pregnant platy?

[russgore]

:help:

I am pretty sure my platyis pregnant. Does anyone who has more experience with this than I know from these pictures which I took last night? If so, how far along does she look? I am gone during the day and would really like to avoid the babies being eaten by the other fish (I have a large angelfish, several other platys, and tetras, zebra danios and glass and albino catfish). Should I get one of those breeding containers and put it in the tank and her in it? Any assistance is appreciated.

 

[kj5kb]

Looks like this might be a balloon platy? If not, it's very preggers. Otherwise looks exactly like my orange (aka gold) twinbar platys.

If you want to try to save them in the tank, a big wad of java moss makes a great hiding place for fry. You could use weighted hornwort/cabomba, etc too, but they like to float, and the fry will tend toward the bottom at first.

I don't like the breeder traps...the small space seems stressful for the fish. Rather, put her in her own small tank (even a 1 or 2G, but bigger is better) with some cover for the fry; then take her out once she drops the fry...

 

[leighasnana]

That fish is very pregnant. I would say she'd have them within the week but that's a guess only. How long has she been this big?

 

[ILOVEBETTAS]

That fish is NOT pregnant.

I say that why? It has no gravid spot. A fish that pregnant would have a huge gravid spot.

Unless I can't see the spot, I think you may be overfeeding.

 

[jm1212]

that fish could very likely be pregnant. platies have been known to have 100 babies at a time, and the gravid spot appears right at the end of the pregnancy. she could be in the later stages before the babies are ready.

the gravid spot doesnt HAVE to appear, either. my silver molly was kindof pregnant when i got her. she was a little chubby, but not massive. two weeks later, she looked like she was going to explode, and sure enough i had 50 molly fry. no gravid spot ever appeared.

 

[ILOVEBETTAS]

IME they have gravid spots during a huge time of the pregnancy...

That's weird though, that you never saw a gravid spot and I always do...

 

[mozart]

I've never seen my platy's gravid spots--just big bellies followed by fry. They have a tendency to hide before delivery. Sometimes the bellies aren't even that big. Hiding spots will keep them alive, but I understand angels eat neons so they may have to hide until they get pretty big!