Pregnant Platy.....is She Ready To Pop?

[Tony1986]

Hi, im new to this fish pregnancy lark but i have two pregnant platies which i new they were pregnant when i bought them.   one is very round like a ball and has a very dark spot near the back that looks like an eye-ish shape.and its the same with the other female. Today when i went to do a water change i noticed both females were by the filter near the top so i just left it and I went to feed them and they didnt really eat anything. And the male was always by their side and chasing any other fish that came near them.
I had look to see if i could see a white spot and noticed a little white dot near the anal fin but the dot is the size of a spec at the moment and its the same with the other female. Is it time to put them in the hatching box, and how long do you think she may have left.
Any help or advice will be considered
 
Thank you very much for the help...... 

 

[fluttermoth]

What you want to look for is her 'squaring off'; her belly will develop distinct 'corners', especially at the front.
 
Once they've squared off, they usually give birth within 24 hours.
 
Personally, I wouldn't recommend 'breeder's boxes'; they're really too small, both for the mother and for the fry to grow properly. You'd be better off getting a big mass of fine leaved plant, like cabomba or Java moss for the fry to hide in.

 

[Tony1986]

Thank you. how do i post a pic on here as im not sure what "squaring off" is. 

  and maybe you could tell me how far she is. 

 

[fluttermoth]

You need to upload your pic to a hosting site, like Photobucket or Flickr, and paste the IMG code into your post.
 
Or have a look at this thread; http/www.fishforums.net/index.php?/topic/285369-a-mollys-story-from-one-drop-to-the-next/
 
I know it's about mollies, but the bellies will look the same

 

[Tony1986]

https/www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=10200291441750627&set=o.287427218039754&type=1&relevant_count=1&ref=nf
 
hope this works as i dont have flicker

https/www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=10200291441470620&set=o.287427218039754&type=1&relevant_count=1&ref=nf
 
Second female. if you could tell me how long they got that would be much appreciated. 

 

[Paradise3]

You have them set to private. Upload them to Photobucket(create an account, will make uploading future images much easier) and paste the IMG code into the text box like so
These are my guppies. The middle one shows the "squared" look well

 

[Tony1986]

 
Here is the smallest of the two females
 

 
Biggest of the two females

 

[Paradise3]

Same picture twice but yes she looks sort of Squared Off from that picture

 

[Tony1986]

 
Here is the other female 

sorry im new to this forum stuff. 

 

[Tony1986]

can someone tell me how long these females have left if you can 

 

[fluttermoth]

They look like quite young females, who don't have as many fry and so don't square off as distinctly as more mature females (and they can hold their fry too), so this is no more than a rough estimate, but I'd say the bigger one could drop within the next day or two; the smaller one is probably a week away.

 

[Tony1986]

brilliant, thank you very much for the info. when they have had their babies do you think they can have more 28 days later?? or is that for older platies??

 

[fluttermoth]

They will have more, whatever their age; all female livebearers (that i know of) can store sperm and have up to six broods of fry from that.
 
The time between drops varies, depending on temperature, but it's normally 30 days.

 

[Tony1986]

ok thank you very much for all your help...... 

 

[Tony1986]

Still no sign of the babies yet. So i have taken them out of the hatchery and got some bushy palnts as i didnt want to stress them out any longer. Is that the right thing to do??