My Platies Are Not Pregnant

[FishNewbie]

I have a question. I have sevaral female Platies, a Red Wag, Tuxedo, and a little blue one. I have had them for about 6 weeks and I still do not see that any of them are pregnant. I also have 3 male platies. I would have though by now I would have had atleast some little guys. The Male Mickey Mouse seems to be the Alpha male as he will chase the other males away at feeding time, he gets to eat first. I do see him chase the girls around also, but they always run away. Coud my platies be too old to reproduce? do they get the gravid spot, which might just be hard to see becuase of their coloring? How many fry is an average drop for a platy? Other than getting real fat are there other signs when one of them are pregnant? Can I do anything to "put them in the mood" Does anyone know what happens when you mixes different color platies, will some look like momma and some like the dad? I knwo my guppy dropped a few fry I was only able to save 2. The others must have made a nice snack

 

[theotheragentm]

Platies, like all livebearers, should just mate. Most people have problems stopping the production of babies. The number of fry gets larger as the pregnant fish get older, but six is a really low number. You can get many times this a mount. A pregnant Platy will definitely look round. There's no mistaking it.

 

[dwarfgourami]

You may just need to give it a little time. The gravid spot can be really hard to see in platies.

 

[jez2102]

it'll happen eventually. i'm waiting for mine too and they're taking their time, but i'm sure it'll come soon. i've only bred once before with a female tuxedo and a red wag, but didn't notice the fry untill there were just two survivors. one looked just like the mum and the other similar but with red/ orange head, belly and fins. She is now the only one still alive, shes about five months old. i only have two females that are transparent enough to see the gravid spot so its not always the best way to tell

 

[jakeyman_i_am]

Don't do this yet because it may not apply to platties but when I wanted to get Mollies going the guy at the pet store said that putting a small amount of salt in the water simulated spring time in the wild, and thus coaxes them to breed.

For anyone who knows - Do you put salt in with the Platties or no?

Good luck.

 

[PoPoV]

No salt for platies. Only mollies.....or so iv heared . Iv owned both, but only put salt in with my Mollies. But one way i can def tell my female Platie is ready to pop out fry, is she will always hover over the gravel for quit a long time.

 

[Annaconda]

I read this on http/www.aquariumfish.net/catalog_pages/...laties.htm#top2

Like most livebearers Platies will do better with 1 Tablespoon of Aquarium Salt per 5 gallons of water. Click here for more about Aquarium Salt.

 

[dwarfgourami]

Platies can cope with salt, but do not require it. If anyone finds their platies can't cope without salt, then there's probably something else wrong with their water that needs rectifying- not hard enough or not clean enough or generally stressful conditions. Mollies are different, some of them have been bred from brackish populations, and they really do better in salt. Wild platies are not brackish.

 

[Charlie06]

2 of our platties have given birth to less than 10 fry each. One of them is pregnant again but only a few spots in her belly. In fact both times there were only a few spots and the fry were only a few. Wouldn't say they had a 'gravid spot' like the guppies (seems permanant) but could see where the babies were growing. They will get a belly but if there's onlt a few fry her beely won't be huge.
Our other platy has a fancy tail and the male does nothing but chase her rather than fancying her. Not holding out much hope for babies.
Never seen them give birth so not sure of habits before birth (our guppies and Mollies both acted differently before birth so platties may be different again). If their black spots have gone, search the tank.
Without knowing how old ours are, I can only presume that they are young and may give more in the future.
Every fish is different, keep an eye on them and keep fingers crossed. Platy babies are so beautiful.

 

[jez2102]

i found two fry yesterday and had no idea any of my females were pregnant, they looked no bigger than normal. but i suppose they're normally pregnant.

 

[poecilia]

I think... you still need to wait about 2-5 weeks because they pobably have not adjusted yet with their surrounding so they are not in the comfy level to breed. but you will get there