Platies, any way to tell...

[mrgolfball]

I have had three batches of Little platies now but had one of the females die, I think it was becasue I put her in the breeding tank too soon... Is there a sure fire way to tell when she is going to drop, or is there something I can do so she is not so stressed out when she does go in to the breeding tank. I have a new mother (mickey mouse platy) that is pregnant and I want to make sure she doesn't die becasue I put her in to soon. Is ther any way to tell

[dskidmore]

Your breeding tank is a seperate tank? What are you doing to make sure the water chemistry is the same between the two tanks? The stress of pregnancy added to chemical stress may be too much. Either do a large water change, replacing the breeding tank water with main tank water just before moving the mother, or use a breeder box in the main tank instead.