Pregnant Platy

jayde · Jun 19, 2009

hi i have a pregnant platy she is behaving very strange so im sure she is due very soon. she has been hiding at the back of the tank in the plant.
I feed them 2nite and she came forward for some food so that was normal but i dont know how long till she gives birth please help me im new at this and dont have a clue at what im looking for or what im doing :unsure:

Elrohirthehasty · Jun 19, 2009

jayde said:
hi i have a pregnant platy she is behaving very strange so im sure she is due very soon. she has been hiding at the back of the tank in the plant.
I feed them 2nite and she came forward for some food so that was normal but i dont know how long till she gives birth please help me im new at this and dont have a clue at what im looking for or what im doing

Does she have a dark spot near her anal fins? If so, she is due very soon, that dark spot is the pupils of the baby fish! If you don't care about the fry, then you can just let them be eaten by the other tank inhabitants. Some may survive by hiding in the rocks and decor. If you would like to keep more of them alive, purchase a pregnant fish quarantine holder thingy. (Ask at your LFS, they will likely know what I am saying.) How this works is, it is a floating container but it allows water to pass through still, so it is still fresh water. There is a plate at the bottom with holes or grooves that are large enough for the fry to pass into the bottom chamber, but not the hungry mom. Once all the fry (24 to 48) have made it to the bottom chamber, you can remove the mom and place her outside the container. Then, you can take out the plate and allow more swimming space for the fry. Feed them baby brine shrimp or finely crushed flake food. Some people also feed raw egg yolk. Infusoria might be too small for these fry. Feed them 5 or 6 times a day, but hardly anything at each feeding; it's more like constant snaking. Once they are big enough to not fit in the mouths of your other fish, then you can let them go!

Best of luck!

jayde · Jun 19, 2009

yeah she does have a dark spot. I bought a breeder container yesterday i just dont know when to put her in there. I tried to put her in there earlier but she started freaking out so i put her back in with the others as i dont want to stress her out to much. She just wants to hide but the male wont leave her alone. do u think i should put her in the breeder 2nite?

jayde · Jun 20, 2009

i put platy in the birthing tank last nite coz she looked funny, the male wouldn't leave her alone. she had the white tube from her bum. when i looked this morning there was nothing but poo. I dont want to keep streesing her out every time her shape changes :unsure:

craig855s · Jun 20, 2009

i got my first platys about a month ago and she gave birth in the community,i found the off fry now and then and eventually got 7 fished out and placed them in a fry tank...but last night i removed them from the fry tank and put them back into the community,they are a lot bolder now and swim close to plants so they can run easily out of view when the big fish notice them but for the most part theyre left alone..from now on im just gonna let nature take its course,im due 2 broods of guppies (my first) and another brood of platy fry very very soon and im just gonna let them do their thing..dont wanna have hundreds of fry to care for so whatever survives to sellable age will be given to my LFS