# Pregnant Platy's



## damochil (Jan 28, 2012)

Hi, this is my first post on here. Pretty new to fish keeping.

I have a giorb 30l, with 3 Tri-Colour platy's (1 male, 2 female), 2 male guppies & 2 glass catfish.

About 3 weeks ago, I noticed that my female platy's were getting rather large. I have a 2nd 15l tank set up ready, which has a single fry that I found swimming around in the biorb. I got this out as quick as I could, as I have heard that the majority of fry get sucked down into the filter area in biorb tanks. I had another female platy that died, I think this fry was from her as the other 2 were already rather large when I found it.

My 2 female platy's are now very large, but they don't have a very dark gravid spot. They both have a darkish orange area near the anal fin, but it isn't black as most have suggested that it should be on here. They look to be squaring off slightly, but their appetite and activity hasn't changed at all.

Just wondering how long people think they have, and whether I should get them across into the breeding tank soon.

I will try and get some pics to put up on here, but every time I go close to the tank they think that it is feeding time and go crazy.


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## Pandapop (Dec 29, 2009)

Not all platies will develope the darker colored gravid spots. Some (which might be your case) have a reddish/pink coloring to the gravid area, it's just harder to see the fry this way. Your pregnant platies may drop within the next day or so, or may even take up to another week before you start seeing the fry. 

In my experience, platies are pigs. They will eat, and they will eat a lot. Though I'm 100% positive your platies are pregnant and not just fat (as there is a male present), some of that stomach might be from what they recently ate. The easiest way to tell just how far along your platies are, is to not feed them for a day or two. It won't hurt the fish, they'll pick at algae or left-over food within the tank. But this will give them time to pass that older food through their system. 

My platies tend to seem less interested in food the day or two before dropping. They'll hang around the heater, or somewhere away from the males and other fish that might be pestering them. That's the time I take them out of the main tank and either plop them into a breeder net or a separate tank of their own.

Your glass catfish (depending on their size) will also see the fry as food.


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## Fishpunk (Apr 18, 2011)

You do have to be the one controlling diet because most livebearers will eat themselves sick.


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## damochil (Jan 28, 2012)

I thought the same, and didn't feed them for 36 hours. No change in their appearance.

Any tips on taking pics through the tank? I can't get anything decent.


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## damochil (Jan 28, 2012)

One platy has now given birth today. Trouble is, I'm not sure which one has given birth so I am having to keep them both in the breeding tank. They both still look pretty fat, and the colour of their gravid spot hasn't changed.

With regards to the fry swimming up through the grid and being eaten by the mothers, has anyone modified their plastic breeder so that the newborn can drop out of the bottom into the fry tank? Considering trying that once both females have given birth.


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