Blue Platy Pregnacy

[Savannah80]

Hello again everyone. Yesterday we bought two new platy's. Both are blue females, and both are pregnant. The thing is, we're not sure how close they are to giving birth. How do you tell? We have them in a separate breeding trap at the moment, but don't want to keep them in here longer than need be.

So what are your opinions? Are theses two close to giving birth, or do they have days or weeks more to go?

This is the first one

And this is the other

 

[dh058977]

I wouldnt advise putting fish in breeding traps at all, they are too small for the fish, can cause stress and even birth problems in extreme cases. If you want to keep some fry make sure you have some densely planted areas for the fry to hide in. You will be suprised how well fry can handle themselves! What else is in your tank? tank size?

 

[fluttermoth]

+1

They're both very fat (are they balloon platies?) but haven't squared off yet, so I'd say about a week (but it can be hard to tell).

 

[Savannah80]

We put them in the breeding trap as we wanted to keep the fry, but we have two very large pleco's in the tank, four blue gourami and two red rainbow that may eat the small fry.

 

[dh058977]

We put them in the breeding trap as we wanted to keep the fry, but we have two very large pleco's in the tank, four blue gourami and two red rainbow that may eat the small fry.

Breediing traps are stressful for fish and I wouldnt recommend them, there are other ways of keeping fry safe however, it is your choice to use them!

 

[Savannah80]

Sorry, no I don't think they are balloon platy's. The others in the display tank weren't this shape. They all looked more like our standard orange platy's we already have.

Our tank is a 180 litre Fluval Vicenza

 

[Savannah80]

Following on from advice I've released the female platy's for now and will keep a close eye on them. If I see fry in the tank I'll try and net them and put them back in the breeding trap until they've grown bigger.

We have three natural plants and two artificial in the tank, a ship wreck and two slate effect rocks which provide hidding places, but our guppy fry never survived in the tank. The gourami eat them.

I really want to keep the platy fry as I think this blue variety are so pretty.

Any advice on how to tell when labour is imminent? Signs to watch out for? I've never witnessed any of the guppies in our tank give birth, just see the fry after.

 

[Dieses Madchen]

Around the time she squares off, she will start hiding from the other fish. You will also probably see her "gasping" for air, although she is not. Watch her closely when this starts to happen, especially if you do a water change lol I scared the babies out of one of my platys doing a water change

It kinda looks like she pooping when she is birthing, so you may have to look closely to see if the poop has eyes

 

[mrp3]

+1.
Poop has eyes lol

 

[Dieses Madchen]

Oh as far as hiding places for the fry, I find that small pieces of flat slate rock work great. It lays nicely on top of your substrate and creates hold just big enough for fry. I found this out the other day, as I did not realize one of my females birthed. i was cleaning the cage and moved one of the slate piece and 4 babies swam out!

 

[mrp3]

That's cool

 

[Savannah80]

Thanks ... been watching them both, but no signs of "poop with eyes" yet!

 

[the_lock_man]

We put them in the breeding trap as we wanted to keep the fry, but we have two very large pleco's in the tank, four blue gourami and two red rainbow that may eat the small fry.

A lot of people who post on here like the idea of keeping fry, but the reality is that in all probability, your tank isn't big enough to support all 30-60 babies that each female will produce, and then the next batch in a month, and then the month after, and then, and then, up until 6 months after their last contact with a male. In 6 months, you could potentially have 720 babies. What are you going to do with them? Many LFS won't take them, even fewer will give you money or credit for them.

Remember that Mother Nature makes them reproduce in such large numbers, on the assumption that very few will survive - maybe 1 or 2 per fry-drop. Perhaps letting them be eaten isn't such a bad idea?

 

[Savannah80]

I agree with you in the long term. We just want to keep some of this batch, but from then on in will leave 'Mother Nature' to it, just as we do with the guppy's.
The Gourami are great birth control for out of control breeding guppy's

 

[Dieses Madchen]

I agree with you in the long term. We just want to keep some of this batch, but from then on in will leave 'Mother Nature' to it, just as we do with the guppy's.
The Gourami are great birth control for out of control breeding guppy's

i am the same way. I provide plenty of hiding for my fry but still only end up with 5 or 6 after mother nature takes over. I rehome all of my juveniles though, as I do not want any inbreeding going on. I only have 1 male as well so I always know who daddy is