Platy Queries

Hi,

Last Friday I added 3 Platys to my tank 1 male & 2 female (as far as I can tell) - yesterday I spotted 2, maybe 3 fry in the tank - very difficult to see against the substrate, but I definitely saw 2 with a possible 3rd hiding in a 'cave' under a rock.

I also noted that the behaviour of, what I believe to be the male, has changed considerably.  Instead of swimming openly, like the others, he is now often seen to be hovering just above the substrate and staying in place for quite some long periods of time.

This gives rise to question 1 - do male platys guard the young?

and, on a different note:

I am contemplating introducing some shrimp to the tank sometime in the future - are the platys likely to attack the shrimp?

Thanks Sue.

The male platy is still not behaving like the others - now he is resting on the bottom, just waving his fins and occasionally lift up for a few seconds - he has also just ignored feeding time, which is not usual for him either.  I shall have to keep an eye on him.

The fry is/are still there though - can't say exactly how many as they are very adept at hiding.

I shall have a look to see what shrimp the shop has in stock and how big they are when I go to town in a couple of weeks.  I like the look of the cherry shrimp but the amanos that they had in last week were almost twice the size and look less likely to fit in the mouth of a platy