platy

[sarah-j]

Hi, I have two platy's, a male and a female, over the past two days my female one has been hiding and the male keeps chasing her, I also noticed that she has a gravid spot appeared beside her anus.
do you think she may be pregnant and do platy's keep semen for up to 6 months like guppies?
My water parametres are all good
ammonia:0ppm
nitrite:0ppm
nitrate:0.5ppm
PH: 7.0-7.2
Temp: 26 degrees

I originally thought her behaviour was due to stress when i did a water change. she is eating and swimming but i have noticed a slight difference in behaviour.

 

[Annastasia]

If you have a male and female Platy...yes, she's pregnant.

Yes, they can storm sperm. I'm not sure how long in months, but I know they can have up to 7 pregnancies with it.

If you noticed a difference in behavior...she may be close to having her fry. How long has she had the gravid spot?

 

[sarah-j]

Just a couple of days i think, i never noticed it before. why would my male be chasing her? is that normal?

 

[Tokis-Phoenix]

The male is probably chasing her because she can still be mated with in the first week of pregnancy so he is probably trying to get as much action in as he can before he has to wait another 3-4weeks before he can father some fry again.
How dark and large is the gravid spot and how fat is the platy looking?

You would do well to add an extra 1-2females in the tank as the minimum male to female ratio is 1male per 2-3females and she will get far too harrassed by the male and may abort her fry if it continues, adding some more females will help take the pressure off her from the male and help the male spread his attention out more evenly .

 

[sarah-j]

yeah think i will get another female on friday, we lost our other female, she died about 2 months ago. her gravid spot is quite black and is about 2mm across i think in size. we always thought she was a male however I did some research and realised she does not have the small tube beside her anus like the male does. then I noticed the gravid spot and her hiddy behaviour. The male is quite protective of her. Can I just let her have her fry in the tank, we have a breeding trap however I dont like it as my guppy died in it giving birth, I want her to do it as natural as possible. I could always put the fry in the trap after their born.

 

[afireinside]

ohh! could u post a picture of ur platties?

 

[sarah-j]

yeah will try, all my fishies are quite fast my female comes to front of the tank when i look in.