Will A Pregnant Platty Abort If The Tank Is Too Full?

[Tiggle]

My tank is currently packed full of platties. im hoping ill have the new tank ready to go on the weekend so i can move a heap of them over. but ive noticed my females always seem pregnant but i never see fry anymore. are they possibly aborting to prevent further overpopulation or are they just getting eatten before i see them?

 

[IovaykInD]

It is possible, because females can hold their fry inside them for a long time until they feel the conditions are right to let the fry out.

 

[bluefire]

I doubt it would wait, unless the tank conditions are really bad

 

[Tokis-Phoenix]

Its true livebearers will often hold fry for longer periods of time if they feel the conditions are not good enough, but the oposite is true if the fish is in very stressful conditions she will somtimes abort so she does not have the heavy inconvinience of having to hold fry or give birth to them one by one for hours.
If your tank is overstocked though i would seriously suggest you upgrade to a tank os suitable size that reachs the needs of the platys/other fish, overstocking carrys many more issues than just having fish breeding issues, some of the bad factors of overstocking are;

1. Fish will get more stressed, if they are stressed their imune systems lower and they are much more suspectable to desease.
2. Deseases spread alot faster in overcrowded tanks and are more difficult to control.
3. Overstocking can put too much presure on the filters ability to handle the bioload, and the chances of getting water quality issues like ammonia and nitrites in the water seriously rise.
4. Fish will often display abnormal behavior contrary to their normal behavior in their particular species i.e they may turn agressive even if they are a normally peaceful species or refuse to shoal with fish of their same type etc.
5. When fish are stressed their colors are often not as vibrant as they usually would be, they often go paler in color when stressed, and if you like seeing your fish full of color this is not good.
6. Overstocked tanks need alot more water changes and substrate cleaning sessions on average, so more work for you.

Also like many livebearers platys have a tendancy to eat their own fry every now and then, if the fish are in crowded conditions the adults will generally be more agressive and the fry will have less places to hide so even if a platy sucessfully gives birth the fry may not even last weeks if the tank has crowding issues.
So there are many benefets to having a well stocked tank rather than an overstocked one .

How many platys/other fish do you have in total and how many gallons does their tank hold? I will be able to advise you a suitable size tank size if you tell me your current situation .

 

[Tiggle]

Its true livebearers will often hold fry for longer periods of time if they feel the conditions are not good enough, but the oposite is true if the fish is in very stressful conditions she will somtimes abort so she does not have the heavy inconvinience of having to hold fry or give birth to them one by one for hours.
If your tank is overstocked though i would seriously suggest you upgrade to a tank os suitable size that reachs the needs of the platys/other fish, overstocking carrys many more issues than just having fish breeding issues, some of the bad factors of overstocking are;

1. Fish will get more stressed, if they are stressed their imune systems lower and they are much more suspectable to desease.
2. Deseases spread alot faster in overcrowded tanks and are more difficult to control.
3. Overstocking can put too much presure on the filters ability to handle the bioload, and the chances of getting water quality issues like ammonia and nitrites in the water seriously rise.
4. Fish will often display abnormal behavior contrary to their normal behavior in their particular species i.e they may turn agressive even if they are a normally peaceful species or refuse to shoal with fish of their same type etc.
5. When fish are stressed their colors are often not as vibrant as they usually would be, they often go paler in color when stressed, and if you like seeing your fish full of color this is not good.
6. Overstocked tanks need alot more water changes and substrate cleaning sessions on average, so more work for you.

Also like many livebearers platys have a tendancy to eat their own fry every now and then, if the fish are in crowded conditions the adults will generally be more agressive and the fry will have less places to hide so even if a platy sucessfully gives birth the fry may not even last weeks if the tank has crowding issues.
So there are many benefets to having a well stocked tank rather than an overstocked one .

How many platys/other fish do you have in total and how many gallons does their tank hold? I will be able to advise you a suitable size tank size if you tell me your current situation .

Thanks... but im one step ahead of you. already have a new tank (100L), just needs the stand to be painted and filled up. got my heater and filter in the post yesterday, just missing sand but ill move them in without it if i cant find any by the time the stand is ready.

Ive got 4 mature platties and 10ish largish fry and a heap of 1/4 sized fry in a 55L tank with 3 neons, 1 cory and a bristle nose. the plan is to move the female platies and cory into the new tank (and will buy a few more cories), leave the males, neons and bristle in the smaller one. this should, i hope, eventually stop this massive population explosion from continuing for much longer.