Pregnant Platy

[Salam]

Hello,
I am a newbie to this forum and I hope someone here can help. I think my platy is pregnant, but as a first-timer with livebearers I am not 100% sure. I have read the guide that is pinned here to the forum and she seems to tick all the boxes for being ready to drop the fry. After hiding at the bottom of the tank near the heater and being very unsocial yesterday I decided to put her in the breeder tank but nothing has happened (yet). She is starting to get a little stressed (been 24 hours now) and I am wondering if she is really pregnant, and if close to dropping her fry or if I am just imagining things

Please have a look at those pictures and let me know what you think. If she isn't ready yet, I'd rather get her out of the breeder tank.

Thanks!

In the background is the male platy for comparison, he definitely looks thinner to me.

 

[phoenix2081]

looks pregnant big squared off stomach area. On my mollie thread they have advised me not to put her into a small hatchery. Or is it a full breeding tank, looks like a hatchery in the pic.

Another person said to wait until you see fry then put them in the hatchery.

 

[LucyB]

Wow, she looks about ready to me! Expect fairly soon And I'm sure loads of people will tell you how terrible breeding traps are, and how they kill your fish and stress them out, etc, but I have never had any problems at all with them. Never lost a fish or anything. I would leave her in if I were you. I find that it is better to just leave them in then to put them in, take them out, put them in, and so on, good luck!

 

[Salam]

Thanks for your replies. So relieved to read she is actually pregnant, I am the newest newbie that you can imagine

I will leave her in the hatchery overnight (UK time, almost time for bed soon) and see what I find in the morning and then decide whether to let her out or not. I hope she will have them soon, because the male platy (the daddy!) is also getting anxious and trying to get to her.

Thanks again, and I will update as soon as there is any progress.

 

[Cazgar]

She does look very close to dropping.
Everyone has their own opinion on traps, some good, some bad.
As you're new to livebearers, I can understand you wanting to save all the babies, as they are fun to watch grow up, but they drop every 28/30 days, & unless you know you can find homes for them all you will soon find yourself very overstocked.
If your main tank is well planted you will find a few fry survive, but not in the same large numbers if you use the trap every time.

 

[Salam]

Nothing happened overnight, but I think her colour has changed by her anus, it is more white. Good sign?!

I will leave her in, she seems to have settled down. It is my first fry so I would love to see them grow, but probably after I will let nature take its course. I have decided already that some will be given to a pet shop once they are big enough anyway, but I just love the fascination of raising babies in my tank.

 

[the_lock_man]

Nothing happened overnight, but I think her colour has changed by her anus, it is more white. Good sign?!

I will leave her in, she seems to have settled down. It is my first fry so I would love to see them grow, but probably after I will let nature take its course. I have decided already that some will be given to a pet shop once they are big enough anyway, but I just love the fascination of raising babies in my tank.

SOunds like a good plan to me.

 

[OldMan47]

Welcome to the forum Salam.
You are doing fine as a first time fish keeper. I always get excited when I notice a female ready to drop so I bet it is even more exciting the first time.

 

[Salam]

We have babies

She finally gave birth yesterday, we had her out of her breeder trap in between because she was stressed out, but all ended well. At the moment we have eight surviving platies (a few were eaten because they were silly and swam back up in the trap right into the mother's mouth )! Six of them are in the trap, two are in the main tank, but as soon as I get the net near them they hide in the plants, so I just have to hope they will survive out there with the other fish.

Have a look:

24 hours before giving birth, daddy watching from the outside

Fry a few minutes old, mummy still giving birth to brothers and sisters

24 hours later, happy fry

 

[LucyB]

Congrats! I love getting fry!!!

 

[Salam]

Thanks, Lucy. I am glad I stuck to the trap as six are definitely safe now. As we are just upgrading to a bigger tank we will keep all of them, so excited of watching the babies grow

 

[OldMan47]

If you have some of that same plant in the main tank, the other 2 platy fry may well survive as well.

 

[Salam]

Yes, OldMan, the plant is also in the main tank. And guess what - I discovered that not only two, but four are out there with the other fish. So we have ten healthy fry! The four outside the breeder box are in that plant all the time, sometimes I really have to squint hard to spot them, but they are definitely there. I have seen the other fish swim 'into' the plant many times and they seem to be leaving the fry alone. Keeping my fingers crossed.

It is so exciting, they have already changed so much since their birthday on Saturday. They are starting to get colour and I can see the tail turning black. Can't wait for the new, big tank to be ready and then they will hopefully all have a nice new home.

 

[FishLover4+1]

ahh lil fish!!!! one of my platys has had babies!!!! i heard too many scary stories about breeding nets and traps so i let my platy out of the net an dput it over the filter to stop my fry being sucked up and i saw a fry on it!!!!! so now the net is back together and my platy is in it!!!!! there are pics in day 1 - adulthood

 

[Salam]

Here is a little video of my 12 day old babies. They are thriving! We got seven survivors, don't know if the other three were eaten / sucked up by the filter before we moved the other fish into the big tank. But seven is good, so happy

Platy fry

Oh, and please excuse my son requesting "we watch ego" (Diego as in Go Diego go, I paused his programme for filming )