3 pregnant fish what to do

[fish_are_family]

I have three pregnant fish in my ten gallon fish tank and have no idea what to do. 8O The weird thing is that in the fish tank there are 3 zebra dandios and 1 mickey mouse platy. Now 2 of the dandios are pregnant and so is the mickey mouse platy. (Is it possible for fish to cross breed?) I am at a loss because I have never had a pregnant fish before and now all of a sudden I have 3. So I have a couple of questions: :? Do I need to keep them separated? How long is a fish pregnancy? Will they eat eachothers eggs? Should the male be allowed to stay in the tank? How many eggs do fish usually lay?

If anybody could help me with this it would really make my day! I am so confused! [/b]

 

[grimlock3000]

First up, welcome to the messageboard!

Danios and Platies are not compatible for breeding. The non pregnant Danio is probably a male, and the Platy was likely pregnant when you got it (like most livebearers). If it is the only Platy you have, and you have had it for a while, it could be sick and swollen. Or really fat.

 

[fish_are_family]

The platy he eats a lot so he might just be really fat you are right thank you for the advice.

 

[myriam]

Welcome to the AA.com board!

I know platies and mollies can crossbreed, but I'm pretty sure danios and platies cannot. Your platy was likely already pregnant, or got pregnant again, sort of by itself--a platy can hold sperm for months from a mating, and so even if you had no male for it to breed with, the female could get repeatedly pregnant for many months using this stored sperm.

Platies are also livebearers, so they won't lay eggs. They definitely eat their own young. My guess is the danios would eat the fry (baby fish) as well.

 

[ScottS]

The platy is either pregnant from the fish store, ill, or overeating. As mentioned, it is a live bearer, so there's no way it was associated with the danios, which are egg layers, in breeding. I'd be hesitant to guess that the danios are actually egg laden. If they are, they are pretty good at eating their own eggs. Shallow water and a porous bootm with larger stones are recommended so that the danios can't eat their own eggs (or any other fish for that matter).