What Does This Mean?

[kuri33]

I'm confused What does it mean if you can see the the fry eyes inside of a pregnant platy?
Does it mean she is close to giving birth? Or does it mean she has a week left?

Also, I have a platy that is skinny but you can see the fry eyes and I have a fat pregnant platy that you can't see fry eyes.

This is so confusing to me, sorry for all the questions

 

[KrystaK]

It's called a Gravid spot. Some people think it's the eggs, or the eyes of the fry that you can see. I don't actually know what it is, but I don't it's fry eyes.
You can tell if your Platy is ready to drop her fry when her tummy becomes square, that means she's with 12-24 hours of dropping.
(I know this is a guppy, but this is what a squared off live bearer looks like, and in this case you can sort of see the fry inside the mother, because she is such a light, transparent momma)

So if your female is square like that, than it's party time
Your skinny female is probably pregnant, but the gravid spot isn't necessarily anything, just another indicator that she is indeed a female. If a female is missing a gravid spot, that's nothing to worry about, as not all females will have them.

 

[kuri33]

I found this picture of what my skinny platy's belly looks like

So if there any other signs that indicates how close they are?

 

[Akasha72]

KrystaK has got it right but I'll expand it a little in case it helps. When the fry are inside the mother they are curled up in tiny little balls - they effectively have their tails wrapped around themselves and the black is the eyes. Bearing in mind she could have around 50 fry inside her all with their tails wrapped around their heads and just their eyes visable - hence the black patch.

Some females show no gravid spot. Sometimes it means they are infurtile but often it is down to their colouring. I have 3 female platies, all orange, they're sisters but one is the darkest orange/red the other two are paler. The darker one never shows a gravid spot but her two sisters have just barely visable darker areas where a gravid spot would be.

I hope that makes sense and helps to answer your questions

 

[kuri33]

KrystaK has got it right but I'll expand it a little in case it helps. When the fry are inside the mother they are curled up in tiny little balls - they effectively have their tails wrapped around themselves and the black is the eyes. Bearing in mind she could have around 50 fry inside her all with their tails wrapped around their heads and just their eyes visable - hence the black patch.

Some females show no gravid spot. Sometimes it means they are infurtile but often it is down to their colouring. I have 3 female platies, all orange, they're sisters but one is the darkest orange/red the other two are paler. The darker one never shows a gravid spot but her two sisters have just barely visable darker areas where a gravid spot would be.

I hope that makes sense and helps to answer your questions

Thank you!

 

[Akasha72]

no problem. I should've also added that if you see a gravid spot don't assume she's about to drop. All livebearers (mollies, guppies and platies) can hold sperm for up to 6 months.

You may see her give birth to 30 or so fry but there will often still be a gravid spot visable even after she's done. My old female guppy had around 80 fry. Once she'd done I let her free in the main tank and switched out the light. When I switched the light back on in the morning she was super slim but still had a gravid spot

 

[kuri33]

Thats how my guppy is. She had about 20 fry and afterwards she looked thinner, but shortly after she was larger and gravid spot is darker.

 

[ryemond]

Thats how my guppy is. She had about 20 fry and afterwards she looked thinner, but shortly after she was larger and gravid spot is darker.

consider that as the next batch of fry...