Female Platy - How Pregnant Is It?

[Tropical_Fish]

After not even knowing the last platy was pregnant - I thought I'd better check what stage my other female platy is at.

Here are a few pictures of her from tonight - can anyone tell from these and educate me slightly in the process of telling?

Also is it any particular type of platy with it being white? (and is it normal to have about 4 inches of poop out of it's backside?!)

 

[OldMan47]

First things first, the poop is not at all out of the ordinary. The top view shows some swelling of the fish's belly which indicates some progress toward a fry drop but the side view does not show anything that I would interpret as a squaring off effect. To me this means she is probably at least a week away from her next drop. I never have been any good at looking for a gravid spot and having it mean anything so I have learned to completely ignore any color that might mean something to other people. I know that a platy does not get as extreme as my big molly when it comes to developing a shape but a read through of my molly progress thread might give you some hints. You are in the ideal place t see what is going on because you can watch her change from day to day. There is a link to molly progress in my signature area.