Is my female platy pregnant....

[MH411]

I recently purchased platys, and I noticed today she seemed to be a little rounder than usual.. how fast after mating do they start rounding out I have a picture of the platy if it helps!! Thanks!!!!

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[orangelover77]

I think she very we'll can be pregnant. If you bought them from a store that did not separate the males from the females than she most definitely is. Livebearers can store sperm for months and keep impregnating themselves with it. I recently learned all this after buying 3 pregnant Platy on accident. These are my lovely fishys!

 

[MH411]

I got them from petsmart, in which they DONT sepetate them, I learned this after purchasing a pair, and one happen to be male and the other female, I suppose I should prepare for baby fish then soon huh??

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[orangelover77]

It's okay I learned the hard way too! Petsmart as well!! Do you know what to do with the fry? Do you want to raise them? I was completely shocked to have brought home 3 pregnant fish. If you have any questions just message me. I'm extremely happy to help!! I am actually recovering from surgery now with nothing to do so I'd love to help!! Lol.

 

[MH411]

Well its only a 15 gallon tank, I have an apple snail, 2 dalmation mollies and a glo tetra, and 2 platys I wouldnt mind keeping some of them but not alot, it wasnt my plan to have baby fish lol my girls eho are 2 and 4 wanted fish and love to watch them, it will be interesting to witness ive never seen baby fish before anyway but I definitely can't have too many

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[orangelover77]

We'll first off Platy can have between 10-40 fry depending on the size of the mother fish. I am in the same position as my brother who lives in my apartment with me wants to "raise" the baby fish. If you want them to survive you will need either to get a breeder box to put the fry in until they are large enough( they are usually $6-7), or you can heavily plant the tank so the fry can hide, or you can just all together separate the fry from the other fish. ( That's what I'm doing) you do not need a large tank at all for the fry but you will need a heater. And if at all possible a filter. If you cannot get a filter just do water changes regularly. If you do use a filter than wrap panty hose around it to make sure that no fry get caught in the filter. If you do not do these things you're fry will get eaten. Also Molly are very messy fish ( Again I learned the hard way) and really need to be put in a larger tank or do regular water changes. You will need to test the water often, no matter what. Do you test the water now? What are your levels? Do you have a heater now? What is the water temp?

 

[MH411]

The levels are spectacular my water temp is about 72 to 75 and I do have a heater in the tank the fish seem to be happy I changenthe water at least once sometimes twice a week and im sure to get the water to the same temperature before adding them back so it wont stress them I just dont want that many fish lol I wish I would have known they werent seperated before I got them, or should have gotten 2 females

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[orangelover77]

They were most likely already pregnant when you bout them. You might wanna turn the heater up a little... I try to keep my Platy, and my Glofish in a bout 76-79 as they are tropical fish and prefer warmer water. Just a suggestion! It's nothing to worry about just might make the fish more comfy. How are you planning on separating the fry from the other fish? You most likely will not be able to save all the fish anyways. About a fourth will get eaten before you can get to them. And if you do choose to keep the fry in the adult tank with more plants most likely half or more will still get eaten... If you separate the fry some will die anyway from natural causes

 

[MH411]

It automatically sets to 78 and turns itself off plus the aquarium lighting helps I will probably get the plants to float on the water, unless I tranfer the mother into the other 10 gallon tank I use to transfer fish forcleanin I think seperating and adding plants will be best

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[orangelover77]

I would recommend the separating and adding plants. Also I would put the fry into the other tank and not the mother because the other fish will eat the fry as well.

 

[MH411]

Based on the picture of my platy how much longer untill she has them.....if you can tell from the picture...when should I seperate her from tank mates????

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[orangelover77]

Do you have any more pics of her?

 

[orangelover77]

Separating her from the other tank mates will do no good as she will eat the fry also. I would recommend just

 

[orangelover77]

Getting the fry out when you can. If you want to separate her though, I would do it about 4 days before she drops. Again, anymore pics?

 

[MH411]

Im going to try to take some more if she will stay in one spot long enough lol I think I took one extra

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[orangelover77]

From what I can tell on that pic I would say 10-21 days. I'll try to give a closer estimate if you can get a little better pictures. If you notice her belly go from (_) to \_/ I would expect fry in 1-4 days.

 

[MH411]

Here are more I just took...more side and underbelly. I apologize for the blurriness ahead of time.

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[orangelover77]

The blurriness is fine! Lol I would say 7-14 days. Again look for the \_/ shape.

 

[MH411]

Wowwww that soon!!!!

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[MH411]

I definitely didn't expect it to be that soon

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