Platy - Is This Female And Is She Pregnant

shelaghfishface · Feb 23, 2008

could you tell me if she is pregnant, and i what i should do if she is its not a very well planted tank, but i do have a net thingy-if she is shall i net her now or leave it till the fry are about?

also what i want is a pic or a couple that CLEARLY show the diffrence between male and female platys, i have googled it but i still cant seem to get any thing good, i know its something to do with the anal fin being more pointed in the male,but cant actually see it ((( no its not easy being this thick-takes practice)))

many thanx

photo isnt brill, but best i could get before batteries went in the cam,,shows here shape tho and she is looking very fat, reason i need to know about the sexes is cos i have no idea what share i have in the tank

stang1 · Feb 23, 2008

Hi Shelagh,
It does look a s though you have a pregnant female platy. Have a look at the first two drawings on this page to give you a better idea about sexing them.

Platy

If you look a the second picture, you'll notice the anal fin is fanned out, whereas in the first picture it is pointed and held close to the body.
Don't put her in a net too soon as this will stress her out. If she is near to having fry then she will hide among the plants/filter a lot more. When she starts this behaviour try her in the net for a while. If there are no signs of fry then release her back into the tank. Try not to move her around too much as she will become stressed and may abort her fry.

Oh, don't worry about sexing them either, it's not always obvious if you are new to it.

shelaghfishface · Feb 23, 2008

thankyou Stang, thats just the sort of thing i was looking for, bad news is is thata girl then i have at least 3 in the same condition in there, i hope nature will lend a hand here..

but i am very gratefull for that page link, thanks xxxx

stang1 · Feb 23, 2008

Looks like you're going to be a mummy!! :hyper:

The chances are that most of your fry will be eaten if there are not enough plants/ornaments to hide in. You may have the odd one or two survive and if they can make it to 3-4 weeks, then they should be ok.
Good luck!

5teady_2012 · Feb 23, 2008

After zooming on your picture, it looks like this female is not very far on pregnant...

When her stomach looks more like this.. (note how the back of her belly near anal fin has dropped down..)

Yours however does not look very far on.

shelaghfishface · Feb 23, 2008

have added a little clip video ( dont bore urself watching it all ,i just dont know how to cut it)

you will see in the video maybe how long she has left,also the other one that is pregnant, i have set up a net, but wont bother her till i know a little more, its not nice to have people fuss arsing( am i allowed to say that) around when your heavily pregnant

oohhhh i am so excited

i hope 5TEADY has a look (hint hint) cos i think hes the platy man..

anyawy look forward to lots of advice and good news as i could really use some at the moment

thankyou again

thanks 5teady, how long are we guesstimating this to take

i can defiantley see the diffrence, thats brill thankyou

5teady_2012 · Feb 23, 2008

After looking at that video, i can clearly see that the main platy you was filming is pregnant (heavy) i could see her belly was very wide as well as dropped.. I would put her in the trap for a maximum of 48 Hours, if she dont drop then let her back out and watch for the following...

Dwelling on the bottom
Hanging around the top of the tank
Hovering near plants (or in them)
Hanging around the filter (if you have a internal one)
Hovering above the heater

When it come to platys, i dont go by how much there belly drops, i can judge mine better by how wide they are.. looking at them from above (birds eye view) is much better cos you can see they look like they got a ball stuck in them lol..

Wayne

shelaghfishface · Feb 23, 2008

thankyou very much wayne

what if another one decides to go into labour at the same time?? do i get another net/tank /house. or put them in together as the other coloured one looks about the same

5teady_2012 · Feb 23, 2008

shelaghfishface said:
thankyou very much wayne

what if another one decides to go into labour at the same time?? do i get another net/tank /house. or put them in together as the other coloured one looks about the same

Personally i have about 8 traps (i dont use nets cos traps usually fir 2 adults in each with seperators)...

I have lots of fish that give birth around the same dates though..

What i would do is, maybe get another trap, this way if 2 do drop at the same time, you can deal with the problem

Give me a sec and il post a pic of one of mine thats ready to drop (birds eye view)

shelaghfishface · Feb 23, 2008

ok... right thankyou to yourself and stang, im away to boil some water and get some fresh towels ready

further pics would be fab thanx

5teady_2012 · Feb 23, 2008

This platy of mine is due in 3 days, she is very consistent with her drops, everytime she drops she has them within a day either way of her due day.. and drops around 20-25 and she is still pretty young.

Note how her belly is very ball like..

Here is another her from the side...

stang1 · Feb 23, 2008

shelaghfishface said:
ok... right thankyou to yourself and stang, im away to boil some water and get some fresh towels ready

further pics would be fab thanx

Good luck with your first delivery!

5teady_2012 · Feb 23, 2008

Here is another of her from the side...

shelaghfishface · Feb 23, 2008

wow.bit hard to tell but i dont think mine far off that,but i have put her in the net now and will leave her there for the next 48hours..see what happens,
then i should take her out and look for the signs you have listed, if she does happen to have babies tonite ( i wont sleep now) what should i do? take her out and leave the fry in or just leave them right alone?

that one looks huge

stang1 said:
shelaghfishface said:

ok... right thankyou to yourself and stang, im away to boil some water and get some fresh towels ready

further pics would be fab thanx

Click to expand...

Good luck with your first delivery!

ill be a regular little fishwife in no time lol

5teady_2012 · Feb 23, 2008

shelaghfishface said:
wow.bit hard to tell but i dont think mine far off that,but i have put her in the net now and will leave her there for the next 48hours..see what happens,
then i should take her out and look for the signs you have listed, if she does happen to have babies tonite ( i wont sleep now) what should i do? take her out and leave the fry in or just leave them right alone?

that one looks huge

stang1 said:

shelaghfishface said:

ok... right thankyou to yourself and stang, im away to boil some water and get some fresh towels ready

further pics would be fab thanx

Click to expand...

Good luck with your first delivery!

Click to expand...

ill be a regular little fishwife in no time lol

Once she has dropped, look at her belly, once it looks very falt and there seems to be a good amount of fry, she can be let straight bk in to the tank

Dont actually leave her in for 48 hours, if she dont drop tonight, leave her in tomorrow night as well, if no drop after that tehn release her

If she does have the fry, mash some flake up and feed the fry 3-5 times a day (if you can) if not then just feed them as often as you can..

Fry have a very fast motabalism and therefore need feeding every 2-3 hours.. dont worry if you cant feed them this much..

Feed them in a morning 9and if you out all day - feed them when you get back, and then before you go to bed

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Platy - Is This Female And Is She Pregnant

shelaghfishface

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stang1

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shelaghfishface

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5teady_2012

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5teady_2012

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stang1

A smile costs nothing :)

5teady_2012

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