FishForums.net Pet of the Month
🐶 POTM Poll is Open! 🦎 Click here to Vote! 🐰

RMason82

New Member
Joined
Mar 23, 2021
Messages
2
Reaction score
5
Location
Birkenhead, United Kingdom
Hey, I'm new here, can you give me some advice on my now enlarged platy. Her tummy hasn't squared off yet but I don't think it's far off. She's been eating well and has now begun keeping herself to herself. Any advice would be fab, thanks.
IMG_20210323_221009.jpg
IMG_20210323_221047.jpg
IMG_20210323_221052.jpg
 
What advice are you looking for precisely? Personally I'd keep her in a contained area so you don't lose track of her when she's close to giving birth. Then when you get fry, they'll all be in one place hopefully.
 
Pretty girl!

Had you just fed the tank when you took the pics? That can make them look bigger than they truly are. But she looks as though she's not too far off, and the behaviour you describe usually means they're close. They don't always get that squared off look.

What advice are you looking for? I wouldn't move her anywhere, that's likely to stress her out - and stress isn't good for any creature that's close to giving birth or in labour.

If you want to save as many fry as possible, best to add a big bunch of floating plant, since newborn livebearer fry tend to head for the surface, and will hide from the adults in the plant matter. I even suction cupped a bunch of silk plants to the side of the tank so they were at the surface once, when my floating plant order hadn't arrived on time. Worked well!

Then you could always net the fry into a breeder box or breeder net to keep them safe for the first 2-3 weeks of their life, then let them back into the main tank so they have space to swim and grow once they're large enough to not be eaten.

But remember that once she's been gravid/exposed to a male, she will have stored sperm packets, and can keep churning out more fry every month. So even if you lose a lot from this batch, you're likely to have more fry than you know what to do with soon enough!
 
Pretty girl!

Had you just fed the tank when you took the pics? That can make them look bigger than they truly are. But she looks as though she's not too far off, and the behaviour you describe usually means they're close. They don't always get that squared off look.

What advice are you looking for? I wouldn't move her anywhere, that's likely to stress her out - and stress isn't good for any creature that's close to giving birth or in labour.

If you want to save as many fry as possible, best to add a big bunch of floating plant, since newborn livebearer fry tend to head for the surface, and will hide from the adults in the plant matter. I even suction cupped a bunch of silk plants to the side of the tank so they were at the surface once, when my floating plant order hadn't arrived on time. Worked well!

Then you could always net the fry into a breeder box or breeder net to keep them safe for the first 2-3 weeks of their life, then let them back into the main tank so they have space to swim and grow once they're large enough to not be eaten.

But remember that once she's been gravid/exposed to a male, she will have stored sperm packets, and can keep churning out more fry every month. So even if you lose a lot from this batch, you're likely to have more fry than you know what to do with soon enough!
Hey, thank you. That's great advice, honestly I wasn't sure what I was looking for. Yes they had just been fed but her size has been pretty similar all day. Certainly a bit bigger than yesterday.
My girls would be so excited to see just one little fry, I do have a breader box but planning on using that if I manage to catch any little ones.
I have some plants, I'll take the weights out and just let them float for a while and see what happens.
Thank you
 
Hey, thank you. That's great advice, honestly I wasn't sure what I was looking for. Yes they had just been fed but her size has been pretty similar all day. Certainly a bit bigger than yesterday.
My girls would be so excited to see just one little fry, I do have a breader box but planning on using that if I manage to catch any little ones.
I have some plants, I'll take the weights out and just let them float for a while and see what happens.
Thank you

You're welcome :)

Livebearers are definitely especially fun for kids!
She's most likely to give birth overnight, for the best chance of catching fry before anyadults eat them, Attach the breeder box inside the tank and leave a net handy, so you'll be prepared when fry do appear. Then sneak into the room first thing in the morning with a torch, and check the tank for fry using the torch. Look at the surface and down among any plants and decor at the bottom, since some do go down to hide too. Then if they're there, you can scoop them into the breeder box before the other fish wake up. Can make that a fun experience for the little ones too, playing at being sneaky :D

Also, well -fed adults are less likely to be bothered chasing down fry... just be careful about your water quality if you feed more than normal. Little and often, rather than putting a lot extra in at once, and it's worth increasing water changes anyway, since water quality is important for healthy fry and they'll be adding more to the tank bioload anyway.

You could try putting the female in the breeder box to give birth if you want to. I personally don't like to use them since I feel like they stress out the female, and it can be hard to tell when they're going to give birth anyway - so sometimes they end up in the small box for days. But other people do have success with them, so it's entirely your choice if you'd like to use it that way!

If you do, I'd suggest putting the box in a darker, back corner of the tank so she feels more sheltered and hidden away, and add a little plant matter so she has something to hide in. Being on display in a clear plastic box at the front would be more stressful for her.

Also recommend a gentle technique for catching and moving a gravid female, since netting her and lifting her out of the water can damage her and the developing fry. If you want to catch her to move her to the breeder box, net her with one hand, then while she's still underwater, scoop both her and the net into a cup or jug, so you can lift her and release her without ever lifting her out of the water with the net.
 
Hey, I'm new here, can you give me some advice on my now enlarged platy. Her tummy hasn't squared off yet but I don't think it's far off. She's been eating well and has now begun keeping herself to herself. Any advice would be fab, thanks.View attachment 132467View attachment 132468View attachment 132469
If I remember what the platys that I had several decades ago would do and want, it might be seqestering. If you've got a nanny net (mesh breeder) or a lot of decorations and plant that will give the little gal some privacy that might help.
 
Hey she does look ready to give birth, mine weren't squared off when they gave birth but I keeped an eye on em. If u dont want to move her to a different tank use a breeder box or net. my platy/molly gave birth around 630pm to midnight. They do keep to themself most of the time and any other fish will follow close by cause they may think they have free food and will try to eat the fry
 

Most reactions

trending

Staff online

Back
Top