Is my platy having a 'phantom' pregnancy?

[appleblossom]

Ok, we have an assortment of platies, one which gave birth about a month ago and once she had, we notices she was a lot thinner than one of the other females so in an attempt to save the fry, we bought a breeding net for the next birth.

When the platy was looking good and fat we put her in the net, its pretty big and she has plants and room to swim around, but the problem is she has been in there for 2 weeks now! She is still huge and im sure she must be about to go any day but still nothing. She is quite dark but she definitely has a dark gravid spot which extends to her anus. Sometimes her anus sticks out and looks white, but still no babies.

To top it all off I found 2 sunset platy fry in our hospital tank this morning which look under a week old, and one wagtail platy fry in the main tank which must be just over a week. We were paying so much attention to the one in the net we didnt even notice any of the others were pregnant!

So do I leave her in and keep waiting, or let her out into the main tank again (where she will no doubt have the fry as soon as I do)

Is it possible shes having a phantom pregnancy or is just a fat fat fish?

 

[appleblossom]

anyone?

 

[MerryCat]

I think sometimes they'll just "hold it in" when you put them in a breeding net. I dont know why, but I've had the same thing happen to me a few times. You could try putting her in a separate tank.

 

[appleblossom]

The sailfin molly we had in the hospital tank has just gone to fishy heaven so we have atank free she could go in. I'm a bit worried about the babies getting sucked into the filter but its worth a try