Pregnant Platies

[JesseJ]

Hey guys,
I believe two of my plates are pregnant. Both are female. I have 4 females and one male. And yeah I was expecting this to happen so luckily I had 50L second tank on hand.
I have put them in a tank together. They aren't social with each other they both seem to keep to themselves which is new as they useually hang around each other and the other platies 24/7.
They both hover in one spot at the bottom of the tank. And hide when ever they can. I have a few live plants in there incase a fry come unexpected and need some cover from the females
Unfortiently I dont have a second filter so I'm just going to do 50% water changes daily (Not Ideal I know, But don't trust it in my community tank) I'm quite new to the hobby as ive only had my fish for 2 weeks.
I already had one platy that came pregnant from the online store I bought them from and gave birth to 25 fry. But they died as I didn't have another tank on hand at the time  

One of them looks like shes about to pop though I cant see the spot on either of them (Maybe my eye's are bad idk)
I was just wondering if this behaviour indicates that they will give birth soon?

My first platy gave birth in a community tank. But I moved both of these out as the male was harrasing them and I didn't want a miss carrage.
They both aren't eating. Though have been yesterday and before that.
I have no gravel or sand in their tank so I can easily see if there are any babies around.
I don't like breeder boxes because my fish seemed stressed enough as it is.

I'm mainly just posting this to see if I have done the right thing and to get a rough idea of when I can expect fry.
I can get some pictures tomorrow (Don't know how good they will be but it could help)

Thanks
JesseJ

 

 

[the_lock_man]

Hiding away is a sign of impending birthing. Equally it's a sign of stress, which could be down to ammonia/nitrite poisoning, it could be down to a tank with little plant coverage.
 
Personally I always recommend that livebearers be left to give birth in the community tank. We shouldn't project human values onto fish, they won't be worried if they eat their own offspring, so why should we?
 
I'm going to move this on to the livebearers section.

 

[JesseJ]

My tanks get a water change every second day of at least 20% (50 sometimes) my fish are thriving and look very healthy which is good

I only wanted to put them in another tank because of the male chasing them. My last pregnant platy died after birth. And I beleive this had something to do with the male harrasing her.
They both must be getting close they sit in there own area's in the tank and stay low. I'll post some pics tomoz