About 4-5 weeks ago I bought two platy females from my local LFS. One is now pregnant. She is getting so large and has a darker spot (I believe its called a "gravid" spot). How long does it take for a platy to give birth? I purchased a breeding net today and placed her in it, but want to know how long I should have to wait until the babies are born and she can be put in with the rest of the community. Am I doing the right thing by putting her in the breeding/isolation net? I don't have a separate tank as I wasn't planning on breeding my fish. Are the fry pretty easy to raise? Once they get large enough to avoid being eaten by others, I will offer them to others I know with aquariums. Please, any advise/suggestions would be helpful.
Pregnant platy
- Thread starter Sally
- Start date
livebearer mother fish that are about due will slow thier activity and look for a quiet place to bear thier young.
without knowing exactly when they started developing the young I couldn't tell you when to a point they will have them and even then it would be only a general time period.
the best way to tell would be to spend some time observing the behavior of your two platys and noting differences. then you could use that knowlege to be able to tell when things start to change in preparation of the birth process
without knowing exactly when they started developing the young I couldn't tell you when to a point they will have them and even then it would be only a general time period.
the best way to tell would be to spend some time observing the behavior of your two platys and noting differences. then you could use that knowlege to be able to tell when things start to change in preparation of the birth process
Platies have a gestation period of 4-6 weeks. Since you don't know how long it has been since fertilization, Snake Ice's advice to watch for changes in behavior is expert.
As far as breeding nets go, some experts will advise against them since they sometimes stress the expectant mother and cause her to deliver her fry early. However, since you do not have a seperate breeding tank and run the risk of losing the fry to the other fish in the tank (including Mom), it would seem to be the best alternative. If your tank isn't already planted, another option would be to add some floating plants to your tank for the fry to hide in once they are birthed. You don't say how big your tank is, but using a tank divider might be another option. Be aware that the fry will be able to escape the breeding trap once they are born and will be at the mercy of other tankmates unless you take steps to protect them.
The fry are easy to raise, will grow quickly, and can be fed fine flake food.
As far as breeding nets go, some experts will advise against them since they sometimes stress the expectant mother and cause her to deliver her fry early. However, since you do not have a seperate breeding tank and run the risk of losing the fry to the other fish in the tank (including Mom), it would seem to be the best alternative. If your tank isn't already planted, another option would be to add some floating plants to your tank for the fry to hide in once they are birthed. You don't say how big your tank is, but using a tank divider might be another option. Be aware that the fry will be able to escape the breeding trap once they are born and will be at the mercy of other tankmates unless you take steps to protect them.
The fry are easy to raise, will grow quickly, and can be fed fine flake food.
Thanks for the advice. I have noticed her hanging out at the back, bottom of the tank lately. Not all the time, though. She's getting pretty big. My tank is 25 gallon high. I do have silk plants (quite a few) and rocks and drift wood for cover for some of my fish. I recently put in some floating live plants to provide some shade/cover near the top of the tank for my dwarf gourami. The breeding trap I bought consists of a mesh net with a plastic frame. The openings through the mesh seem pretty small. Although I have no idea how small baby platys are, I'm thinking they won't be able to get out of the trap. Anyway, thanks again. Any advice on this subject (or any other) is appreciated.
Sally.
Sally.
As always, the information obtained here is very helpful. My platy still hasn't given birth. I read somewhere on this site that a guppy and platy may interbreed. Is that true? If so, could my male fancy guppy have mated with my female platy? I've had them for exactly the same amount of time as I purchased them on the same shopping trip. So, if the female platy wasn't inseminated by a male platy at the LFS, but instead inseminated by my guppy, what happens? Is this something that I should worry about? Will the fry live? I'm a little bit concerned about it.
guppies and mollies have been interbred and platties and swordtails have been done the same with but those two groups are in different genuses and arn't likely that your guppie and plattie have interbred.
the guppie may have tried but it would be next to imposible for the eggs fertilized by him to be viable
the guppie may have tried but it would be next to imposible for the eggs fertilized by him to be viable
What a relief that it is likely that the guppy didn't fertilize my platy. One more question, for now. Probably not the last. I've noticed the guppy male is harassing mommy platy. He follows her around and hangs about her rear end. Could this be a sign that she's going to give birth soon? Or, just that she is pregnant. Thanks again, all.
Sally.
Sally.