Pregnant Mickey Mouse Platy Not Having Babies Yet?

[Stina]

I have a mickey mouse platy that is very pregnant. Her birthing tube is open and everything and has been for 3 days now so I have had her in a birthing net thing. Today is the third day she has been in there and she still is not dropping any babies. What do I do? Is it safe for her to stay in the net thing until she has them? Does anyone know why she has not had them yet or what is taking so long or is this just normal or what? Please any help would be greatly appreciated.

 

[MrsM]

not too sure but they say that the fish may abort her babies if she feels stressed, maybe let her out of the breeding trap..if she is going to give birth she will stay in one spot...you could catch her and put her in the breeding trap once birthing has started??

 

[fluttermoth]

Livebearers can hold their fry if they feel stressed as well.

I'd honestly let her out and catch any fry you see later, and put them in the net. If you have plenty of hiding places in the tank, you don't need to separate the fry at all; some might get eaten, but plenty will survive.

 

[Stina]

Ok thank you my only fear is that I dont have many hiding places for the fry I mean right now I have a big Colosseum in the tank that they could hide in but the problem with that is that all of the other fish are in and out of there constantly and I dont have the money to go buy anything else today but honestly I just want my fish to be ok...she does not seem stressed at all in the net thing she swims sometimes and then other times she just sits very still but thats exactly what she was doing before I put her in there she refused to come out of the colosseum for any reason unless there was food she would come out to eat and then she would go right back in there and hide which is very abnormal cuz she had never done that before I got her to come out to eat a couple days ago and thats when I noticed that her birthing tube had opened up but I read somewhere else that once it opens up it could still take anywhere from 2 to 7 days for her to actually have babies...so with all of this info do you still think it would be best for her and the fry if I just put her back in with the other fish??? Like I said I just want her to be ok I just wanna make sure I do the right thing for her and the babies ya know thanks so much

 

[fluttermoth]

It would be best for her to be in the main tank.

You can always buy some cheap pond type bunch plants, or even make a fake plant out of yarn, if you happen to be a knitter

Don't forget that (even if you have only females; they can store sperm for up to six months) they'll have fry every 30 days or so, so even if all these get eaten, there'll be more along soon.

 

[Stina]

Ok thats what Im gonna do then just put her back in the main tank and hope I can catch some of them when she has them thank you very very much for your help I really appreciate it have a nice day!!!

 

[fluttermoth]

You're very welcome

 

[MrsM]