Platy Behaviour During Pregnancy

[nipper2042]

hello everyone
im new to this site so please bear with me,i have two red platys which in my opinion are carrying fry so i moved them from the main community tank to a 70litre i have in the kitchen,im relatively new to fish keeping and certainly to breeding fish,my big worry is the fish are doing very little ,they are hiding behind plants and rocks just sitting there,can anyone advise me as to what are common behavioural patterns in pregnant platys,im contemplating returning them to the main tank as i think they are not happy in their new albeit temperory home.any advice is greatly appreciated.

 

[theotheragentm]

Livebearers that are about to birth will often isolate themselves and defend a small spot they have chosen so as not to be bothered during birthing. As long as you have warm, clean water you are doing the best you can for your fish. Good luck.

 

[LilMuppet]

I can only tell you how my own platys behave during pregnancy and near birth, but it is quite similar to what has already been posted.

I keep them in the community tank and the few days leading up to the fry being born they tend to be more moody towards the other fish. If they aren't satisfied with their surroundings then they normally go to the bottom of the tank to try to hide away (both from male attention and other fish). When I observe this behaviour I put extra plants near the surface and within 20 hours I have fry! I then remove the plants when I'm confident that there are no fry left (I catch them with a net and put them in a net breeder).

I rely on this rather than their size as it sometimes is misleading. One female has looked ready for almost two weeks, yet one gave birth at half the size.

Keep a close eye on them and even make a note if you observe something different then when they do give birth you'll be able to know the signs clearly for your next batches of fry (normally a bigger number). I date when I've had fry and make a mental note of these signs and from that I can tell on most occasions when our next installment of fry will appear.