Is My Platy Pregnant?

[MeganA]

I have had these 2 platys for about a month now, the female seems to be getting larger. I thought she was pregnant so I put her in a breeder box, she was there for a week and nothing happened so I let her out. She seems to be getting bigger now. I have read that a little white spot between the fins is a good sign that she may be about to deliver so I put her back in the box today. Any comments on whether she might actually be pregnant?

 

[MeganA]

I am beginning to get a little worried about her. I have been checking on her constantly she just seems to be panting and her side fins are shaking (very very fast compared to any other fish in my tank). I don't know if this is normal or if she is in distress. The last time I checked on her she had a very long poo that was laying at the bottom of the box (around 3 inches).

 

[Neptune54]

She's probably stressed out about being inside of the breeder net. I recommend letting her out and just seeing what happens. When she squares off and has the white dot, watch her closely. In your picture, she looks rounded, so I wouldn't expect fry yet. I saw a white dot on my platy, and she dropped a week and a half later! Don't be surprised if this happens to you!

 

[MeganA]

OK thank you for responding I was starting to get discouraged. She has calmed down now in the box and I just did a 20% water change. She does not seem to like me coming close to the tank she starts swimming erratically but when she doesn't know I am there she is peaceful I will probably give it a day and if no fry and no changes I will let her back out. She sure hates the net though and I have such a hard time getting her with it to put her in the breeder box, all the other fish swim away from the net but seems like she strategically plots against me and the net LOL Of all my fish she has the most personality and defiantly my favorite

 

[Akasha72]

your stressing her out and she'll probably abort her babies because of this. I've been breeding my platies for months now and only ever been lucky enough to get my female to have fry in the breeding net once. The rest if the time I've left her alone and caught the babies after birth.

I recommend planting your tank heavily, getting some bogwood and covering it in java moss and leaving her alone. Platy fry tend to hide in the gravel and under ornaments. The last time mine had fry (just over a week ago) I lifted my bogwood out and there were 10 fry hiding under it, in it and in the java moss.

You can catch them with a turkey baster and put the fry in the breeding net instead.

Good luck with it and keep in mind that platies (and guppies and mollies) breed more than rabbits. They can and will have fry roughly every 4-6 weeks. If you don't get any this time (mum will eat them if she gets chance) there will be plenty more

 

[MeganA]

My biggest issue is I don't have any good fish stores near by. Any larger fish stores I would have to travel an hour and half. I have one small fish store here in town and I went today and bought 6 plants (not real) and that's all I could find. I really wanted to try something live and/or something that floats but no luck. I also bought some large smooth rocks and made a cave from the plants and rocks in case she had fry. There are plenty of places for them to hide if she had them I worry about the filter though I couldn't find any sponges for my filter to keep them from getting sucked up. I read you can use panty hose but it makes the water dirty because it cuts your filter power by more than half and I have a fully stocked tank and I don't want to compromise any of my other fish with a dirty tank. So in the end even after I redecorated the tank I decided to try the box again. She seems to be doing fine now, took an hour or so before she calmed down but she is OK and not acting strangely anymore. I am going to give her a day and let her out. Thanks for the advice

 

[FishLover4+1]

try putting in a plant with her (real or fake) - i had a platy in a breeding net and she was looking really stressed so i put a plant in with her and she calmed down. in the end i read to many scary stories about nets and i let her out and put the net over the filter. i only have 1 suviving fry in the set up net.
oh and you could try ordering things online