Is my Platy fish pregnant?

Question

This seems to be the most frequently asked question and I have been able to find a lot of information but not quite enough. I have a female Platy who is mostly orange with black fins. I'm not sure whether or not she's preggo. Her tummy is slightly swollen and looks like it has turned slightly silver translucent...but not quite (more silver than anything). Is there anyone that can show me a picture of a preggo platty? She doesn't seem to have a gavid spot and i would love to have fry. But i just can't tell for sure....please help.

YES I HAVE TWO FEMALES AND ONE MALES PLATY.

oH...off subject... but how do i respond to your answers you are giving me...

Answer 1

I'm assuming you also have a male platy for her to be pregnated. Sometimes platies of that color are a little hard to tell. She should become very fat though not just a little.

You know it's hard to say "when" is the exact right time and too early can =
stress her out. Depending on what kinds of other fish you have in the same =
tank you might do as I do and get some real live plant material that is ext=
ra frilly and soft with lots of places for the fry to hide and wait until y=
ou see a fry hiding in the plants, then put her in the breeding net. Unless=
it's too late and you see lots of fry hiding "lol" in the plants. I have 2=
tanks, one for the babies after they're born. If she has them in the tank =
she's already in, there is less stress and if you don't have too many other=
fish just pull some water from your tank in a separate container and put a=
ll the grown-up fish in it while you catch all the babies and move them to =
another container. Be sure to use mainly water from the original tank unles=
s you already have another that has been set-up for a while.=0AThis method =
works good for me most of the time unless I can really tell when birth time=
has come.=0ARemember the fry will be somewhat balled up when they first go=
to the bottom so if you see that,. you could be witnessing the birth as it=
's happening so watch for balled up fry on the bottom They don't stay balle=
d up too long before they open up and can swim around.=0A =0Ahope this help=

Answer 2

Another way to tell is to look at your Platy head on, or down onto her, you should be able to see her sides bulging out much further than your others - unless your other female is preggo too.

As has been said, do not put the adult fish in a birthing net. Being enclosed in a small space will cause the fish to stress resulting in her aborting the pregnacy or her death.

When she's about to give birth she'll become a lot less active, often staying down at the bottom of the tank, and if you have plants she'll hide in them.

You can buy birthing mats and we've been resonably successful with them. Tangled growths of real plants can be good for the babies to hide in too. Some of the more recent makes of plastic plants can be dense too and serve as good hiding places for the fry.

Once you see the fry catch them and put them in a birthing tank/net. If you use a small plastic floating tank make sure it doesn't submerge so the airhole is underwater. Change the water in it everyday and remove any uneaten food. Feed the fry a little at a time roughly three times a day.

Answer 3

platys can have about 12 fry, but the mother will eat her young if not separated soon enough. i had a pregnant platy, had her in the breeder's net when i saw she was about to give birth, and she ate a couple of her babies before i got her out of the net. i suggest putting the other platy in a separate breeding net when you see a little white lump where it looks like she poops (that's when you know she's about to give birth within the next few days) so when she has her fry they'll all be in there except for a few stragglers that might come out later on. if you have a small tank laying around, i suggest putting the babies in there after you have them in the net so no babies will get caught between the plastic and the net, and you'll have more room in the tank. make sure all the fry get fed, and the water isn't too cold. my platy had babies and only one survived through the next 2 weeks, until i went on vacation, and when i came back the poor little guy died. he got so big, but no one was around to take care of him :( i feel so bad, so make sure you do some more research and get the proper things you need. hope i helped!

Answer 4

This Site Might Help You.

RE:
Is my Platy fish pregnant?
This seems to be the most frequently asked question and I have been able to find a lot of information but not quite enough. I have a female Platy who is mostly orange with black fins. I'm not sure whether or not she's preggo. Her tummy is slightly swollen and looks like it has turned...

Answer 5

You did get a couple of good answers about how to tell if she's pregnant or not. HOWEVER, don't believe the hype of "don't put them in breeding nets or they will miscarry, blah blah blah". That's a bunch of malarky. I breed and provide my "normal" fish to the school systems for classroom pets and learning tools (NOT DISSECTION or to kill them in any way!), plus I breed to sell awesome, beautiful fish to 2 local fish stores. If I did not use breeding nets, traps or secondary tanks, I would not have enough fish to do these things!!

I would suggest that IF you are just doing this as "fun", you do let them have the fish in the tank. It's the type of thing that "only the strongest survive". And if they do survive, they deserve to!! I would just suggest that if you have a HOB filter, that you get a pre-filter so it doesn't suck the fry up in to it, that's horrible when they get sucked up. IF, however, you want to keep a bunch of these guys (and they DO have a bunch at a time!), that you wait until she definately looks like she is going to "POP" and put her in to a breeding net or separate tank. I do this about 4 days prior to the time I think they are ready to have them. I have NEVER had a fish abort all of it's fry from moving them. IF that does happen, it's just a fluke thing and they normally don't abort them all, maybe just a few eggs (in my experience). I've even caught fish while they were in the process of GIVING BIRTH and never had a problem.

So it's really your call as to whether or not to use a breeding net, put her in a separate tank, etc. But what I think is even more important is that "mom" gets to have a rest for about 24 hours AFTER she has the fry, as this is very stressful on them, and sometimes the males are just relentless and actually badger the mother till death. I have had this happen a couple of times, and I've also lost fish right after birth too (even while separated). It's not uncommon.

The more you do this, the better you'll get and the better you'll understand. When she does have her fry, make sure you write it down on your calendar, this way you will have a good idea of approximately when she will have a new batch! If I know they are pregnant, I tend to put them in to whatever it is I'm going to use at about day 28. It can take anywhere from 28-35 days for them to have the fry and the mother can store enough to have 7-8 more batches of fry even if the male has been removed. They pretty much stay pregnant all the time.

If you have any questions along the way, feel free to drop me an e-mail, I'd be happy to help you out. So long as she's getting progressively chunkier and rounder, and you don't see any signs of illness (scales protruding, etc.), you can pretty much bet she's pregnant. Having fry is so much fun.

GOOD LUCK!!! ;o)

Answer 6

Very likely she is. Platies give birth to live young and the adults (including mother) will eat them so they need immediate cover. You'll find they instinctively dive for the bottom, we've found that a crumpled up plastic pot scrubber anchored to the bottom provides useful shelter until they're big enough and aware enough to venture out, plus one just floating around free, They can get in but the adults cannot.

Answer 7

Livebearers usually are pregnant, lol. She'll start showing a gravid spot soon. The blacker it gets, the closer she is to her due date.

Don't put her in a breeding net to give birth - the stress can cause her to miscarry. Leave her in the community and watch her closely. When she starts giving birth, move the babies over to a breeding net without Mum.

Just a note: Female livebearers like platies can become pregnant at will for up to 6 months after mating. So you may want to seperate the male/s lol.

Answer 8

here is a pic of an extremely pregnant platy http://www.canadianaquariumconnection.com/jb_images/pp10.jpg

Answer 9

First of all do you have a male Platy fish in the tank?
Just go to the website listed below.
http://joshmadison.com/aquarium/images/fish/swordtail-female-2309-lg.jpg

Answer 10

A pregnant fish will have a flatter shape along the bottom instead of being rounded... where their "belly" is distended. It should look something like this --> http://joshmadison.com/aquarium/images/fish/swordtail-female-2309-lg.jpg