I'm scared for my platy!

[RedJasper]

I got a female platy a few months ago (end of Septemberish) along with 2 other platies, one other female and a male. They were my first fish, I'm pretty new to fish keeping. My tank was cycled and all the water levels were in the good, and one female was pregnant. My boyfriend added his fish (a few guppies, because it's a 20 gallon tank) and they are doing fine. What's weird is, my platy kept growing, obvious gravid spot, and seemingly going on like a normal pregnancy. That was almost 3 months ago. She still hasn't given birth, she hides in my skull I have in the tank, and the guppies don't bother her, or I don't even think they know she's there. What's wrong with her? 3 months is an awful long time for a platy to be pregnant.

 

[MollyMaster]

i dont really know what is wrong with her but one of my molly does the same thing except she swims happily, maybe shes not pregnant i know it looks like she is but maybe its just her insides, i have no clue why shes hiding, is she wiggling a little? she might not be getting enough oxygen, do water changes feed good foods and she might be happier??? keep me posted

 

[wolffish]

I think that they will not give birth untill they have found a safe envorment the same thing happened to my sister she bought a platy that was pregnant and well it stayed like that for a long time until she was comtorable in the tank then she gave birth and unfortinetly the angel fish ate them all for a midnight snack. So check you waters and see if their is any readings that might be off. It might be the problem.

 

[Floyd R Turbo]

Either they are pregnant, or they're not. Livebearers can't 'hold' fry for any significant length of time, just like we humans can't hold a baby in. I thought one of my male platies was pregnant for the longest time, he got so big. My orange molly constantly looks pregnant (gravid) but hasn't dropped in almost a year. My female black platy I can never tell, and have only managed to keep 1 of her fry over a year. My swordtails are clear enough where I can spot it and transfer them to a birthing/fry tank, or I just wait about 22-24 days after the last drop and then transfer them, they drop like clockwork every 28-30 days.

 

[Jennybo]

I too have a mama and daddy platy as my 6 year old son calls them. We have had them for little over a year now. Mama came from Wal-mart pregnant and within the first week of being in out tank gave birth to 4 babies. We had no idea until about 2 weeks later when my daughter told me there was a couple of boogies swimming around our tank with eyes. We were shocked. The babies had swam down in between the rocks at the bottom of my tank and were living off of the algae and falling food. For that reason I have never used a breeding seperator. Survival instincts are strong! To our suprise they all survived and became mature adults. Daddy fish was feeling lucky so he started mating with all the babies. We gave those pregnant babies to my mother who has a ginormous tank and we just kept mama and daddy.

Mama platy usually has babies every month or so, but lately has stopped. She has the gravid spot also and a huge belly. You might be able to see her belly in one or two of my pic's. I don't think she is pregnant right now either. Maybe it is like a self defense thing the female fish can do to keep the frisky daddy fish away from them!!! Who knows. Eventually she will start spitting babies out again! Hopefully after I put them in the new 12g nano cube I just ordered and am waiting for. But I guess you just never know!

Good luck and be patient, she'll start mating again and having more babies than you will know what to do with!

 

[Jennybo]

I too have a mama and daddy platy as my 6 year old son calls them. We have had them for little over a year now. Mama came from Wal-mart pregnant and within the first week of being in out tank gave birth to 4 babies. We had no idea until about 2 weeks later when my daughter told me there was a couple of boogies swimming around our tank with eyes. We were shocked. The babies had swam down in between the rocks at the bottom of my tank and were living off of the algae and falling food. For that reason I have never used a breeding seperator. Survival instincts are strong! To our suprise they all survived and became mature adults. Daddy fish was feeling lucky so he started mating with all the babies. We gave those pregnant babies to my mother who has a ginormous tank and we just kept mama and daddy.

Mama platy usually has babies every month or so, but lately has stopped. She has the gravid spot also and a huge belly. You might be able to see her belly in one or two of my pic's. I don't think she is pregnant right now either. Maybe it is like a self defense thing the female fish can do to keep the frisky daddy fish away from them!!! Who knows. Eventually she will start spitting babies out again! Hopefully after I put them in the new 12g nano cube I just ordered and am waiting for. But I guess you just never know!

Good luck and be patient, she'll start mating again and having more babies than you will know what to do with!