is she pregnant?

[eja206]

hi all,
i have never kept livebearers before, is this platy pregnant? i have no idea how to tell...

[WhiteDevil]

looks like it, I see gravid spots

[eja206]

ooo i really hope so! i have never had a fish have fry before. what's a gravid spot?
what should i so? should i buy one of those breeders? or any other suggestions?

[WhiteDevil]

gravids are those two dark circles by her bum.


becareful what you wish for.....

If you want to keep em, buy a breeder box and a 10g heated set-up for grow out.

I started with 5 guppies, now I have over 700.

[mfdrookie516]

wow 700 is quite a few lol. ive got a red wag platy in my 55g community that had babies, it was the first time she had given birth in my tank, and only one survived... im not sure if the others were eaten or what. if you want to keep them, definately get them a grow out tank... as for the breeder box/net, i dont like them, some people have luck with them, i killed a couple fish in them, so i wont use them anymore. good luck whichever route you take

[eja206]

cool, i will have to think about it then...
from the pic, is there a rough guess how long it will be 'til she has the babies?

[WhiteDevil]

Im not sure with platies although Ive had breeding variatus before, I keep guppies well forced to keep them, I usually see 30ish on the smaller female drops and up to 70 on a big girl drop.

[eja206]

ah cool!
although what i meant was, do you know how long until she will give birth?

[WhiteDevil]

usually 21-30 days. mine hang out by the heater right before they give me more mouths to feed.

[eja206]

thanks. also, she is being completely harrassed by the male guppies. is this normal?

[dkpate]

Don't you think it's crazy that the gravid spot is the babies eyes? I think it's crazy.
Good luck with your new babies dad. LOL

[Fishtankfiend]

In my experiance this is completely normal. As long as a male is in a tank with a female, he will try and make more guppies, even if she is pregnant allready. How many males and how many females do you have in the same tank?

[eja206]

for info, that platy that was pregnant never gave birth, then died

i have 4 male guppies in the tank and 2 platies (not sure which sex the remaining 2 platies are).

[Fishtankfiend]

Im sorry to hear about that. If you get more females in the tank then the males attention would be divided a little more from one or two females. But thats also if you want a crap ton of guppies. It can be easy to tell the diference once you know what to look for. I when I started with livebearers i just google it. If you have any questions on the subject please ask. I am no expert but I am pretty confident in my differenciating abilities on mollies and platies, im guessing guppies have the same or close to the same fin structure.