Pregnant Platy??
- Thread starter dplally
- Start date
She's probably gonna give birth within the next few days. Put her in a breeder net or a breeder box. My platy is like that and she has already given birth to 2 fry this morning. Here's a picture of what a platy looks like when they are about to go into labor.
Here is a diagram showing what to expect when your platy is about to give birth.
A= look at the opening infront of the anal fin, this is open and white when she turned around you can see the opening quite clearly, if the opening has something dark in it she is just going for a poo, if its white and seems hollow then she is going into the first stages of labour. this is the best sign as some fish do differ b/c of the amount of fry inside.
B= this area will stay rounded until 24hours before she will give birth, then it will go box like shaped as ive shown in the picture. this happens with almost. every fish
C= this area will look like its an intense lighter colour than that of her natural colouring it will be swollen a fair bit if she has a lot of fry waiting to come out but this is not always the case as young fish with there first drop dont usual show this so well.
D= note that the shape of her back has started to arch, this is her getting into position so the birth canal will allow fry to drop.
she will be panting but not as heavy as guppies do and she will either be quite on the bottom or in weeds or she could and most of mine done go into a reverse swimming motion with her head to the floor and her tail in the air.
Here is a diagram showing what to expect when your platy is about to give birth.
A= look at the opening infront of the anal fin, this is open and white when she turned around you can see the opening quite clearly, if the opening has something dark in it she is just going for a poo, if its white and seems hollow then she is going into the first stages of labour. this is the best sign as some fish do differ b/c of the amount of fry inside.
B= this area will stay rounded until 24hours before she will give birth, then it will go box like shaped as ive shown in the picture. this happens with almost. every fish
C= this area will look like its an intense lighter colour than that of her natural colouring it will be swollen a fair bit if she has a lot of fry waiting to come out but this is not always the case as young fish with there first drop dont usual show this so well.
D= note that the shape of her back has started to arch, this is her getting into position so the birth canal will allow fry to drop.
she will be panting but not as heavy as guppies do and she will either be quite on the bottom or in weeds or she could and most of mine done go into a reverse swimming motion with her head to the floor and her tail in the air.
It depends. I put some Aquarium Salt in my tank, and so far, she's acting normally. Don't be too hard on yourself if she dies after she delivers though. 50% of livebearers die after they give birth. You just need to keep an eye on her and feed her nutritious food like high quality flake food and live foods such as blood worms and baby brine shrimp.
In my other post about the Otos, the man at my lfs told me. He said that it tends to happen a lot. but people don't realize that there's that possibility. If you don't feed them different types of food, they tend to die. I'm currently feeding my Platy TetraMin Tropical Flakes, TetraColor Tropical Flakes, TetraMin Pro Tropical Crisps, and BBS.
I have found that putting pregnant fish into breedering nets at any point causes them a great deal of stress, often leading to miscarriage or death. I had much better success letting the mum give birth in the main tank, but stocking it heavily with plants and decor that allow the fry to hide.
Just my experience.
Just my experience.
Well, so far, Misery isn't stressed out. I can't wait to see her after I get home!! I'm bringing home 2-3 Otos with me and some Java Moss to put in the tank/breeder net. I'm going to let her have a place to hide and chill. I want at least 10 babies!! I'm keeping one and I'm giving 4-5 to one of my friends and 3-4 to my other friend.
I used to breed livebearers to get different colors (guppies, platies, mollies).
From my experience, it is not common for a livebearer to die after giving birth. I had some for years that had batch after batch after batch of fry with no death.
I've never had anything close to 5% die after giving birth, let alone 50%. I do not believe your man at the LFS is giving you an accurate picture of what to expect.
A variety of foods is always a good idea. I've never fed the 'Tetra' brand foods, however.
Sorry to highjack the thread...
From my experience, it is not common for a livebearer to die after giving birth. I had some for years that had batch after batch after batch of fry with no death.
I've never had anything close to 5% die after giving birth, let alone 50%. I do not believe your man at the LFS is giving you an accurate picture of what to expect.
A variety of foods is always a good idea. I've never fed the 'Tetra' brand foods, however.
Sorry to highjack the thread...
tetra brand foods have a really high ash content and are not great for your fish.
Tetra and Wardly make the worst flake foods
Of the redily available foods Omega one and Hikari are two of the best.
Ash is a commonly used filler in fish food, there is some debate about fish meal vs whole fish. Fish meal is pure fish ground up with the water removed, whole fish is just that. Personally I think fish meal sounds like the better choice.
You should really feed a mixture of flake, I like a color enhancer + spirillina flake + liver flakes + a tropical flake.
Fish food also gets stale, you should keep excess food in the freezer, and what is out should be tightly sealed.
I buy my food in bulk by the pound from yourfishstuff.com I buy 5lbs at a time for about 30.00 1lb fills up the biggest tupperware i have, and 5lbs lasts me over a year. With the number of fish you have 1lb should last you close to a year. Really high quality fish food usually has large opaque flakes. They hold together when they are in the water and have ash content of 0.
BTW 1 lb of flake is about 6.00.... 1 can of tetra is about 3.00.... Umm you do the math on what is a better deal. You can order 1/2, 1, or 5lbs at a time. If you ordered 1/2 tropical (2.50) 1/2 spirillina (2.50) I bet your fish would be healthier, your tank would be cleaner and everybody would grow like crazy
http://www.yourfishstuff.com/categories/Fish-Food/Your-Fish-Flakes/
Check out this link
Tetra and Wardly make the worst flake foods
Of the redily available foods Omega one and Hikari are two of the best.
Ash is a commonly used filler in fish food, there is some debate about fish meal vs whole fish. Fish meal is pure fish ground up with the water removed, whole fish is just that. Personally I think fish meal sounds like the better choice.
You should really feed a mixture of flake, I like a color enhancer + spirillina flake + liver flakes + a tropical flake.
Fish food also gets stale, you should keep excess food in the freezer, and what is out should be tightly sealed.
I buy my food in bulk by the pound from yourfishstuff.com I buy 5lbs at a time for about 30.00 1lb fills up the biggest tupperware i have, and 5lbs lasts me over a year. With the number of fish you have 1lb should last you close to a year. Really high quality fish food usually has large opaque flakes. They hold together when they are in the water and have ash content of 0.
BTW 1 lb of flake is about 6.00.... 1 can of tetra is about 3.00.... Umm you do the math on what is a better deal. You can order 1/2, 1, or 5lbs at a time. If you ordered 1/2 tropical (2.50) 1/2 spirillina (2.50) I bet your fish would be healthier, your tank would be cleaner and everybody would grow like crazy
http://www.yourfishstuff.com/categories/Fish-Food/Your-Fish-Flakes/
Check out this link
Okay, now shes even bigger, still eating, seems very jumpy around the other fish....she has passed clearish stool stuff...is that a sign? we have a breeding net, we really need to use it because I'm almost certain the other fish in the tank will eat the fry as soon as they're out...we have tetras, gouramis mollies and the platys. We just want to know how to be sure when its time to transfer her. Once the fry are born we plan on transferring them to a smaller, empty tank we have setup already. Any other advice would be welcome!
She's probably gonna give birth within the next few days. Put her in a breeder net or a breeder box. My platy is like that and she has already given birth to 2 fry this morning. Here's a picture of what a platy looks like when they are about to go into labor.
Here is a diagram showing what to expect when your platy is about to give birth.
A= look at the opening infront of the anal fin, this is open and white when she turned around you can see the opening quite clearly, if the opening has something dark in it she is just going for a poo, if its white and seems hollow then she is going into the first stages of labour. this is the best sign as some fish do differ b/c of the amount of fry inside.
B= this area will stay rounded until 24hours before she will give birth, then it will go box like shaped as ive shown in the picture. this happens with almost. every fish
C= this area will look like its an intense lighter colour than that of her natural colouring it will be swollen a fair bit if she has a lot of fry waiting to come out but this is not always the case as young fish with there first drop dont usual show this so well.
D= note that the shape of her back has started to arch, this is her getting into position so the birth canal will allow fry to drop.
she will be panting but not as heavy as guppies do and she will either be quite on the bottom or in weeds or she could and most of mine done go into a reverse swimming motion with her head to the floor and her tail in the air.
Here is a diagram showing what to expect when your platy is about to give birth.
A= look at the opening infront of the anal fin, this is open and white when she turned around you can see the opening quite clearly, if the opening has something dark in it she is just going for a poo, if its white and seems hollow then she is going into the first stages of labour. this is the best sign as some fish do differ b/c of the amount of fry inside.
B= this area will stay rounded until 24hours before she will give birth, then it will go box like shaped as ive shown in the picture. this happens with almost. every fish
C= this area will look like its an intense lighter colour than that of her natural colouring it will be swollen a fair bit if she has a lot of fry waiting to come out but this is not always the case as young fish with there first drop dont usual show this so well.
D= note that the shape of her back has started to arch, this is her getting into position so the birth canal will allow fry to drop.
she will be panting but not as heavy as guppies do and she will either be quite on the bottom or in weeds or she could and most of mine done go into a reverse swimming motion with her head to the floor and her tail in the air.
well.... you could pen a section of the tank off with netting, or throw a floating plant or 6 in the tank to help, but i wouldn't move her into the breeding net.
Honestly this will sound harsh, but it's a platty, she is going to spend her entire life pregnant, if your fish snack on some of the babies that will be ok, because in 21 or so days you will have more.
Honestly this will sound harsh, but it's a platty, she is going to spend her entire life pregnant, if your fish snack on some of the babies that will be ok, because in 21 or so days you will have more.