pregnant platy but how long?

[bball4life]

Ok well I have been wanting to breed one of my platys for a long time now and so one day ( a couple weeks ago) I saw that she was a little bigger then I noticed a couple days ago that she had the thing popping out from under her I am not sure what it is called, but once this happens usually livebearers are about to have the fry. Now she is not that big but I think that is because this is her first time having babies. So how long do you think it will be before she has her fry?

 

[Ddraig Goch]

When platys are close to giving birth if you look at them from the front you will see that they are pear shaped, usually a day or two before the fry are born they don't have that shape anymore (I suppose the fry are moving ready for birth), and therefore look a little thinner.
If it is her first lot then she won't be as big anyway, I would expect them in the next couple of days. If you are going to move her to another tank or a trap then I would do it soon because they do not like to be moved too close to the time of birth.
Good luck.

 

[bball4life]

What do you mean by a pear shape? And the problem is that I already have fry in the breeders net and she would probably eat them

 

[Annastasia]

My Guppies always have a squarish look to their stomach area when I look at them from the front. Not sure about pear-shaped though....

And why don't you just let her give birth in the tank, and if you see any fry, stick them in the breeder net. It will be a lot less stressful for her, too. And most likely, some fry will survive. They are pretty smart. And if you have rocks, or plants, or wood or any place for them to hide, this greatly increases the chances.

 

[aquagirl]

ooh how exciting! But everuone else gave ya a bunch of good advice. They took mine. *pouts* I'm waiting on fry myself, so good luck.

 

[bball4life]

Yes, I do have plants and rocks and places for them to hide in, but I am afraid that it would happen during the night while I am sleeping to before I could get to them the fry would get eatin.

 

[Ddraig Goch]

By 'pear shaped' I mean that when you look from the front she is fatter at the bottom of her belly than the top, (like a horse shoe), guppies are completely different though.

If you already have fry in your net then it is a risk, other than get another net I would say leave her in the tank. If she does give birth in the night then most should survive until the morning, the fry are very fast and quite good at hiding, also this way you will be saving the strongest of the fry, then catch as many as you can and put them into the net. Remember you will need a very fine net to catch them as they can get through the holes in many nets.

What other fish do you have in the tank? Some fish are more likely to eat the fry than others.

Good luck.

 

[bball4life]

I have 6 platys, 1 guppy, and 1 corydoras catfish

 

[Annastasia]

The only fish I can see being a problem are the Platies. They will eat their fry, but usually some will survive. They are pretty smart. And if you don't find any from this batch...don't worry. If you have 6 Platies, you'll have tons of fry every month. I just hope you have a place for all of them to go....

And as a side note...you really should have more Cories. They are schooling fish, and need trios at least.

 

[bball4life]

Yeah I am actually going to the store today to get about two more, would that be ok?

 

[Annastasia]

Yep. 2 is fine, 3 would be better. But it depends on tank size and which Cories....so what size tank, and which Cories?

 

[bball4life]

the tank size is a 25 u.s. gallon and I remember the lfs calling it a leopard cory I thought there was another name for it though

 

[Annastasia]

Corydoras trilineatus most likely then. You have lots of room in that tank, so why not go for a bigger school? They are adorable when they school around together, and they'll be very happy.

 

[bball4life]

ok great I just have a quick question for you since you are on. Its not about the platies, its about black ghost knifefish, I wanted to know if they would be kept with cories? I heard that they could but I wanted to check.

 

[Annastasia]

I really don't know. I'm more a Livebearer person.

Perhaps you should try the Search function? I'm sure there must be a thread about it somewhere....or you could try asking in the Catfish or Oddballs section.