is she or aint she

[sadfishowner]

I know this is a guppy site, but i have learned so much from all yal...Any ways here is my question...I have a tuxedo platy, one male and one female, i also have other platys, red platy and reg. orange platyall r females. well does the platys square off as the guppy when there pregant, or is she just way to fat? and why does the male run all other platy off from her, he really torments her daily, all other fish he leaves alone...i was told that he would mate with the other platys too...but he never leaves my female tuxedo platys side never.

Julie

 

[Zenn]

Does she have a black spot by her anual fin, or not, because that is the best way to tell, and could give you a good idea why he is tourmenting her

If she has, it means she is preggy, and simply your platy is trying to get at the fry or something like that...

Fry are a quick snack for bigger fish, if not, he could be interested in the guppy, i have a Leapod platy, and he is very interested in my swordtail, but she dont want any of it, but he wont leave her alone, however does not bother the other fish...

 

[sadfishowner]

So a platy will have the same black spot on her as do the guppy?

 

[Zenn]

Yes, all livebearers get that get that black spot, for it means the development of fry is occuring and so fish will tend to try and get at the fry to eat them, even if it means going through the mother, i had my swordtail that had a chunk taken out of her stomach where one of my fish, dont know which, went for the fry, she recovered thankfully...

 

[sadfishowner]

well Zenn now I have another problem,, this platy i am refering to is a tuxedo platy...All i see is black, no way of telling if there is one there or not...she is huge could she just be eating to much? When u told me that the platys will have that spot like the guppy, well all my platys have to big belly, but a clear of any black spot, so now i am thinking that she is fat for another reason...I know she is very unexcepting of the male.

 

[tstenback]

Your platy should look very similar to your molly that just gave birth. Most livebearing moms look the same shape before they give birth.

 

[Zenn]

Ummm, you are right that does prove a problem, but then another way of telling is through unusual action by your fish, but it aint reliable because it can point to a number of factors, yeah i know what you mean about the big stomachs, because my platy has a big stomach but she hasnt got the black spot...

I will get back to you on that one, i will do some research into it for ya...



By the way, i love learning things about fish...

Just a few things i need to know first, because Tuxedo Platies normally only have black areas on their bodies, so is your totally black, or just got the black area around stomach section?

 

[sadfishowner]

only balck on her back and her belly, around where i would look to dee the black spot

 

[Zenn]

Okie dookie... that does help a little bit, but proves to be a probelm because all sites that talk about liverbearers all say about Tuxedo platies, by only being able to tell through the size of their bellies, how long have her belly been big for?

 

[sadfishowner]

I have had her for bout 3 weeks, but I can't remember how big she was when i first got her... I bought a fish that brought fin rot in to my tank, and killed some of my fish, so i was kinda preoccupied with that.i was looking at her close and the black meets right at the base of her anal fin would that leave enough room for me to see if she is expecting or not?

 

[Zenn]

If it slivers off at a angle then you might be able to see a black bump over the black patch, meaning that she is indeed preggy, if she has been like that for a long time then it will be hard for you to really tell, the only way would be if she gets fatter than normal then that could point to her being preggy, it is very hard when it come to Tuxedo platies, But if she gives birth you must look upon the bright side, you know that she is breeding in your tank, and there is a good chance the fry will survive if you dont have any type of aggressive fish or anything large in your tank, and keep a close eye out for fry hanging around the tanks bottom... it is how i caught my first fry with my swordtail, though i know there was more, i only recieved 2 in the end, which in another words you should keep checking on a regular basis... Also another characterisic is the fins, female livebearers tend to keep their fins up when they are preggy to keep balance in the tank, but like other things it aint always possible, and another one is when she gets territoral, and less interested in males...

I hope that is more of a help toward you...

 

[sadfishowner]

she is not a bit mean, her husband which is a pest drives her crazy, he follows her every where... i got another question, i just had molly fry, their in a baby net now, if she does go into labor and my guppy is going to burst anyday with babies, can i put them in the baby net with my 2 day old fry until after she has them, or do i need to get another baby net?


I love that u r so helpful, i thank u for ur time with me... Julie

 

[Zenn]

That is ok, but it is not advisable to put different types of fry together, or different aged fry together, because they generally tend not to get on no matter what, so my advice is to try and get another net... but once they are big enough like the size of neons you can let them out and then they should all get along together in the main tank, or that is how it is supposed to work, that is how come i have two batches of Swordtail fry in seperate nets, because i tried to put them together and they did not like one another one bit, and it was hard seperating them...