I think my Platy is pregnant

[AquaBear]

I've had my 16g FW community tank on 86 to treat for ich the last 9 days. I've noticed the two platys being all lovey-dovey (either that or one is seriously fussing at the other), but now one of them appears to be getting a notable bulge in the lower abdomen. I don't think I'm overfeeding, but the fish do eat well and are healthy...but I think the increased temp has made me an expectant "grand-parent".

This seems to have happened suddenly, but it will be a blessed event if it's true. What should I anticipate and prepare for a possible visit from the stork in a community tank? Will I have to separate the fry (and get yet another tank?) TIA

--AquaBear

 

[couplescaddy]

no, i dont think so. i just bought 3 platies and a molly to start my tank, the first hour i had the 4 my molly gave birth to 23 little buggers. I just left them alone as just more fish in my tank, and so far the only thing that has killed 1 was the filter suckin it up during the night and stranding it on the filter. if you get some fine grade mesh or something and put it over the intake, i dont think anything will happen to them. out of my 4 fish, nobody has hastled the babies and i think they all get along really well. just make sure you grind up the flake food really well for the first couple weeks, before they can eat real stuff. i think its kinda fun having like 25 fish in my tank. and the babies dont put out enough crap to make ammonia levels high when starting the tank. good luck and i dont think you need to do anything different to prepare for the babies

 

[cheezysquirrelz]

Other fish may eat the fry. You could try getting one of those floating breeder things.

 

[krap101]

also if she has a "gravid spot" in her buttox area (red/black) that also means shes pregnant

 

[Guest]

congrats on pregnent platy dont 4get 2 buy baby fishie food

 

[Devilishturtles]

Platies will breed like wildfire if you don't be careful

If you want the fry to live, you could buy a breeder net and put the babies in it. Or, you could let nature take it's course...provide plenty of plants and hiding spots, and let the babies live out in the open.

To tell if it is pregnant, the belly will become rounded/squared, and the fish will develop a dark gravid spot in the back of the abdomen. I do believe that once the gravid spot has formed/gotten darker (which is actually the eyes of the little ones!) that delivery only takes between 7 and 10 days after that.

I might be wrong on that though, not 100% sure. Good luck with them though!

 

[AquaBear]

Thanks all for the advice. I just did a little reading, and figured out how to sex them (man, it sounds perverted if you didn't know I was talking about fish), and whaddaya know...I do have a pair. I'm sure the lady who grabbed them out of the tank didn't plan it that way.

They're both a very bright orange, and the female's belly is so strained, when the light hits it just right, some bright yellow peeks through and it becomes almost a neon-flame-orange (that color that hunters and road crews wear). So I'm convinced she is "with-fry". Since the tank hasn't completely cycled yet, I'm still debating on whether to move her. I'm only worried about the Black Skirt Tetras getting after the fry, everything else in there is pretty peaceful. If Platys are as prolific as it sounds, maybe I'll just take my chances with this first batch, if they live fine, I'll try again once the tank is established (and I find a place to put a breeding tank). I've only got one or two wall receptacles left in the whole house!

Man, I didn't COUNT on this...I never would've thought it would be so easy to accidentally breed fish this soon.

Thanks everybody.
--AquaBear

 

[newaridiar]

The first time my mollies had babies, the most I ever saw were 8 or 9 of them, then this last time I took over 80 babies to the LFS because I didn't have tank space. Now my dad says she had MORE babies last month, so I have another batch for the LFS.

I usually have a fairly large group of fry at the top of the tank when she starts giving birth and I have Duckweed for cover, Java Moss is supposed to be really good cover for the bottom of the tank too.


You might not have alot of survivors the first time she gives birth, but count on lots of babies in the future

 

[smallfry]

In my experience, fry grow faster/healthier when they are kept in the community tank...not sure why...but they don't seem to do as well if kept in breeder nets/boxes for an extended period of time. (this is assuming they make it past the first day or two without being eaten). Even when I've put my fry in a seperate TANK, they still don't grow quite as big/fast as the ones that I leave in the community tank....

 

[grimlock3000]

I have the bottom of my 26g tank loaded up with Java Moss waiting for some Platy fry None of the females look obviously pregnant yet so I may have to keep waiting a while. I always did natural births with my Guppies and typically a few would survive from each batch. It should be interesting when the Platy fry drop, the Ram in the tank tries to eat anything that moves and he loves just picking through the Moss where the fry will be hiding...