Pregnant platy and baby fry HELP

[Rachhuttonx]

I have 2 platy fish which I was sold believing they were both male, I woke up yesterday morning to 5 fry swimming around in the tank and both adult fish hiding in separate corners of the tank. I have since got a birthing box for in the tank and placed the fish which I believe to be pregnant in here and left the fry roaming the tank. The platy which is showing no signs of being pregnant has been placed in a separate tank. What shall I do next? The fish still looks pregnant, has a very dark patch near anal fin, has stringy white/clear poops, and is eating LOTS. Also, I have only just taken the male fish into a different tank as they were chasing each other round the birthing box frantically and I didn’t want to stress the pregnant fish. What do I do now?

 

[ThatFishGirl6231]

technically you don’t need a breeder box. this past year i’ve successfully raised 40 babies without a breeder box. i leave them in the tank.

 

[Essjay]

If you can manage some side on photos of the adults we can ID the gender for you. I would not trust a shop worker to know the difference between males and females.
It is possible that the fry you have found was born in the shop tank and managed to be caught with the two you bought, in which case both could be males.


Female platies, like the other common livebearers, can store packets of sperm and use them to fertilise their eggs - and have fry roughly every month for around a year. So if one of your new fish is female there will be more fry - a lot of them, I'm afraid. If it does turn out that one or even both of your platies are female, there are two options. Cope with the fry, or return the female(s) to the shop and swap them for definite males.

 

[Rachhuttonx]

This is a picture of each fish, I have had the fish for around 3 months

 

[Essjay]

Those are both female. The one which is not in the box looks like she'll have fry quite soon as well.

The way to tell the difference is by the anal fin, the one under the fish right in front of the tail. In a female it is the normal fan shape while in a male it is rod shaped. Both the fish in your photos have fan shaped anal fins. Prepare for a lot more fry!


Breeding boxes are stressful for the female. I would leave the females in the tank to give birth, then if you want to save the fry scoop them up and put them in the box.
As a side issue, never net a heavily pregnant female - it could cause damage and even kill the fry. To move a heavily pregnant female - and one which has given birth in the last few days - scoop her into a container so she's in water all the time. You can use a net but don't lift it out of the tank, bring a container up under the net so that when you lift the container out with the net and fish, it is full of water.