Is She Pregnant

[Colonel Mustard]

Hello I have noticed that my female platty is slightly fat.A male has been sticking closely to her and following. Is it that she is chubby or is she pregnant, if she is pregnant how long until i should move her to a breeding trap.

here is a pic

thanks for any help you can give me

 

[dmarie04]

She looks a bit chubby, so probably is pregnant. Most females, who've been around males, are pregnant. It's just what livebearers do. It's really best not to put her in a breeder net at all. Let her give birth in the main tank and then, if you want to, you can catch up some of the fry and put them in the net until they've grown a bit. The breeder nets really stress the females out and can cause her to abort. If you do decide to put her in the net, wait until just before she drops. It's kind of hard to tell, if you don't know how long she's been pregnant, but the closer to giving birth she gets the more square she will look from behind and she'll look like she's just about ready to explode!
I'm no expert, by far, but in the past 3 months I've gotten quite a few batches of fry from my females. The first couple batches, I tried to net as many as I could and put them in a breeder, but now I'm just letting the fry tough it out in the main tank and they're doing pretty well. Plants and other hiding places help the fry not get eaten. I put stacks of rocks and marbles in the corners and the fry really prefer to hide in there. They can get down in between where the adults can't get to them.
Hope that helps...and good luck on the babies

 

[Colonel Mustard]

I read that you should have one male and two females, but i have 2 males and 1 female is this a big problem?

p.s thanks for the help

 

[dmarie04]

It's best to have more females than males. Males want to breed....constantly! If there is only one female she's going to get worn out. She will get the two males chasing her relentlessly! If she gets too stressed then this can cause her to get sick. If I were you, I'd exchange one of the males for a female...or if you have the room, add in a couple more females. And make sure your female has plants and hiding areas, in the mean time, so she can get away from the boys, if they bother her too much. If she's already pregnant, then they're just wasting their time, but that sure won't stop them from trying!