# We have birthage...or something...oh dear



## humdedum (Feb 18, 2009)

So my 55 is still being cycled-ish. (Used Stability and a mature filter) And it's at 0.25 ammonia, slowly hacking away at that. There is one male platy, and two female platys. 

The females both had gravid spots, but weren't huge or boxed up, which is what I wanted...I didn't want to deal with fry in less-than-perfect water or stress out any close-to-term mommies with a move...

Anyway, bought them Tuesday. They all ate, today I noticed that one of the females slightly bullies the other female, but the tank is so big it's hardly an issue. 

Then half an hour ago I saw a fry! A real, swimming, little platy fry. I went and caught it, but I can't figure out which one gave birth to it. 

And they shouldn't be giving birth, right? They should be...you know...all box-y and not slightly balloon-y as they both are now. 

I popped both in separate breeder traps and have the fry in a little tupperware, which is floating in the tank as well. What do you recommend I do? Is the fry a fluke, and I should let the females go? 

It's not under-developed or anything, it swims like a demon and it took a while to actually catch it.

AGGGGGGGH, was not prepared. But I never am, eh? The fish keep me on my toes.


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## humdedum (Feb 18, 2009)

Nevermind that. Figured out which one...never would have guessed she was up to term...

She gave birth to four more -- five total. Ate two right in front of me, so I moved her to an adjacent birthing trap to spare the remaining three.


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## Skorpy (May 1, 2011)

Awww

They are full of surprises arn't they lol
My Molly is due her second batch around Monday, so I will be fry catching too.

Had anymore since?


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## humdedum (Feb 18, 2009)

No kidding!  I hope the molly's delivery goes nice and smoothly. 

There were no more this morning; she might have dropped but probably gobbled them up, if anything.  

Good news, though! The three remaining fry are eating well! *fist pump* 

I spotted a fourth one this morning, but was not able to catch him. Grrrrr.


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## Skorpy (May 1, 2011)

Busy buisness having livebearers. I have never dealt with them before my Molly and swordtail had theirs. 

I was going to ask if she was any thinner, but you said you couldn't tell anyway, because she didn't seem full term. That do't help you either, does it.

When my molly has her second batch, I am just going to give them to my local fish store. I have no more room in my other tank. I just can't bear the thought of the little cuties being eaten, no matter how many I get. At the end of the day, they are still babies that deserve the chance to live.

But if any get eaten, then there is nothing you can do about it, but at least you tried.
Let us know how it goes


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## egoreise (Mar 16, 2011)

My blue mickey mouse platies have been giving birth, too! Unbearably cute little things... The other day, I watched one fry take on a full length of bloodworm. >_<

I just have them in my 40 gallon community tank, so I'm sure many have been eaten... There are tons of hiding places, but the ones left are surprisingly brave and will swim around in open waters. I guess I keep the gourami, rainbow shark, and elephantnose well enough fed that they don't really care.

Yesterday I was cleaning the tank and I had to take out a silk plant that had turned dark brown with algae, and when I did I bumped the plant next to it... ten babies came out and swam around all frantically. I had thought I only had three babies!


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## humdedum (Feb 18, 2009)

Actually she is noticeable thinner, but still a bit round. I can see a tiny face right under her gravid spot, and assume she still has some more babies to drop but hasn't yet. 

Sadly my tank has about one pretty lame hiding place for fry. There's a vase-like decoration with holes in it, a cave/bridge/fake-coral thing, a fake plant, and two terracotta pots. One is from my other tank, and I moved it over because it's coated in algae...there's no algae growth in the tank otherwise. The bridge/cave/coral is right in front of the plant, which is right in the back corner, and I've seen one fry hiding there, but the adults come by there too. 

This afternoon I'll be going out and can hopefully pick up a chunk of hornwort or something.


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## julem35 (Dec 22, 2010)

Congrats!!


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## humdedum (Feb 18, 2009)

Got two hornwort bunches from PetSmart. They simply will not stay down! So I sort of wedged some ends under the save part of the coral decoration.  

Here's the weird thing: the mom definitely still has at least two or three little faces inside of her...I can see the pairs of eyes staring back at me when I look at her. Were these past fry, like, preemies of the fish world?


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## egoreise (Mar 16, 2011)

Yay for hiding places! Did you get real hornwort or plastic?

I've also seen a lot of mine favoring the little space under the moss balls...

And, I've been known to take cheap plastic plants with cheap plastic bases and combine them together to make one thick plant, and glue it to a rock base with aquarium silicone.  It works well.


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## humdedum (Feb 18, 2009)

Real hornwort; we'll see how long it lasts until it starts crumbling to nothingness in my tank.  For some reason, I've never had success with live plants except for one Amazon sword that lived, like, forever. Even in incandescent! 

I just saw those moss ball things at PetCo and then again today at PetSmart! I was going to ask about them, actually. I didn't know if they were true aquatic or anything, so I refrained from buying any. Turns out it's actually little balls of alga? That's pretty cool.  Do you think it's worth buying one?


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## DJSpahn (May 7, 2011)

Thats great. And i saw the balls in petsmart too and thought wow thats expensive 6$ for one. Right now im debating on either to move my new molly fry to a 10gal or leave it open for other fish.


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## egoreise (Mar 16, 2011)

I love mine so far! The price is good, considering they can potentially reach 12". If not cared for, they can crumble apart, which I assume would be fun to clean up.... They can do low or high light... Care just involves picking them up once per week during cleanings and squeezing the water out, then replacing them. Flip them so the same side isn't always on the bottom. I love mine, but I've only had them a couple weeks. I have one that feels like it could fall apart, so I was thinking of holding it together with some sewing thread.


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## humdedum (Feb 18, 2009)

Well, having just three has indeed led to bullying as I'd suspected. At least it's three and not two like last time! 

The other female dropped too, I think. She's all thin now but worn out. I wonder where all those fry went? Can't even spot one tiny pair of eyes!


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## Betta man (Mar 25, 2011)

I had my platys breed and the female died in childbirth. It's sad.


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## humdedum (Feb 18, 2009)

Oh, that's not good! I read that if she dies suddenly during birth, you can slit her stomach open with a razor blade or knife and release the fry. The survival rate of these fry is about 50% but still worth it if it's a high quality female.

I wonder if anyone on the forums has done this?


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