, it was shortly after the mother died. so my questions are: 1) how many babies are typical? why do we only have one?, 2) is there anything we should do to keep him safe? we have fake breeding grass in there, is that enough to protect him? does he need protection? he's already about 2 cm long, 3) should i change the feeding? of him for his health or for the other fish to keep them full so they don't peck at him?, 4) should the levels be different for babies, like pH, alkalinity, etc.?, 5) we were looking into buying a smaller "hospital/quarantine" tank anyway. should we definitely do that then and move him in there, separate from all the others? and if so, what else should i put in there, like plants, breeding grass?
Oh my GOD!! i am SOOO excited! i know this is a lot of questions; i just want to make sure that he's a happy baby!!! thank you for any advice/suggestions that you have! :D
I'm off to do some baby platy research!!! :D

[Amidicus]

The Platy dying could just be a random thing. The amount of fry they give "birth" to depends on a lot of things like if they ate any of the fry right after birth, the size of the female parent,ect. As long as you have hiding places for the fry (baby) (fake plants,rocks,ect,) it can be left in the tank. I regularly have guppy and platy fry that survive to adulthood while being in the same tank as the parents and other full size livebearers. If you want to separate it, you can always buy a breeder net or tank that clips to the inside of your tank.

[Nooboon]

Why do you have only one?
Most likely the others where eaten.

As Amidicus said the number of fry varies but you would expect at least 10 perhaps even up to 50 at once.

The fact that he/she is 2cm would suggest it has been hiding in there for several weeks already.

At this size it is unlikely he/she will need seperating from the others.

[oscarbartoni]

I would think that the fish that died was a pregnant female and it was so stressed at being moved that it might have given birth prematurely so that only a few survived for any amount of time. The others including the still born were eaten bu the other fish in the tank. If you wish to save more babies then put plenty of fine leaved true aquatic plants in for the babies to hide in and also there will be infusoria (which is a good first food for the babies).