Interesting platy behaviour

[PlatyLady]

It's that magical time for my guppy Lola again - she's about to have fry any day now. I notice that when my guppies are just about ready to give birth, they hover at the surface of the back corner of the tank.

This time, one of my platies has decided to join her. This platy never hangs out very long at the surface, except for feeding. She's healthy and other than very closely following Lola around, she's behaving normally. She may also be pregnant, or maybe she's just waiting for Lola to give birth to her next meal.

I'm sure it's nothing to worry over. It just struck me as quite unusual, because these two particular fish never hang out together. I'll keep my eye on them anyway, waiting to see the latest batch of fry!

 

[lmw80]

That is very interesting! I would love to hear what happens. Are there any signs that your platy is pregnant? I am not sure what the platty signs are...although I do know the guppy signs.

 

[PlatyLady]

Well the platy might be pregnant. She does have a plump belly, but no gravid spot that I can see. It's actually the platy that is my avatar at the moment. She is keeping a very close watch on Lola!

 

[platylover]

Is the platy in question one of your sunset wagtail platies? I ask this because I have one to and she is the tank fav with my two males. She just had a HUGE batch of fry on New Year's Eve and I never did see a gravid spot like I can with the blue mickey mouse platies I have. Maybe the plump belly is all that you will see. Just a thought...

 

[jonstinton]

My Sunset platies have given birth twice, and both times there were two females who had the dark spots behind the stomch and also looked huge, each time they had 30 fry. It also looks like one more is about to pop! But this time the spot is les obvious. Could this mean a small batch of fry maybe?

Jon

 

[PlatyLady]

Yes, she's a sunset wagtail platy. Today she is still hanging out with Lola, who did not have her fry yesterday. The platy does look like she could be pregnant. She's never had fry in my tank so far, but I do have a very active male in there who could, um, facilitate. When I had two males, the fave was a blue mickey mouse platy. She's the skinny one moved to my 5.5 gal at the moment.

 

[platylover]

I don't know about being a small batch of fry, Jon. My sunset wagtail platy that had the huge batch of fry recently had no dark spot and had 50 fry. I usually let my females have their babies in the main tank, but I was trying to let my wife see a platy giving birth. I had her in a breeding trap when she was showing signs of labor. Of course she didn't cooperate with me and had all of them after my wife and I went to bed, but when we woke up in the morning, there were 50 pairs of eyes looking back at us. That had to be the largest batch of fry I have ever seen from one platy!

I'm with you on the blue mickey mouse platy being my favorite one in the tank, Platylady. I have 2 adult females in my tank and 2 juvenile females also. Very beautiful colors when the light hits them just right.