Female platies getting pregnant is normal so don't panic...
You could do one (or more) of the following
- Get some java moss (a lot of them to cover a good part of the tank). Once born, fries will swim for it and hide until large enough to survive outside. Survival rate is not great here since I find that the little fries take their chances little too often in front of other grown-up fishes. On the positive, java moss provides some micro-organisms for the fries to survive, so easier to feed them as well.
- Get a breeding net. Put the mother in there. You usually end up with more fries but it stresses the heck out of the female, in some cases, abort the pregnancy.
- Get a small separate tank (10g or 5.5g). Move the female. When she is done giving birth, move her back to the community tank. A big ball of java moss here is also needed. Fry survival rate here is good since there's only one adult fish to worry about and for some reason she didn't apear to be very hungry right after giving birth.
In all cases you will run out of tank space quickly, so if you want all the fries to survive, you will need another large tank. (1/2 inch after 1 month, 1 inch after 2 months). I have a 33g just dedicated for this purpose.
Most experienced ones seem to go with either the first or the third method, depending on whether they want maximum fry survival or get few fries without stressing out the mother fish. (I am personally going with the third one, trying to build enough store credit to fund this hobby...
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