Help! Pregnant Platy

[Sweetheart]

I bought three female platy fish yesterday. One of them is pregnant and looks like she is about to explode! Her stomach is white, but behind her stomach to the left above the fin that tells what gender she is, is a really big black dot, is that the fry inside her? She kinda stays at the bottom a little while then go to the top and swims around. they live in a 10 gallon tank. When do I put her in the breeder net? How long will it be till she gives birth? sorry for so many questions, I am new to live bearing fish.
Also can guppies and platys live together?

 

[Hawkins]

I bought three female platy fish yesterday. One of them is pregnant and looks like she is about to explode! Her stomach is white, but behind her stomach to the left above the fin that tells what gender she is, is a really big black dot, is that the fry inside her? She kinda stays at the bottom a little while then go to the top and swims around. they live in a 10 gallon tank. When do I put her in the breeder net? How long will it be till she gives birth? sorry for so many questions, I am new to live bearing fish.
Also can guppies and platys live together?

The black dot is the gravid spot, which is the eyes of the baby fry! guppies and platys do not crossbreed, so i assume they are good together

 

[OldMan47]

Guppies and platies will get along fine together. Put the female in the breeder when she actually starts to give birth. It causes too much stress to leave her in there any longer than necessary. As soon as she has finished, put her back into the tank so the fry that are still in the breeder will have a chance to survive. If the female is left in with them very long at all, she will eat the fry. For that reason, you should actually crowd the breeder a bit by putting somewhere in the breeder for the fry to hide from the female.

 

[Sweetheart]

Thanks so much, it really helped. One more question what signs should I look for when she is getting close to having her kids?

 

[OldMan47]

She's already close by your description. The wierd way she is acting is typical shortly before they give birth but the strange behavior can go on for a couple of days. I'd just check in on her frequently to catch her when she starts. She may drop 2 or 3 at a time for a couple of hours total time so if you miss the first one or two its no big deal. You don't sound like you have the room for 50 fry anyway.

 

[Sweetheart]

She keeps going up and down the walls why? so does my other two fish but their not pregnant, is this normal
Her gravid spot is soooooooo big and really black

 

[OldMan47]

Its quite common for a fish to have a spot that they just like to swim in. I'm not sure why they do it but it happens a lot in the smaller tanks. It even seems to happen in the larger tanks but not as often.

 

[Sweetheart]

How can I attach a picture of her for you?

 

[Sweetheart]

Okay so she still hasn't givin birth yet and she is alot bigger and her gravid spot is completely black. Is she closer or what?