Pregnant Platy Question

[Alistriwen]

Hi,

I have 2 black swordtail platy females I have isolated in a 10 gal tank because both are pregnant.

We added one female in when she looked really plump but within a day shed shrunk considerably to where she now looks just a little pregnant. We put the 2nd in when the male in the community tank started to harass her. Now the 2nd female appears to be further along in her pregnancy (is starting to square off, not sure how close she is) and she has become a little aggressive towards the other female who is very docile. Originally the two swam together happily, now the docile female seems to try and keep her space from the other who often just turns about to nip at her.

I was wondering what could be causing my platies to lose their bulk and what might be causing the aggressive behavior.

Will post some pictures shortly.

 

[orange shark]

Is it a swordtail or platys cos it cant be both! Put the one thats further on in its pregnancy in a breeding net in the 10 gallon or you can put the other one back in the other tank if she is not very big

 

[modaz]

you can get swordtail platys, the loss in bulk, size i presume you mean would be the fact that she dropped her fry and you didnt notice, if theres no fry then she eaten them, if im wrong by what you meant by bulk then just put me in my place and will try to answer that one the other grumpy female will be close to birthing if showing aggression towards the other

 

[Alistriwen]

Well, she is not AS big as she was but she still looks bigger than she normally would. Is the aggression a sure sign that the other platy is about to birth? I thought it might be but read that they become loners when close to birthing and that's more what the other one is doing hiding behind an ornament. Im really excited to see some fry since apparently black platies are pretty rare, and therefore black swordtail platies even rarer! .

 

[orange shark]

you can get swordtail platys

Wow! You learn something new everyday!

 

[Alistriwen]

Well, as of this morning, the aggressive platy has become even more aggressive in her pursuit of the other female, but I also noticed that the aggressive platy now has ICH!! It seems like she does not want to make this easy on us.

 

[Alistriwen]

Well it seems as though we had both our girls give birth at the same time last night. We have at least 20 gorgeous black fry swimming about and 3 or 4 see through ones we can't quite explain.