Pregnant Platy Help Please

[emylulla]

Hey guys & gals,

I noticed my usually active blue platy has been hiding in the plants for the last 2 days, i suspect she is pregnant so last night i put her into the breeding tank. She's eating fine, pooping LOADS and seems quite plump, I'm worried I may of put her in too early as I don't know how pregnant she is, but the fact she went into hiding I have presumed she is soon ready to give birth.

I'm very much a newbie with my fish tank so this is the first time i've ever experienced a pregnant fish. I've taken a couple of pictures so I wondered if anyone could tell me if she's definatly pregnant and if you can, tell me roughly how pregnant she is? Obviously I know this is a difficult task when your only looking at a photo but any help would be greatly appreciated.

Have I put her in too early? Should I take her out of the breeding tank?

Many thanks!!

When i work out how to upload the pictures that is!!

!

 

[fidjet2]

If she has a white dot near her anal fin, she is nearly ready.
How big is the tank- or is it a breeding trap?
If it is a breeding trap, i would suggest maybe getting her a breeding net instead as there is more space, or even better, a 10g + tank for her.
If it is a tank then lots of plants will help make her feel more comfortable.
hope that helps a little

 

[emylulla]

Fidjet2 thank you for your reply!

She does have a white dot, I did wonder what that was. I've uploaded a few pictures of the beauty herself, figured how to do it now. Its a breeding trap i think?
I'll get my small tank out of the garage today and try set that up for her, this is so exciting

 

[fidjet2]

Haha thats good. i used to have platy's but decided i didn't want to keep going through the whole breeding thing like they do
By the look of the pics I think she looks pregnant she's a beautiful girl by the way

 

[emylulla]

Thank you! We've got a 6ft tank so have quite an aray of different fish but i love the colours of the platys, we've got alsorts of colours but this blue one has always been one of my favourite ones, think thats why i'm so excited!

Hope she has them soon, my 2 year old son is watching the tank like a hawk bless him lol

 

[fidjet2]

nawww

 

[the_lock_man]

The way to tell if a livebearer is pregnant or not is to find out if she has been in the same tank as a male in the last 6 months. If so, then yes she is (pretty much). Livebearers are breeding machines, so much so that a female stores sperm for around 6 months since her last "encounter" with a male.

Yours certainly looks pregnant, but not particularly squared off (ie the bottom corners of her belly become quite right-angled), so it may not be that imminent. That said, I noticed with my platy that she didn't get particularly squared with her first fry-drop, so I could be wrong. Also it is quite difficult to tell with photos.

Hope this helps.

 

[HayzH]

Fidjet2 thank you for your reply!

She does have a white dot, I did wonder what that was. I've uploaded a few pictures of the beauty herself,figured how to do it now.Its a breeding trap i think?
I'll get my small tank out of the garage today and try set that up for her, this is so exciting

how..i still havent managed to work it out...did it once...but forgotton x there should be a pinned post on how to do it?!

 

[fidjet2]

Fidjet2 thank you for your reply!

She does have a white dot, I did wonder what that was. I've uploaded a few pictures of the beauty herself,figured how to do it now.Its a breeding trap i think?
I'll get my small tank out of the garage today and try set that up for her, this is so exciting

how..i still havent managed to work it out...did it once...but forgotton x there should be a pinned post on how to do it?!

haha same

 

[soybean]

The problem with breeding traps is they are very stressful for any fish. They don't know it's a breeding trap. Their instinct to hide among plant cover to give birth is impossible in a small plastic box. Stress can cause livebearers to miscary/reabsorb the fry.

A small planted tank with an air-driven sponge filter is a much better option if you want to save fry. Be warned, you'll easily end up with dozens - do you have homes for them?

if the main tank has plenty of cover for fry, I would just let nature take its course and leave her in there.

 

[fluttermoth]

Agreed, soybean

 

[emylulla]

Fidjet2 thank you for your reply!

She does have a white dot, I did wonder what that was. I've uploaded a few pictures of the beauty herself,figured how to do it now.Its a breeding trap i think?
I'll get my small tank out of the garage today and try set that up for her, this is so exciting

how..i still havent managed to work it out...did it once...but forgotton x there should be a pinned post on how to do it?!

I uploaded my photos to photobucket, once uploaded - copy the URL of the picture. Then when you create a post on here where it says other styles, fonts, sizes, on the row below it click the "insert media" button which is 2 icons along from the smiley face then paste the URL into there. Thats how i done it although i'm sure there is probably an easier way?

The problem with breeding traps is they are very stressful for any fish. They don't know it's a breeding trap. Their instinct to hide among plant cover to give birth is impossible in a small plastic box. Stress can cause livebearers to miscary/reabsorb the fry.

A small planted tank with an air-driven sponge filter is a much better option if you want to save fry. Be warned, you'll easily end up with dozens - do you have homes for them?

if the main tank has plenty of cover for fry, I would just let nature take its course and leave her in there.

We do have quite a lot of cover, my only worry was where she was hiding was in a plant that is near where the big fish hang out so i thought there was no chance the fry would survive. My MIL & FIL want most of the fry if we get any.
We've got 6 platy and i know 2 of them are male. She seems very happy in the breeding trap, could she still be stressed out without me realising it? Think I may chance it and let her out of the trap, i feel like a meany keeping her in there. Will just catch any fry if and when i spot any?

Thanks everyone!

 

[soybean]

There will be other pregnancies and you're more likely to have her birth in the natural tank rather than a box. In the mean time you can set up another tank for in future.

I had 3 females and 1 male. I never saved any fry and left them to it in the tank. I still ended up taking 70 or so platys to a shop. With plenty of cover you'll be surprised at how canny they can be.