Platy Q

[Fishy411]

- Ok i have had 2 Platy's for a month and the female is starting to look a little pudgy. I have heard about a gravid spot. What is this. Also the female will go after the male and bit him. He flounders for a second and then goes on his way. Anything i casn do to prvent this?



- I am getting 4 yellow labs for a 55 gallon. How do u breed them? any thing special?

 

[sylvia]

Platies should be kept at a ratio of at least 2 females to every male in at least a 10 gallon tank. A gravid spot is a dark patch that appears slightly forward from the anal fin and after the ventrals that is actualy the eyes of the fry showing through. As the female comes closer to giving birth this will become more and more obvious until as the fry develop. Once she has given birth the surviving fry (those not eaten) should be fed on powdered flake or special liquid foods FOR LIVEBEARERS.

I know nothing about larger cichlids so don't trust me on this but you probably just need to let them pair up and they will either be mouth-brooders or will guard the fry together. Basicaly, you don't interfere until the adults start eating their fry and feed the fry small foods (BBS, infusoria, liquid foods and later powdered flake) If they are rift lake cichlids you'd better make sure their water is in the correct params.

 

[yhbae]

Of course, if you can hatch brine shrimps, that would be the best option for the small frys. Otherwise, anything that fits in their mouth - they will eat. I've had good luck with Hikari Daphnia as well (they are in small powder form).

As for Yellow Labs, they are mouth brooders, so females will hold around 4 weeks in their mouth then spit out. You need to move the female at around 3 weeks into a separate tank (she won't eat the frys after spit although first few times, she can make mistakes), or you strip her, also around 3 weeks time. This is typical for all mouth brooders.

 

[MelodyM]

This article has photos and even a video. I disagree with the use of a breeding net, but other than that it has some great info. There is a female Guppy shown on which you can see her enlarged gravid spot very clearly.

As the pregnancy progresses, you may be able to see the eyes of the fry under good light, but the presence of a gravid spot does not necessarily mean pregnancy - even female fry will show a dark spot, it just remains small until they're pregnant.

http/fish.orbust.net/livebearers.html

Its a bit more difficult to see in the more densly coloured Platy's, but you'll know she's pregnant by her size easily enough. Check for the enlarged gravid spot when she's at the surface where the light is better.

The nipping is usually in reverse, with the males nipping the females, but stranger things have happened. I wouldn't worry about it if there's lots of cover.

I see you have a swordtail - they'll cross readily with Platy's, incidentally, with some beautiful results.

If the Sword and a male Platy are in the same tank with only one female, I would definitly get at least one more female, preferrably 2 more. I wouldn't go higher as you'll have jouvenile females in a few months, and you're going to be over-populated soon enough. With each female giving birth to an average of 20-30 fry, once every 4-6 weeks....

No need to boil water, but you can start buying plants.

Yellow Labs have an awesome personality. I don't breed them, but I have a female who holds eggs every single time I do a water change in her tank, so you may wish to keep that in mind when you want them to breed.