Is it possible????

[Flutterby21782]

My friend has 3 female platies and a male guppy. One of her platies has recently had babies. She's had the fish for about two monthes. Is it possible for a guppy to breed with a platy, maybe possible come up with sterile fry. She says another platy appears preggie. I don't think they can but we're stumped as to how her platies could be preggies.
Thanks

 

[DepotFish]

They could be pure platy fry. Livebearer females can store sperm for a long time and have babies in an all female tank.

 

[hsherman1986]

agreed. I got a pregnant female guppy, and 5 weeks later, she had another batch of babies (never had her with a male). She was probably storing sperm.

 

[kansei]

I think Platies can can have 3-4 birthings from one encounter - At 3-4 week gestation you could have a female giving birth long after she is away from any males.

 

[Zagz]

Definately storing sperm. I have female guppies in a tank without any males for 5 months now and one gave birth around Christmas time.

 

[SlayerBarb]

since we're on the subject of pregnant fish, I have a couple of black mollies that appear to be pregnant...they were in a tank that had become infested with them...how do i know for sure if they are indeed full of babies? and what should i do to keep all the babies alive if and when they are born?

 

[coldmachineUK]

If you provide floating plants the fry should hide in there if you want them kept. Mollies and most livebearers develop what's known as a gravid spot, just by their anal fin. I've also noticed that they tend to lift their caudal fin up slightly, weirdly, when they're about to give birth lol.

Some people recommend moving pregnant fish into a breeding trap or a separate tank, from livebearers to cichlids. I've never done this myself because I would be concerned with stressing out the mother which risks a miscarriage (or in the case of a holding cichlid, swallowing the fry). While the batches of fry I get are always smaller in comparison (say 5-10 instead of 20-30) I'm happier that way (less of a problem rehousing them!) and my fish are too.

 

[TomK2]

Raising fry is one of the joys of keeping fish, so many look forward to doing it at least once. Livebearers are the easiest fish to do this with. In a tank with only the livebearers, plenty of plant cover will allow some to survive. I have not had good luck with the breeding boxes or nets that hang inside the main tank. For a better outcome, you would need a breeding tank. A breeding tank can be set up rather cheaply, if you ignore the fact that this gets you started on Multiple Tank Syndrome, since you now have one more tank and will need another when the fry mature!


http://home.wowway.com/~tomstank/index_files/page0019.htm

One low cost breading set up is described in the link above.