# Sterile Platys?



## Lexus (Jan 19, 2005)

I've had these dwarf coral platys for a couple of months now and they dont seem to have babies. I have 1 male and 4 females and all seem very pregnant but they are not regular platys they are dwarf or balloon looking and no one has ever heard of them. Maybe they are having the babies and are being eaten but there are hiding places so anyways...
can these guys be sterile? maybe they are inbred and thats why they are dwarf/balloon like?


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## mousey (Jan 18, 2005)

Interesting question! My red wag male never seemed to be interested in the females and since they both died recently after giving birth i will never find out if he is fertile.( they were preg when i bought them.)
I have one guppy I bred myself who is a ballon guppy. She is short and chunky and has never been pregnant, unlike her sisters who have reproduced time and time again. She is massive and looks permanently pregnant but never gets any thinner and never drops any fry either. i have come to the conclusion she is sterile or else is carrying a belly full of dead fry!
mouse


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## swimmers (Jan 18, 2005)

Some places use steroids on livebearers to make them grow fast & colorful but it can make them sterile. Mouse, I have also had bad luck with red wag platys. They look nice & healthy but I never got but a handful of fry out of them & 2 always looked pregnant but never dropped any fry. Now the blue mickey mouse & the calico platys are another story - Babies everywhere I look & more due any day! I can't keep track any more....


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## mousey (Jan 18, 2005)

I was interested to hear that some breeders use hormones to grow the fish. I guess they do that with swords as they are an extremely slow growing critter!. if we had to wait for them to grow into buying size i figure there would be very few on the market and then very expensive.
i can't believe how slow they grow and how easily they die off despite my best fishkeeping habits. i have had 2 get big enough to go into the big tank with adults but the 2 fry who are left from the December batch are about the same size as they were when born.

thanks for your comment on the red wag platys. They are such pretty little things too. I do have some fry from the dead moms-- only about 7 of the 23!. Some of them are deformed but growing. i guess i won't want to get rid of them.They are so cute.
mouse


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## swimmers (Jan 18, 2005)

Hi Mouse, glad to hear you got a few fry. Some of mine had deformed spines also. They ate & grew up to a point, but never got as big as the healthy ones. Once even made it to the point of dropping fry but guess she couldn't do it & she died. When they are first born it's hard to see the deformity, but once they start to develop it's apparant. I hope yours continue to do well. If you need more platys let me know, I've got tons of them, calicos, yellow twin bar, blue mickey mouse, & now some of the blues are showing up as blue wags which is very pretty. Just saw more newborns today - YIKES, they are popping up everywhere.


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## cujothetech (Jul 12, 2006)

swimmers said:


> Hi Mouse, glad to hear you got a few fry. Some of mine had deformed spines also. They ate & grew up to a point, but never got as big as the healthy ones. Once even made it to the point of dropping fry but guess she couldn't do it & she died. When they are first born it's hard to see the deformity, but once they start to develop it's apparant. I hope yours continue to do well. If you need more platys let me know, I've got tons of them, calicos, yellow twin bar, blue mickey mouse, & now some of the blues are showing up as blue wags which is very pretty. Just saw more newborns today - YIKES, they are popping up everywhere.


hey if you still have exess platys iv got a 150gal setup always looking for new recuits if you want to sell some my email is [email protected]. thanks:fish:


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## fish_doc (Jan 31, 2005)

Wow march of 05 - a oldie but goodie.

This reminds me has anyone seen LEXUS lately? It looks like she hasn't been here since March.


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## Guest (Sep 7, 2006)

Yeah, I was wondering the same thing. I actually got kinda excited when i saw this post because i thought Lexus returned! lol


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