Sunset Fire Platy 3

[Deadmau5]

ok so i couldnt figure out how to upload a picture for people to see, but turns out i cant do that on my phone! im usually on my phone when im on these forums. but now i uploaded it to the computer and can post one. ok, so my question is, when will she have her babies, i was told by the fish store seller that she was pregnant, so i said ok. i took her home, and shes kinda small bit still fat-looking. Ive seen pregnant fish and they usually look really huge when they are about to have their babies, but this one doesnt, yet ive heard that when they are going to have the babies a little while tube thing opens up where their anal is so they can have them, and that appeared this morning. so if shes still small (meaning her belly) does that mean shes just not going to have a lot of babies? noticable white tubve thing and gravid spot, but i couldnt get that close on my phone. here is a picture and PLEASE tell me what you think!

D: ah! why dont i see the picture?!?!

i dont see my picture! man why isnt it posting.....TT~TT

 

[Deadmau5]

i think this works resized

ok i set the picture as my profile picture, so you will need to go there to see her :c ill try to solve this later

 

[OldMan47]

The picture in your profile is a fully gravid female platy.

Why not upload to photobucket and just post the link here? I do that for all of my pictures. The one I use to demonstrate the technique is a picture of a harbor seal pup that I took on the beach a couple of years back. If you right click on the picture and look at the image info, you can even see where the picture is actually stored, along with some other information.

 

[AshP1986]

She actually looks pretty typical for a preggo female... Fish really aren't supposed to be very fat. Well not guppies, platies or mollies...

 

[Deadmau5]

D: she's not fat-ish anymore, at all, skinny as a twig, yet I have seen no baby fish AT ALL, and I checked my filter to see if they got sucked up, NONE, .-. This confuses me.

 

[AshP1986]

Its VERY possible that the adults in the tank ate the babies... i have left the last fry batch in the tank as supplemental food for my flounder... not sure if he is eating them but I thought I would give him the chance. Also... Do you have a gravel bottom in your tank? Somehow the fry from my guppies swam into my gravel bottom for safety (don't worry they can get themselves out). Who knows... you might go to feed tomorrow and see some babies venturing out for food... thats when I grab them with the turkey baster. (fyi its messy and difficult at times, but in the end I think it causes the least stress on momma.

 

[Deadmau5]

Yeah, the bottom of my tank is gravel, that could be a possibility, it's just strange how it was all fat and then skinny, but no babies, and it happened in a little under two hours, I left out to the store, came back, and she was thin, no little baby fish, and my others aren't that big either.

 

[OldMan47]

You might have a very few survive by hiding in the gravel but the numbers will be quite low in a well populated tank. Over a period of about 6 months, I only had one fry survive in a 120 gallon tank that was well stocked with adults. In single species tanks with good cover, I can easily double the population every 2 months or so. Even at that rate, most fry are being eaten.

 

[Deadmau5]

:T yeah, and it would come to the point of I'm watching the tank, and I see a baby fish come out from no where, and I'd get all excited, grab my net, and by the time I'm ready to open the lid, one of my other fish is already chasing it, catches up, and swallows it whole TT~TT

 

[KrystaK]

It happens quite often in my tank, I have a female Molly and a female platy who both periodically get round and appear pregnant, but then I'll come home one day, they'll be skinny and there won't be any fry.
As it turns out, I caught my male molly sticking close to the female when she was all squared off, he would chase and eat the fry as soon as they were born, and if they got away the female herself would go after them a few hours later.

 

[OldMan47]

KrystaK, you need some decent cover. There is no chasing down a fry when an adult must swim through a dense thicket of java moss. The fry will go through it as if it was a wide open space.