Questions About A Pregnant Platy

[Naiad]

I have a 10 gallon, heavily planted tank with a few platies and one of them is pregnant. She doesn't look quite squared off yet but she's been hiding in the plants for at least a week and she stopped coming out to eat. I also think her birthing tube has opened. I moved her to a 2 litre (1/2 gallon) breeding tank that hangs on the outside of my main tank and has the main tank water going through it. There is a plant in there for her and I wrapped the outside of the breeding tank with a black cloth so she doesn't feel like she's just out in the open. I fed her brine shrimp and bloodworms and she ate them just fine. However, I've been reading how stressful and harmful being in a breeding tank can be. So far, she seems fine and I'm worried about keeping her in the main tank since she is not eating while in there. Essentially, I'm wondering if it would be more beneficial to keep her in the main tank or in the breeding tank.

 

[evansimp]

I have a 10 gallon, heavily planted tank with a few platies and one of them is pregnant. She doesn't look quite squared off yet but she's been hiding in the plants for at least a week and she stopped coming out to eat. I also think her birthing tube has opened. I moved her to a 2 litre (1/2 gallon) breeding tank that hangs on the outside of my main tank and has the main tank water going through it. There is a plant in there for her and I wrapped the outside of the breeding tank with a black cloth so she doesn't feel like she's just out in the open. I fed her brine shrimp and bloodworms and she ate them just fine. However, I've been reading how stressful and harmful being in a breeding tank can be. So far, she seems fine and I'm worried about keeping her in the main tank since she is not eating while in there. Essentially, I'm wondering if it would be more beneficial to keep her in the main tank or in the breeding tank.

I read that they should only be in there for a most of 48 hours. So maybe leave her in there for that long, and if there are still no fry, move her back into the main tank and see what happens. She sounds like she is close, but every fish is different so you can never tell.

 

[Naiad]

I put her back in the main tank as she seemed to be getting stressed but my biggest concern is still how to ensure she's eating

 

[basboi85]

I have a 10 gallon, heavily planted tank with a few platies and one of them is pregnant. She doesn't look quite squared off yet but she's been hiding in the plants for at least a week and she stopped coming out to eat. I also think her birthing tube has opened. I moved her to a 2 litre (1/2 gallon) breeding tank that hangs on the outside of my main tank and has the main tank water going through it. There is a plant in there for her and I wrapped the outside of the breeding tank with a black cloth so she doesn't feel like she's just out in the open. I fed her brine shrimp and bloodworms and she ate them just fine. However, I've been reading how stressful and harmful being in a breeding tank can be. So far, she seems fine and I'm worried about keeping her in the main tank since she is not eating while in there. Essentially, I'm wondering if it would be more beneficial to keep her in the main tank or in the breeding tank.

Ibwould put her in main tank and try giving her shrimp and bloodworms again as you said she was eating them as it may be a case of she might be getting ready to drop and she might not want flakes and is only interested in her treat food. And if she eats it then at least she's at something and it'll be your luck she will have dry when your in bed

 

[Naiad]

She only ate a little this morning when I dropped some worms and flakes in the back. I've decided I'll let her drop her fry in the main tank, but should I raise the fry in there, in the 2 litre breeding trap (same water conditions as the main tank) or a spare 5.5 gallon tank? I could mature some sponges in the main tank but my 5.5 gallon housed my recently deceased betta who died from I believe a bacterial infection, and the tank still needs to be thoroughly cleaned so I'm a little wary about putting anything in there right away

 

[Naiad]

My platy dropped her fry yesterday evening and I've successfully moved about 20 to the breeding tank this morning

 

[slimeneo]

Congrats!! We would love some pictures!

 

[Naiad]

I've been trying to get some but they've all come out blurry so far, they're so tiny it's hard to focus!

 

[ruart1987]

Last night i came home to two fry swimming at the surface of my tank. i knew that my platy was expecting but couldnt tell when she was due to drop so unsure to wether there was more fry and that they have been eaten by the other fish. I have now seperated them into a fish trap within my tank and they seem to be fine but unsure to what to feed them. This is my first time breeding so any advice would be greatful.

Regards

 

[slimeneo]

You can feed them crushed up flake food

 

[Naiad]

I had to remove all the decor in my tank to catch all my fry and just kept finding more, keep looking and there might be more than just the two. Interestingly, none of the adult platies in my tank seemed interested in eating any of the fry at all. I've been feeding my fry a mix of tropical flakes, veggie flakes, algae wafers and freeze dried bloodworms that I ground into a powder and they seem to really enjoy it

 

[OldMan47]

The breeding tank that hangs on the back of a main tank is not at all like the kind of trap the we often hang inside a tank. It tends to be much larger and thus is a better home for a female than a typical breeding trap. The real question that I have is about your 2 litre breeding tank. Does it provide for separating the female from her fry while keeping any fry out of the main tank? If not, it will become a feeder for the main tank. Fry will be expelled into the main tank where the other adult fish will learn to wait for their arrival. I sometimes use a BBS tool that releases BBS into a main tank. This is what it looks like once the BBS start becoming available. I would hate to see the same thing happening with my fry.