# platys' pregnancy



## Daniel1 (Aug 30, 2006)

hi i have a 10 gallons tank...parameters are fine
0 ammonia
20 nitrate
0 nitrite
79 temp

i have 4 platies 1 male 3 female..1 black neon ...3 white skirts....and 2 blindcave fish..i know its a little overstocked but im planning to pass some fish to other tank..i would like to know about my platies getting pregnant...what do they need? how often do they get pregnant?..do they have to be the same size to mate?...what do i do with the fry?..will they eat the fry?...can the other tankmates interfere with the process of mating?...how many fry can they give bitrh to?.
Daniel
Thnks!!


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## Lupin (Aug 1, 2006)

Nothing special is needed. Platies are "gravid", not "pregnant".
Pregnant is a mammalian term.
If you provide your tank severla thickets of plants, then the fry have chances of survival. They aren't known good hiders for nothing.
The tetras will eat them and so will the platies but with plants, some will survive.
Personally, I'd leave them alone. They are quite prolific. A single mating will allow the female to produce several batches of fry in months.


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## Daniel1 (Aug 30, 2006)

all right and thanks for the term 
i just wanted to know one last thing...one of the females is a littles bit fatter .... she eats well ...she is not as big as the male..but ive read that when they dont swim with the other and stay down at the bottom behind plants could be a sign of them being gravid.....is that true....can she be gravid??..or is this just that she has been eating a lot?...
Daniel


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## Ringo (Apr 10, 2006)

The gravid spot on Common liverbears, cannot usualy be missed. quite big and black.
A few days before she gives birth her stomach will ''sqaure'' off, just behind her anal fin.
A few of the fry should survive, unless you don't have that many plants. But some usualy survive anyway.

A good plant to get is Java Moss, The fry can easily get in the plant and live off the algea until they are big enough to come out.

Gravid Basicaly means Pregnant. 90% of the time if you have a female with a male she will be gravid.
livebearers that have mated once can have up to six batches of fry. After the first mating it seems to take about 5 weeks for her to have her batch of fry, then about every 3 week after until she runs out.
The common number of fry are 5-35 every time she drops, but theres been batches of 100+


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## doggydad38 (Jan 18, 2005)

Not all Platy color varieties show a gravid spot. Reds and gold come to mind. However, all livebearers "square off" at the vent when birth is imminent. If you look at your female, most of the time there is an even curve to the contours of her belly from gill plate to peduncle. When she is ready to deliver, you will notice that the area around the vent does have a distinctly square appearance. I wish I could be more discriptive, but once you've seen it, you will recognize it. Hope this helps.
Tony


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## doggydad38 (Jan 18, 2005)

Not all Platy color varieties show a gravid spot. Reds and Golds come to mind. However, all livebearers "square off" at the vent when birth is imminent. If you look at your female, most of the time there is an even curve to the contours of her belly from gill plate to peduncle. When she is ready to deliver, you will notice that the area around the vent does have a distinctly square appearance. I wish I could be more discriptive, but once you've seen it, you will recognize it. Hope this helps.
Tony


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## tonkstoy2003 (Jun 12, 2006)

FROM WHAT I KNOW SO FAR AS I HAVE OVER 70 MOLLY FRY, FIRST BATCH WAS JUNE 18 OF THIS YEAR. I'VE READ QUITE A FEW THINGS ONLINE THAT STATE THAT LIVEBEARERS CAN HOLD SPERM UP TO 6 MONTHS AND HAVE FRY EVERY 3-4 WEEKS WITHOUT A MALE. SO WITH A SINGLE MATING YOU CAN HAVE QUITE A FEW FRY.  TAKE CARE
~JAMIE


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## tonkstoy2003 (Jun 12, 2006)

doggydad38 said:


> Not all Platy color varieties show a gravid spot. Reds and gold come to mind. However, all livebearers "square off" at the vent when birth is imminent. If you look at your female, most of the time there is an even curve to the contours of her belly from gill plate to peduncle. When she is ready to deliver, you will notice that the area around the vent does have a distinctly square appearance. I wish I could be more discriptive, but once you've seen it, you will recognize it. Hope this helps.
> Tony


YOU ARE CORRECT ABOUT ONCE YOU'VE SEEN IT, YOU'LL RECOGNIZE IT BECAUSE WHEN MY FIRST MOLLY WAS PREGNANT, I WAS FREAKING OUT AND SOMEONE TOLD ME THE SAME EXACT THING, AND NOW I HAVE LOTS OF FRY... LMAO.. SO YOU'RE CORRECT ON THAT ONE.. THEY DO GET REALLY SQUARE AND YOU CAN NOTICE THAT THEY WILL START ACTING STRANGER THAN NORMAL.. ALL OF MY MOLLIES THAT ARE READY TO HAVE THE FRY END UP SCRAPING THEMSELVES ON THE ROCKS AND JUST ACTING STRANGE 
~JAMIE


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