Platy Close To Giving Birth?

[Nevergone815]

ok so i have a platy who for some reason she ceared out a section of gravel into like a nest, but anyways. the reason i'm posting is that she is sitting on the bottom breathing really heavily. i know that she's really pregnant and do any day now. she won't eat unless the food just so happens to falls in front of her. i put her by herself in a 2.5 gal tank a few days ago so that she could give birth and she didn't stress out at all. there is a nice clump of java moss in there for the babies to hide in. her poop is normal. is she just about to give birth or do i have some time yet?

thanks in advanced for any help i receive.

 

[xostrawberryox]

Not sure you ever can tell, you just need to monitor her behaviour before each brood, at least shes happy in a small tank and you can move her when the fry are born and it'll all be lovely!! What are you gonna feed them? x

 

[LiveLifeGoJump]

A photo may help us estimate timescale.

 

[Nevergone815]

she gave birth yay!!!

there are 18 of them. i have this fry food that goes into the water and it's supposed to work really good. it's called liqui-fry. also i am putting them on really finely crushed up flakes. i was told they should be able to eat them from the start and they took to it.

i am sooo excited!!!!

 

[xostrawberryox]

Yay, congrats! yeah liquifry is meant to be good, are you keeping them in your main tank then?

 

[LiveLifeGoJump]

Wouldn't bother with liquifry if they are still in the main tank with gravel sustrate as there will be more than enough food food for them. Just crush a small amout of the flake you would normally put in (no extra needed). The fry will find it in the gravel as they will hide there. More likely to be eaten than starve

Not sure about a sand bottom but as long as it's well planted there should be enough amongst the plant base/roots to feed them but just in case up the normal feed by a tiny pinch of crushed flake.

If you still have them in a seperate tank then don't bother with food for their first day, then baby power food for a couple of weeks. After that just crush flake & start to add vairous other food that you would normally feed the adults with, they'll be able to eat it. My tackle live bloodworm at 2-3 weeks .

Make sure that the (bare) tank bottom is kept clean if you have seperated them At least once a day hover the bottom, more often if there's food lying about after 1hr.

Congrats.

 

[lissie]

18! thats ace, mine only had about 6 i think

 

[Nevergone815]

thanks for the info LiveLifeGoJump. thwy are in a seperate 2.5 gal for now. just until they get a little bigger though. i was advised to put the mom in a seperate "breeding" tank so that the other fish in the tank wouldn't harass her and she wouldn't be stressed from that and the breeding net. it worked miracles. i had a little gravel in there and a nice clump of java moss and they did excellent.

do you think i should put the java moss back with them? i took it out and put it back into my main tank with the mommy. she was amazing and perked up again and was like "what now girls! i got it right!" it was so cute she like had to brag to the others.

but yea i think she had more and maybe ate some or just never finished. at first i saw like 6 and low and behold 18 made themselves visable to me. i was super excited. they are from a sunburst wag platy. i think the dad was a mickey mouse fro mthe petshop or something as some of the babies have the little black mickey mouse shape and the rest have the black "wag" tails.

man i can't wait for them to grow up!!!

p.s. i also have 1 single fry in a breeding net that is like a week old (only like 1/2" or something like that. but i named it fry after fry from futurama. i was watching the show- and it was the episode where everyone like ignored fry, and that's how i saw this one. it was swimming around the tank and noone bothered it and it was literally a newborn. so i scooped it up and put it into the breeding net and it livd happily. in like a week or so i might see about adding it to my tank though ifear it will get eaten, even by the platies in the 20 gal. this one is random from before i got the last few platies, not from this batch/mom.

 

[LiveLifeGoJump]

They'll do fine without the java moss but if it's 'spare' (ie. main tank looks ok without & none of the fish use it to rest/hide in) then pop it in the fry tank but you may need a light to stop the moss from dying off.

Make a note of the date as she will pop again in 4-5 weeks. As she has more batches then the no. of fry will increase (mine had 66 last time ).

Look after mum as she will stress very easy, but don't isolate her too long as that could stress her as well.

I've learned a lot from this forum & from my plattys. Pleased I am able to help others, learning & passing your knowledge on is what this forum is all about.

 

[Nevergone815]

They'll do fine without the java moss but if it's 'spare' (ie. main tank looks ok without & none of the fish use it to rest/hide in) then pop it in the fry tank but you may need a light to stop the moss from dying off.

Make a note of the date as she will pop again in 4-5 weeks. As she has more batches then the no. of fry will increase (mine had 66 last time ).

Look after mum as she will stress very easy, but don't isolate her too long as that could stress her as well.

I've learned a lot from this forum & from my plattys. Pleased I am able to help others, learning & passing your knowledge on is what this forum is all about.

i agree, the "more knowledgable" should pass down their knowledge. it's only common decency since others passing it onto you is how you learned it to begin with.

as for the platy... 66 fry!!! poor mama . but yea i will take note on it and keep an eye out. i isolated her for a little bit, but she is happy in the main tank again. no stress actions and she is doing everything that she did before i isolated her from the main tank. she bounced back really quick and really has acted like nothing has jsut happened. i lvoe this girl and i jsut bought her the night before she gave birth . lucky i know hehe.

 

[killerfish]

hello i have had a pergo molly for about 2 weeks but tonight she gave brith to about 35 fry! i have them in there own tank and im going to buy a bigger one soon! but a few where born died
thanks for your help i now have 20-40 molly fry and more coming soon.