Pregnant platy?

[foxgirl158]

yes..
do you have a big net?
that is better than the box because it is bigger and soft

I might.... Let me look later and I'll see what I can do. Thanks!

Not to discredit your advice, but I would like second or third opinions as well. Does anyone else agree with Sgooosh?

 

[foxgirl158]

I have taken her out of the trap, and she seems to be in some state of shock. She is hovering under the filter. I will look for a big net and if I find one I will put her in it.

 

[Sgooosh]

I have taken her out of the trap, and she seems to be in some state of shock. She is hovering under the filter. I will look for a big net and if I find one I will put her in it.

yes, good idea
remove her promptly to lessen the casualties

 

[itiwhetu]

If you want to leave her in the trip put lots of plants in there with her. I don't like traps but sometimes they are needed.

 

[Colin_T]

Don't put female livebearers in nets or traps. Just leave them in the tank and have lots of plants so they can hide among the plants and give birth there.

If you have a male platy in the tank, you can put him in a net to stop him pestering the female while she gives birth. Leave him in there for a week after she has given birth and then let him out.

If you have a separate tank, you can move the male into that. But don't chase or do anything to stress the female. She will be having issues as it is and does not need more stress during this time. Just have lots of plants in the tank and let her do her thing.

 

[Essjay]

It is normal for any fish confined to a small box as they are very stressful for fish. If there is no other tank for the female to give birth in, the best option is to let her out of the box and when you see fry, move them into the box. Yes, a lot of fry will be eaten, but she'll have more in a month giving you time to prepare for the next batch.

The ideal is a separate tank and move the pregnant fish into that to give birth. Move her by catching her in a net, then bring a container up under the net so that the fish is in water all the time. Then lower the container & net into the nursery tank and let her swim out.

If this is not an option, having a lot of fine leaved plants in the main tank will give fry somewhere to hide. Live plants are best but plastic plants will work as well.

 

[Essjay]

I have merged two threads on the same subject, so the replies from the two threads are mixed up together - this is why the new thread may read a bit oddly.

 

[foxgirl158]

Thank you all for your tips!
She is currently in the main tank, I will look at buying some cheap plastic plants for her to hide in.
I only have females, so separating the male will not be a problem. Coincidently, this means that I will most likely not have more fry in the future, so I would like to save as many as possible from the neon black and the red wag.
I have covered my filter intake with a piece of mesh, and once I finish treating the tank for fungus I will move the mickey mouse nd the snail into my main tank so the mothers can have more room.
Anything else I need to know about raising platy fry?

 

[JemZ]

You can buy one of these to help prevent the fry from being sucked into the filter:

https://www.petco.com/shop/en/petcostore/product/fluval-edge-pre-filter-sponge-pack-of-1-1278231?cm_mmc=PSH-_-GGL-_-CAL-_-PME-_-PET-_-AQU-_-0-_-PM_GGL_FY20_SBU05_CompanionAnimal_BOPIS_NewCust_LIA-SMRT-_-0-_-0&gclid=Cj0KCQjwub-HBhCyARIsAPctr7wFsHlLVgftIAWi6kx3-_zOi9Ntl1idN8ULLoqAFY4Qrf_373GLV6oaAhgWEALw_wcB&gclsrc=aw.ds

Just slide it over your filter intake. You should clean it with tank water whenever you clean the rest of your filter.

As others have said, the mother getting ready to give birth should be the last fish to be moved. In other words, do everything you can to make sure she isn't the one put under stress. It is better to move the males or other fish than her.

 

[Essjay]

Unfortunately not having a male in the tank does not mean no more fry. Female platies can store sperm and use it to have batches of fry every month for up to a year. The fact she is pregnant now means she has been in a tank with a male at some point so not only only is she pregnant now, she also has packets of sperm ready and waiting.

 

[foxgirl158]

Unfortunately not having a male in the tank does not mean no more fry. Female platies can store sperm and use it to have batches of fry every month for up to a year. The fact she is pregnant now means she has been in a tank with a male at some point so not only only is she pregnant now, she also has packets of sperm ready and waiting.

Wow, I did not know that! That's so interesting.
@JemZ yup! I was planning on moving the only platy who is not pregnant (the mickey mouse) into the main tank as to give the two who are more room and also less of a chance that the fry will get eaten. Thanks for the link to the sponge filter, I'll look into that!

 

[JemZ]

Wow, I did not know that! That's so interesting.
@JemZ yup! I was planning on moving the only platy who is not pregnant (the mickey mouse) into the main tank as to give the two who are more room and also less of a chance that the fry will get eaten. Thanks for the link to the sponge filter, I'll look into that!

You are putting a great deal of effort into making sure all your fish are happy and healthy...Good job!

 

[emeraldking]

If you don't have an extra tank to put her in, a bucket works perfectly as well... That's how I work with pregnant females if keeping her in the original tank isn't an option anymore. And if I don't have an available extra tank left.

 

[Colin_T]

Wow, I did not know that! That's so interesting.
@JemZ yup! I was planning on moving the only platy who is not pregnant (the mickey mouse) into the main tank as to give the two who are more room and also less of a chance that the fry will get eaten. Thanks for the link to the sponge filter, I'll look into that!

Don't separate livebearers once they have established their pecking order or they fight to re-establish it when a member of the group is removed, or a new fish is introduced into the group.

Platies live in groups of males or females and have a well defined pecking order with a dominant female bullying smaller females so she can remain top dog/ fish. If you remove or add a fish, you mess up the pecking order and problems can occur.

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If the platies are well fed, they don't normally eat their young. Feed the adults 3-5 times a day and you will probably have lots of babies to scoop out and put in a breeding net or trap.

Make sure you do lots of water changes and gravel cleaning to keep the tank clean when feeding more often.

Make sure any new water is free of chlorine/ chloramine before it's added to the tank.

 

[ThatFishGirl6231]

can we get an update? did she have babies?

also, one of the first posts on this thread you said you want to put the platies with goldfish. you can’t do that due to different temp requirements and some other stuff.