How Long Does It Take To Drop Fry?

[jax13]

I've got a newly setup aquarium with a trio of platy's and a few glowlight tetras. One of the platy's has dropped some fry although I hadn't realised and there were only 2 left after the last big water change (had a horrific ammonia issue that killed a pair of barbs and one platy).

I am aware that I will get another batch in a few weeks but my query is about the length of time it takes for a platy to go from first to last drop of fry (obviously it will be dependant on the number she drops but is there a ball park guide? Is it a couple of hours or a couple of days?)

More questions to come as the tank develops as this is my first tropical setup (had cold water for years) and my first experience of live bearers

 

[Baccus]

The time between each drop of fry can be any where from 26-30 days, often this is dependant on water temp, warmer water tends to speed up the process while cooler water tends to have the females hang onto the fry longer.
If your talking about how long a female can store sperm from one mating, and keep using it until its run out then this is trickier to predict. It would depend on how many males mated with her,and possibly how mature those males where. Generally it will take at least a year before any stored sperm is finally used up.
If your talking about how long labour should take, generally its over within a few hours, but this can depend on temp, the size of the batch of young (both in numbers and their actual birth size in relation to her size), and if she is getting harassed or interrupted by other fish or activity around the tank while she is trying to give birth.

 

[jax13]

Is it within the realm of possibility then that she may have stalled labour during the water change (large one due to ammonia issue) and restarted a day or two later? I am pretty certain all the fry died or were eaten as there had been no sightings since about 12 hours after the water change and today I noticed 2 darting about, it's only a 25ltr tank so they haven't got many places to hide! (or could they just have dug down into the substrate and fed off the fallen food?

 

[Baccus]

She certainly could have stalled the birthing process while you where doing water changes. The fry wont actually dig into the substrate but they will hide down around the gravel and get into any tiny nooks and crannies to avoid being eaten.