Pregnant Platy

[Neptune54]

I've got a platy that's been pregnant 29 days now, she has squared off with the white dot since yesterday. She's been in the trap roughly 6 1/2 hours now, but she hasn't dropped yet. I've already had one drop from her, but that was the day I got her from the store, so she probably dropped early from stress. Is this normal?

 

[KrystaK]

Take her out of the trap now. Fish are like other animals and will prevent birth for as long as possible if they are in a stressful situation. The trap is very stressful for her.
It would be better to let her swim around and give birth and catch the babies in a net and put the babies in the trap, they can survive there for about two weeks, after that it would be best to get a small tank 5-10 gal as a nursery. Or feed the fry to the parents...

But whatever you do, let her out of the trap please

 

[Neptune54]

Done that. Last time, I caught the fry without putting her in the breeding trap, but I thought having the net around so much would've caused the fish more stress than to put her in. Thanks for the heads up!

 

[LucyB]

29 days? She is very close. I would leave her in the breeding trap, as I have had pregnant platies like you, and when I let them out of the trap for a bit, they dropped their fry and they all got eaten. In my experience, it is better to leave her in when she is very close to dropping (like your platy) as the stress from netting her out of the trap, netting her back in, netting her back out, netting her back in, and so on, is far more stressful than just leaving her in the trap and letting her be.

 

[OldMan47]

So now you have both opinions Neptune54. I am no expert in techniques for using a trap because I simply don't do it myself. When I am intent on saving maximum fry I use a separate drop tank with good fry cover in it. You could call that a third opinion I guess.

 

[Neptune54]

I left her in the trap over night so that the fry wouldn't get sucked into the filter if she dropped. She hasn't. I took her out again, but nothing is happening. This is day 30 of her pregancy.

 

[LucyB]

I left her in the trap over night so that the fry wouldn't get sucked into the filter if she dropped. She hasn't. I took her out again, but nothing is happening. This is day 30 of her pregancy.

30 days - She is going to drop very VERY soon, possibly within the next hour! If you want the fry, leave her in the trap now until she has had them

 

[OldMan47]

A lot depends on how you are counting the "pregnancy". If you are simply counting from the last drop, you could easily be 2 weeks off. My female molly, well known to drop at 4 weeks, always dropped at an interval of 6 weeks. If you are counting from a single breeding event in a separate tank by a virgin female, the 4 weeks will be a very good estimate. Until you know your own fish by actual records, you cannot judge it using dates with any certainty.

Note: pregnancy is really not what happens with common livebearers. The livebearers provide no direct support for the eggs that develop within them. The main function of the female is to provide a protected environment where the slow developing eggs can survive for a time, until ready to deal with the aquatic world. They carry the fry until they are dropped. On the other hand, goodeids, seldom ever seen by non-specialist livebearer fans, do provide nutrients and oxygen by way of what amounts to a primitive placental relationship. In that sense they are closer to what we think of as pregnant in mammals.

 

[Neptune54]

I'm judging it by her last drop, and there's a male in the tank as well. As I've said, she's had the white dot since two days ago, and I've tried everything to help her drop, from putting her in the breeder net alone, to letting her out with the other fish, to putting all of the fish except for her in the breeder net! Is it possible that she's having trouble, like with a stuck fry or something along those lines? She looked bad this morning, staying at the bottom, kind of hidden, and barely moving. If so, is there anything I can do? The last thing I want if for her to die.

 

[OldMan47]

Since she may have used prior sperm packets to get started and may or may not have started to develop the fry as soon as she last dropped. You need to find out the interval on your female before making any assumptions about times. She may be one that starts a new batch of fry developing right away but she may also be like my female molly and not fertilize the eggs for 2 weeks after her last drop. It is all down to individual variations. Each female is her own rule in this respect. Once you know the interval on a particular female, her drop interval will be very predictable.

 

[Neptune54]

Thanks for the help!