Is my platy pregnant/when will she give birth

[DoveFliesFree]

Hello! I have 3 female platy fish living with a male platy, and one of the females is very very large. Could someone please help identify if this is a pregnancy, and if it is when she will give birth? I have had pregnant fish but I miss the minnows and they get eaten The male is aggressively chasing her around today and she often hides. Here are some pictures, for some reason the camera makes it look like the water is acidic green!

 

[GaryE]

The time is near.

Males getting aggressive can be a sign. After she drops her fry, there is a short window for him to get a sperm packet in before the one that fertilized the brood just out is used to fertilize a new batch. Sperm packets can refertilize a female several times - once fertilized, always pregnant.

 

[DoveFliesFree]

Thank you! Hoping that I will be able to catch some of the babies being born

 

[CaptainBarnicles]

Adding lots of live plants, particularly floating plants will provide lots of hiding places for the babies catching fry can cause a lot of stress in a tank

 

[DoveFliesFree]

Nothing yet...

 

[AdoraBelle Dearheart]

Nothing yet...

If you add a load of floating plants (the fry instinctively head for the surface) the female will feel safer and less stressed giving birth, which gives her more chance of success, and it gives the fry lots of hiding spots to evade the adults that try to eat them! Well worth going and buying a big bunch of guppy grass, elodea, hornwort or water sprite

 

[emeraldking]

Don't rush her... Just give it time. She'll drop her fry when she's up to it...

 

[DoveFliesFree]

We have a lot of (I'm pretty sure) elodea plants in the aquarium, about 3 bundles that we got from the store

 

[AdoraBelle Dearheart]

We have a lot of (I'm pretty sure) elodea plants in the aquarium, about 3 bundles that we got from the store

Awesome! That's a good plant for fry to hide in. Is some of it floating loose at the surface rather than planted? Having a dense mass of elodea at the surface will give them somewhere to hide immediately after they're born, and a tangle of those stems is easy for fry to navigate through, but harder for an adult large fish, so fry are safer.

 

[DoveFliesFree]

They were floating, but right now the have stuck together mid-water. I'll get them back to the surface

 

[DoveFliesFree]

The platy has become kinda smaller though

 

[AdoraBelle Dearheart]

The platy has become kinda smaller though

They can look larger after a big meal, then shrink down a bit again. Or if she's had her fry, have a good look around to see if you spot any!
If the worst happens and it seems she already had the fry but they were eaten, try not to be upset by it. She's been gravid once, so she'll almost certainly be gravid again next month.

 

[fish48]

They can look larger after a big meal, then shrink down a bit again. Or if she's had her fry, have a good look around to see if you spot any!
If the worst happens and it seems she already had the fry but they were eaten, try not to be upset by it. She's been gravid once, so she'll almost certainly be gravid again next month.

The platy has become kinda smaller though

new born platy fry a very good at hiding for the first few days the fry will usually hide in the gravel and any plants that are covering the bottom of the tank