Problems with platty birth

[nathangarrett]

Hi my platty has been exspecting for about four and a half weeks now and yeasterday i was watching her and she popped out 3 babies but after that no more appeared. she is still really fat and has a big dark gravid spot so she must still have babbies in there. also i cant find the 3 fry that did come out. Is there a problem can anyone help.
thanks

 

[bigfish]

Maybe mom ate them? sometimes they will pop out a few and the swim round and then pop out some more. I would just leave her be, doing you have any plants that you could float on the top as somewhere for the fry to hide from mom?

 

[Danno]

Well...You have to have patcience because she could have a huge batch of fry which could take longer then a small batch too have and "pop" out. Ive had the same problem and now i have tones of platty fry (bout 40) i didnt update my signature . Also the fry imediatly run away from other platties becuase they know they are pray from the time there born. They are very very hard to see because there so small. What i do to find them is give me plattys some tropical fish flakes and then I take a turkeyy baster and blow gusts of water where the gravel meets the glass (thats where they seem safe) and the when you see one suck them up with the turkey baster. Btw, you have to covewr the end of the baster once you have him in the thing because theres no pressure keeping them in, they can swim out. Just stick your finger over the baster. Good Luck

And congratulations

 

[new fish breeder]

hi ive just become interested in breeding tropical fish i want to breed platties first because ive been told its easy to do but what is the best way to breed them seperate them or leave them in my communal tank? how do you know when the female is pregnant?and how do you know that mating has taken place please help thankyou

 

[littleme1969]

PLaty fry are really good at hiding...unlike guppy fry that seem happy to swim around and get eaten I had a dozen in my tank for 24 hours and didn't even know the mother had given birth First I saw was a pair of eyes peeping from behind a leaf...lol So I wouldn't worry about them..they will do just fine until she finishes.


Platies breed better when just left to it in a community tank, unless you're wanting to breed a certain strain of them..then its a matter of pairing up. But most females when you buy them will be pregnant, as they tend to have already mated before they are seperated into sex groups at the breeder.

Knowing that they have mated...ermmmm well most of the time you won't..lol but from my experience they will mate a few days after giving birth, hense the quick turn around of batches of fry. They can on occasion be seen *courting*..lol

Preggers... well its easier to see on some fish than others..the lighter coloured fish is easy. A dark area apears at the rear of the fish, just above the poop hole (known as the gravid spot) This will grow as the babies grow and its about 21/28 days to giving birth. Guppies are much easier. Its easy to tell the sexes apart and easier to know if the fish is preggers as the gravid spot is very visable on all colours. Also easier to work out when they are going to give birth as they get large square bellys just before.