A Frightened Platy Dad To Be

[Xebadir]

Worried about my mother Mickey Mouse Platy, shes very panicy at the moment and stressed...i hope she doesnt abort. I just dont know what to do to make her life less stressful: Let me explain.(NB 17Gallon/60L tank)

Ive had these fish for a week, and brought them home, they adapted happily, and tank conditions are below the cycling dangers: 0.25mg/L ammonia, 0 nitrites, 0 nitrates. pH is a happy ~7 GH 12degrees(German) and KH around 10 Gdegrees. One of the females has since started truly showing she is pregnant, whereas when i selected her i just thought she was a healthy fish. She is quite fat, and the dark gravid spot is present above her anal fin. She is also rather shy, hanging around some spirulana i have situated in a corner. The Sunrise male has been following her around over the past day, and i think she may be getting close to birth. She is also hanging around the lower section of the tank.

As a cautionary exercise in case i have fry i have a net breeder to keep the ones that survive safe, as i have yet to set up my 10gallon hospital/breeder tank.

Just really wanting some advice on others experiences on how they react to stress with pregnancy, as far as i can see she is happy, but is a bit flighty.

Thanks

 

[kimmers318]

All 5 of my platy deliveries happened without any apparent stress on the fish. They just swam around popping out these little wriggling miniatures of themselves! If I see her delivering I catch her and put her into breeding net, if I miss it, my daughter spends the next few days rescuing them with a brine shrimp net. I have never spotted the "gravid" spot I have read about, but if I were you, I would put her in breeding net, do a water change and turn off the lights. For some reason water changes have usually happened before a birth, and also 3 of the 5 happened at night. I read that mama won't be hungry for about 12 hours after birthing so thus not eating her babies. One of my mom's delivered late this afternoon, and when I put her back into the tank she did take some flake, although not as greedily as she usually does. I haven't see either of my moms eat newborns, but they will try after a few days. Good luck with your babies, you may be surprised at how many you have!

By the way...has this tank only been set up for a week? If so, although your water levels are low now, chances are they won't stay that way because you aren't fully cycled, so watch carefully. If this is an established tank, and just the platies are new, or if you have done something to seed the bacteria, please don't take offense.

 

[Xebadir]

Dont worry, thank you for your concern: yes the tank is 1.5 weeks into cycling, and to cover the dangerous spikes ive added cycle bateria kickstarter. Havent yet done a water change, having trouble on comprehending how to get it to 26 degree celsius so as not to generate fish shock(any tips on this would be good). Im off to turn out the lights now.

Thanks muchly

 

[kimmers318]

What water do you use for your tank? Since I use a mix of RO and tap water I can use hot tap water to bring temp up to where I want it. I have been doing it long enough that I am pretty good at getting the adjustments so that I don't waste any water . It is a trial and error thing until you get it right. If you are using only bottled or RO water or whatever you can put a small heater into the water the night before to bring water to temp.

 

[Annastasia]

How many males and females do you have, and what size tank? To reduce stress, it's a good idea to have the recommended ratio (2-3 females per male), and lots of hiding places for the females to go to give birth, and get away from the male.

 

[Xebadir]

Well...the tank is the specified:2 females 1 male atm...as it is still running in(cycling if you like). There is plenty of weed cover.. and the male seems to be protecting her from the other female it seems. As for water: i use tap water which comes out at 7.8pH, low GH, KH, so i need to increase these and get that pH down before adding water....doing this while water is warm is an issue...maybe i should get it as hot as possible from the tap, add conditioning features and let to cool to the req?

Thanks for the advice.

 

[Annastasia]

Okay. While it may seem the male is "protecting" her, he is most likely trying to stress her out and get her to abort her fry, so he can have a snack.

It's best not to mess with your water. 7.8 is acceptable, and the fish will do better with stable, higher pH then a swinging, sometimes "perfect" pH. Just leave it be,

 

[BWBettas]

Ooh Ooh ive always wanted to say this... So your a worried PLATY DAD eh ? you had sex with your platy... sorry lol always wanted to say that

Bret

 

[kimmers318]

Make sure you let us know when you have babies!

 

[Xebadir]

I cant just directly leave my pH that high....they were from a shop at 7ph.....seriously bad news ... But very sad news...today i came home to Mr Platy being dead, Bellyup in the bottom of the tank: Ammonia 0.5(well within acceptable), pH 7 and Nitrates, Nitrites both zero. MFD strikes methinks. Have become reactionary and am currently prepping a 20% water change to just stabilise things(needed doing anyway). So RIP Golden. . Mommy platy appears to be fine, nervous as always.

 

[Xebadir]

Well a further update: the Females seem to be far less stressed and much less shy after the death of Golden, so perhaps there was a fight, or he just wore himself out. Either way, mummy seems happy, so we shall see how it goes, did my water change sucessfully without screwing up temps to much. So all good. Thanks for all your help guys(+gals).

 

[Annastasia]

As long as you acclimated them to that pH, yes you can. Each number on the pH scale is 10 times more acidic or basic then the last. Imagine the change for the fish, if the pH keeps swinging. Believe me, it's best to not mess with it, as long as they are acclimated to it.

Sorry to hear about the male. If your nitrAtes were 0 too, it may have been the cycling process that got him.

I'm glad to hear the females seem less stressed. Good luck with the fry!