Are My Fish Pregnant?

[Battersea]

Resently i went to the pet store a baught a batch of new fish for my tank. I am VERY ne to this stuff, sooooooo
I was wondering if 2 of the fisheys i bought are pregnant. (Not to over react and get all excited... XD)

1 is a pretty sunset platy! I noticed she was bigger than the other female i got, and I think i saw some fry eyes making up the gravid spot. Heres a pic:

the 2nd is a black molly. I think their regular shape might already be deciving, but like i have already read, i've noticed her belly is getting squared off. Obviously you can't see a gravid spot on her.... so im asking for a bit more help! Heres a couple of pics:

Also, if they are pregnant, i have no clue how far in, because i just got 'em from the store. How can i tell when there ready to be put in the breeding box? (thats all i have for now...) If i picked up a smaller tank at the pet store (10 gal or a bit less), would they be fine, alone in there? OMG so many questions to ask!!! The males are chasing alllll the females around now, and im becomeing worried about thoes 2! Don't want them to stress out 2 much!

 

[OldMan47]

Welcome to the forum Battersea.

Since they are both females, chances are quite good that they are carrying fry. The platy may only be a couple of weeks off but the molly looks further away to me. She almost looks like mine did right after she delivered her fry.

This was my girl right after a fry drop.

 

[Battersea]

Ohhhh shes perdy! Thanks! I will watch over the black molly and see if she gets any bigger. And I'll start counting time for the Platy! Like i said, I have an "emergancy" breeding box, but i don't want to put her in there right away 'cuz i might stress her out. When should i put her in? XD

This is beside the conversation but...
I'm sooooooo EXCITED!!! My friend's Dalmation molly just had her fist fry(from what i hear over 30) and shes gonna give some to MUAH!!!! *jumps up and down* There my favorite, even though i have none yet I hope they survive....

 

[OldMan47]

If you have another tank that is empty, it would be a better place for a female to give birth than in a breeder box. My picture was taken a few hours after my big girl dropped her fry in a nice little 10 gallon tank. She had been in the tank almost 2 weeks, was well fed and totally not stressed by the whole thing. The fry and mother did very well after the drop and I still have all of them, except the half dozen fry that I sold at a club auction. Not all females are as gentle with their fry as my molly is but a well fed female that can just relax and get on with business on her own time seems to always fare better in the end. For a platy, I would suggest the same basic tank setup but would add in lots of dense cover from some java fern as they are generally not as gentle with the fry as the mollies are.

 

[Battersea]

Ok, i'll keep that info in mind! Thanks, can't wait to report back!!!

 

[Battersea]

OMG!!! I'm posting pic of my fry, there a week older now! The first is a pic of when they were first born, and the 2nd is just taken! im starting to see their seethrough bodies turn orange at the base of the tail and top of the head! (Not soooo much though, just enough) the ones behind the lighter, more fatter platy fry are lyretail mollies.

If anyone else wants to, feel free to post pics of there first/new/current fry and show them off!

 

[OldMan47]

Nice looking fry you have there Battersea. I don't have a recent fry drop that I have bothered to save. This bunch were born earlier in the year and I am showing their pictures at day 1 and day 10.

Day 1 first

Then day 10

Both include the female because she was part of the story I was trying to build at the time.

 

[LauraFrog]

OldMan, why do you have to keep taunting me with that molly! I want it! lol

The platy in the photo looks about three weeks off giving birth, the gravid spot on a platy is not a particularly good indicator so you have to go by size and shape. Pregnant but nowhere near a drop. Have you got an updated shot?

 

[OldMan47]

Laura, you must have pet shops there. My big girl is just an aging petshop molly. Nothing special at all except that she is well cared for and was in very good condition when I spotted her in a tank full of mollies that just didn't look as good to me. I have been looking after her with a high vegetable content diet in hopes she can survive to be purged of all the inferior sperm packets she is carrying so that I can get some fry from her present room mate. He is a pretty lyretail with a better tail shape and a more slender body build but he is quite impressed with her too. If I can start to bring out the best features of both fish, I will have a fish that is actually worth keeping for more than just a pet.

 

[Battersea]

Those are her platy fry actually, shes really embarssinly fat now... not sure if she has a gravid spot, although that white-ball-like-marking is behind that fin. I'll attach a pic of her i took resently, and the mother of the lyretail fry, shes perdy 2. Can you post a pic of the male lyretail Oldman? Bet hes handsome!
lol, i can't take it! Waiting for fry to get bigger feels slower than watching grass grow!!! Gz...

 

[shelaghfishface]

awww congrats

my giant guppy had fry last night- counted about 60 so far, ill try and get a pic

 

[shelaghfishface]

- last nights guppies

- regular sized, born april 1st

 

[OldMan47]

I have tried and failed Battersea. In my 120 there is no way to catch a fish as active as an adult molly. There is just too much swimming room and too many obstacles. I have a few pictures I took a while back but they are badly focused and can't really show the features I like in my male. I don't remember if they were even clear enough to know that he is male. The day may come when I move him to a smaller tank where I can get his picture like I did on my female, but I won't do that just to get a picture.

 

[karigupi]

- last nights guppies

- regular sized, born april 1st

aww your little babies are too cute & so many, congratulations! I have a female who is looking like she has swallowed a marble, I moved her over to a breeding tank a week ago & she should be ready to pop soon, I hope we get as many little ones as you did.

 

[Platygirl11]

aww your little babies are too cute & so many, congratulations! I have a female who is looking like she has swallowed a marble, I moved her over to a breeding tank a week ago & she should be ready to pop soon, I hope we get as many little ones as you did.

My female platy looks like she has swallowed a marble too! It's so difficult to wait for her to drop!
Here she is:


her. Her name is amber, sort of because she's so orange. I'm not good at names....