Telling if a fish is preg...

[Winterose]

How can i tell if some of my fish are pregnant? I've heard you can see some blackening in their tummies if they are? is that true? are there any other ways to tell?

[rich311k]

I amuse you mean some type of live bearer. She will get almost square and when she is really close a dark spot will form from the eyes of the fry all being in the same spot lining up to be released.

Egg layers get slightly larger and depending on species will color up or change colors.

[Winterose]

yes a livebearer. sweet i think one of my girls is close then :)

[Virtuoso2K12]

post some pics,wat kind?

[wataugachicken]

well, if it's a female guppy, molly, platy, or endler, and it's ever even seen a male of the species, then yes - it's pregnant. the only real question then is 'how far along?'

[J double R]

yes a livebearer. sweet i think one of my girls is close then :)


if you think theyre close.. wait a couple weeks. then, when you think it might explode, wait a few days longer. then you'll have fry. ;)

[Winterose]

A platy and I'll try to get pics she is camara shy lol, is it normal for a preg female to not want to be around anyone else?

[robbob2112]

When they are about to give birth, they hunt a quiet spot where they can have a little "me" time... then they start to shake a little and out pops a few young. With the mollies and swordtails it takes 12~24 hours for her to give birth to a large batch.

If you want them to live, make sure there are some hiding spots they can go to, or plenty of live plants to hide in. Those babies can turn on a dime and if they ca get a plant between them and the adults they get away more often than not.

[Winterose]

i was going to make a diy net to put babies in after they popped out using like pantie hose and a plastic frame from a strawberry container. what do you guys think?

[robbob2112]

You can certainly do that... The reasons I move my fry to a new tank is to reduce the bio load on my already fully stocked tank, make them easier to catch later, and it keeps my QT/grow out tank cycled... the ones I don't catch do just fine hiding in the plants until they are big enough to not be in danger. I am sure a couple get eaten, but there are always lots of survivors.

The first time I had fry I didn't have plants, so I just piled up some golf ball sized rocks and they stayed in the cracks until they were ready to come out. They know they are prey and hide good.

So, the question is... if you do save them all what are you going to do with them? I was worried about saving them until I ended up with a bunch more fish than I can handle... then I was taking them to a friend with an Oscar, but that is a lot of trouble... so I setup a 75g cichlid tank and use them as feeders, nice little cycle in the house with no waste.

[Winterose]

my lfs is always looking for platys to sell. and i know a bunch of people looking for some so i figured i would sell them

[lucy42083]

So, the question is... if you do save them all what are you going to do with them?

That was going to be my question. Unless you have extra tanks to set up for the fry, you'll be overrun with fish before you know it. So I wouldn't worry about saving every single fry, as long as you have sufficient hiding spaces many of the fry will survive just fine. If you have another tank with larger, predatory fish, you can always use the excess fry as feeders, which is what many people overrun with livebearers do.

[lucy42083]

Hmmm I have never, ever heard of a pet store paying for platies -- they usually have plenty of fry being born in their store to keep them supplied. Perhaps they would take them off your hands for free though. I also wouldn't really expect a lot people to pay for platy fry (for the same reason), but again, you may be able to give them away.

[Winterose]

nope i just have the one tank, mom won't let me get more tanks, and i wouldn't be saving them all only some of them. i paid for my platys, and my lfs always sells them quick and run out of the color combos i have rather quickly

[grannylvsfish]

Be careful, platys go non stop and I had 5 platy and got over 100 in a few short months. I gave mine away, as I have a constant add on craigs list :lol: keep none, give away what you get and realize you will explode with tons.

[Winterose]

ok