How Do I Know...?

[altselgreen]

Hi guys,

How do I know when to put a pregnant female into a breeding trap. I've just bough one a couple of hours ago and it hasn't crossed my mind until now. TBH its probably a really newbie question, but oh well.

Thanks in advance

 

[LauraFrog]

Personally, I don't use breeding traps. I think they're too small for anything except guppies. I found in a 2 dollar store the most useful livebearer breeding device I own. It holds about 2 litres (1/2 gallon) of water. It's a plastic container with a plastic colander that sits inside. When the fry are born they swim through the holes and mumma can't eat them. It's supposed to be a vegetable steamer, lol.

I usually put her in there when she starts hanging around the plants and being aggressive to other fish. A few days in there won't kill her.

 

[altselgreen]

Thanks for your reply. She's not really hanging around the plants yet and she's not being aggressive, but there is a male that is continuously following her. I might leave it a couple of days. But, I do have another female that shows no signs of pregnancy apart from hiding in the plants for hours on end. These are platies BTW. My trap can hold 2 females, but, the smaller the area, the more stressed the fish gets. Could you possibly look at my vid here: [URL="http/www.youtube.com/watch?v=6gCS2hJgjR0"]http/www.youtube.com/watch?v=6gCS2hJgjR0[/URL] and tell me when to put her into the trap. This was only filmed a couple of days ago and she looks no different now to what she did then. BTW the other platy that I was talking about who hangs in the plants for ages is the red/orange one in the vid. Thanks

 

[altselgreen]

Thanks for your reply. She's not really hanging around the plants yet and she's not being aggressive, but there is a male that is continuously following her. I might leave it a couple of days. But, I do have another female that shows no signs of pregnancy apart from hiding in the plants for hours on end. These are platies BTW. My trap can hold 2 females, but, the smaller the area, the more stressed the fish gets. Could you possibly look at my vid here: <a href="http/www.youtube.com/watch?v=6gCS2hJgjR0" target="_blank">http/www.youtube.com/watch?v=6gCS2hJgjR0</a> and tell me when to put her into the trap. This was only filmed a couple of days ago and she looks no different now to what she did then. BTW the other platy that I was talking about who hangs in the plants for ages is the red/orange one in the vid. Thanks

 

[omega59]

i used those plastic breeders that llow the fry to drop down. they are great and have saved ALL of my fry she had without any stress or problems. i'd recommend them and to stay away from those breeder box net type things, perhaps when the fry are much larger you can move them into one of those but NEVER use them when she is gonna drop

from the looks of the video i'd place her in right away and leave her be in there

 

[altselgreen]

Thank you. She's going into the breeder right now. I have bought one of those plastic breeders, so should save the majority of them. Thanks again.

 

[LauraFrog]

If you put two fish in the breeder, it defeats the point, because as one gives birth the other will eat the fry before they can even hide through the slats.

I have seen the floating plastic trap brooders. The thing I use is very similar but much larger so it doesn't stress the fish out as much.

I think the red one actually looks more pregnant. Abdomen size isn't always the main indicator because she might have more or less fry each month. It's the shape. Try and get the fish facing away from you at eye level. If her belly looks almost square she will drop within two days. This is called 'squaring off' and is the most reliable indicator that a fish is about to have fry.

 

[altselgreen]

My breeder has a separator that can be put down the middle. You put one fish one side and the other fish the other side. To be honest the gold one actually has a more square belly than the red one. I'll definately look out for that. Thanks

 

[altselgreen]

I've taken a few more pics of her. She's in the breeder.