Pregnant?

[PurpleSmurf]

I'm pretty sure my gold crescent platy is pregnant (Yay!) but I'm not 100% sure, just 90% because of the way she's been balooning up.

How soon should I expect her to pop? (And as would follow: how soon should I begin to grow brine shrimp/ prepare fry food?)

What should I do to prep my tank? It's mid-cycle; I had .25 nitrite this afternoon but have done a 10% and a 20% change since.

Would buying another tank to place the expecting mother in be wise? I could perform two 50% changes into it, transfer from substrate and keep.... something inside to keep the cycle going.

Bwahg! Help!

 

[Blinky]

From your pics, it's tough to tell - you'd need a good side shot to show if she's got a gravid spot, but honestly, it's hard to find a female platy that's been anywhere near a male who's not pregnant, so chances are good If you can get some fine-leaved plants (real or artificial), they'll help the fry to hide from mom and the other tank inhabitants. Java moss is great for fry, a bunch of hornwort or cabomba will also probably work well.
I wouldn't move the female, stress can cause them to give birth early, losing the fry and endangering their health. She should give birth soon, their gestation period isn't too long - somewhere from four to maybe six or eight weeks at the outside.

 

[PurpleSmurf]

I'll go hunt down some java moss tomorrow or Friday (get to look at some of the smaller LFS in town as I havn't seen any good plants at Petsmart/PetCo ). I have two hornwort already in the tank with a fake... thing.

Just did another 20% change and my nitrites are down to 0ppm. Ammonia test kit is on the wish list. =/

What should I get in the way of fry food?

 

[RanchuRick]

A very convenient fry food is brine shrimp pellet. Just crumble a small piece with your fingers. I have about 30 fries from two batches, all started with the brine shrimp 'powder'. They are doing great and the three-weeks old are starting to take in frozen dalphnia and brine shrimp now.

Java moss works great, but with the other occupants in the 10G I would consider a breeding tank, just on the safe side.