Pregnant sunburst platy?

[kelsey_lauren]

Hi! Alright, so I got a sunburst platy I think about a week ago this is what it looked like, sorry this is the only picture I have from when I got her. Sorry if the quality of the pictures aren't great, let me know if no one is able to see them because of size.

So to me, she doesn't look pregnant here and I don't recall her having a gravid spot. Plus, I thought she was a boy.
This is what she looks like now: I think she is pregnant because she has the gravid spot and I think she is getting bigger. I'm mostly looking for someone to confirm if they think she's pregnant or not. Thanks!

 

[snork6]

With livebearers you can always assume they are pregnant. So yes she is but it looks to be early on, so you probably have 2-3 more weeks till birth. (some fish have smaller batches than others causing them not to get as big making a birthdate harder to tell) what you should look for is squaring off of her belly. You can google diagrams or pics of what this looks like.

Now there is one major flaw that I have to point out after seeing your pictures. That is your tank. How large is it? you need at least a 5 gallon (preferably 10 gallon) tank for plaites at the minimum. Platies need room and space to swim and live which smaller tanks can not provide. You also have the problem of a population burst if you do not keep the babies in check (They can have 10-50 babies every 30 days)

I also noticed that there doesn't seem to be a heater in your tank (I may just not be able to see it because of the angle of pic so let me know if i'm wrong) Platies are tropical fish and need warm water to live. While a tank without a heater can provide the right temperature depending on how warm your house is, what season it is, and where in the world you are, it's always a safe bet to have a heater.

Next, has your tank been cycled? If not you need to read this article as it is vital to your fish's survival to have bacteria in your tank to get rid of their waste and leftover food.

http://www.fishforums.net/threads/cycling-your-new-fresh-water-tank-read-this-first.421488/

Lastly, can you plse purchase a testing kit OR go to your LFS and have your water tested (Do not accept your water is fine get the actual numbers)

Please provide the following readings.

Ammonia

Nitrite

Nitrate

PH

Hardness (Can be found by doing a google search)

Water temp

 

[FroFro]

Hi! Alright, so I got a sunburst platy I think about a week ago this is what it looked like, sorry this is the only picture I have from when I got her. Sorry if the quality of the pictures aren't great, let me know if no one is able to see them because of size.
View attachment 85406
So to me, she doesn't look pregnant here and I don't recall her having a gravid spot. Plus, I thought she was a boy.
This is what she looks like now: I think she is pregnant because she has the gravid spot and I think she is getting bigger. I'm mostly looking for someone to confirm if they think she's pregnant or not. Thanks!
View attachment 85410 View attachment 85411View attachment 85412 View attachment 85413 View attachment 85414

Your tank is too small for those fish. If fry come along you'll have an even bigger problem. Also platy and mollies are schooling fish and like to be kept in larger groups. if you have males its usually 1 male to 3 females to prevent aggression. Always assume a female livebearer is pregnant, as most can retain sperm from one mating and have several batches of fry without assistance from a male for some time.

 

[kelsey_lauren]

Thank you all for your replies! Sorry this is so late. I am currently upgrading to a 5 gallon tank. I'm going to move them into it once I am sure the Ich they have is gone. Also, I don't have the water parameters at the moment. I do know however, that the temperature is at 79 degrees. I don't really see the pregnant platy getting much larger, so as you guys noted that they can hold sperm for a while, so I'm wondering if that is what she is doing.

 

[snork6]

What we mean by holding sperm, is that they can store enough for up to 6 pregnancies not that they can control when they give birth. As soon as one batch of fry come out another one starts