Our platys have been a bit naughty.

[Steve.]

Sorry for a double post but I put this in the wrong section first time

Ummm!!! our platys have been a bit naughty the female is (we think) pregnant, her belly has swollen in the last few days or so and she has started hiding (a thing she's never done before) Is this a sign of her being pregnant?? and how can we tell for sure?? also we think we should remove her from the tank to save her and her young from being bullied/eaten and how long is a platy pregnancy?? any advice would be good.

Thanks


Steve.

 

[appleblossom]

Hi Steve,

The gestation period for a platy is about 4 weeks, and hiding is usually a sure sign that she is getting ready to drop if there is no other reason for this behaviour eg. bullying.

You can buy a net that you hook onto the side of the main tank and your mum to be could stay in there quite happily for a few days, put some plant trimmings in the net with her to make her feel more secure and give the babies somewhere to hide.

Livebearers often eat their fry as soon as they are born, but you can buy plastic breeding traps which allow the fry to drop through to a seperate enclosure so they cant get eaten. These traps are often very small though and the mummy platy probably wouldnt be very happy in there for long.

Try not to stress her moving her as it may make her miscarry the babies. If your tank is quite heavily planted then leaving her in the main tank will probably allow for at least a few babies to survive. They are very good at hiding!

One way to tell if she really is pregnant is to look at her gravid spot. At the back of her stomach before her anal fin you might be able to see a dark triangle shape depending on the colour of the platy. My red platies just have a greyish shadow when they are pregnant, but my sunset platies are so light coloured that you can see dots inside them which are the eyes of the babies!

Hope that all helps and good luck!

 

[Steve.]

Thanks Nutmeg, we feel like a couple of soon to be parents, talk about exciting (me wife has even got the knitting out ) We took another look for the gravid spot and she has got one (the platy not the wife ) being sunset platies I don't know how we missed it , We'll keep you updated on how we go.

 

[appleblossom]

Good luck with the babies Steve!

Another sign to look for is that their rounded belly looks almost square shaped from the back, this only happens when they are really close to dropping!

My sunset platy is suddenly thin this morning, but no sign of babies so I guess they were a nice midnight snack for the rest of the tank....

a couple more points, the first batch of fry may be as few as about 4 babies, going up to anywhere around 30 at a time.
Platys normally get pregnant again as soon as they have givn birth, so get ready for more fry in 4 weeks time.
Platys can store sperm for months after they mate, so even if you remove the male you can still probably expect more babies...prepare to be overrun!!

 

[fishrock]

it sounds like shes getting ready to have the fry. sunset platy dont get a black gravid spot but you can actually see the fry inside her. mine have had fry one month to the day. she about to have her third batch soon. should be on the 7th.good luck. the fry are hard to see at first just two little black eyes pecking out at you. they're so cute.