Platy

lioness501

im no expert but have learnt alot about livebearers! if u have any questions send me a message, ill c if i can help ya out!!! i got a molly once, was showing no signs of bing preg, 2 days later she gave birth to 10 fry! she wasnt even fat. as i had no idea i only managed to save 1 before my other nasties ate them all!!!!! i lost mum but baby is 6 months old nearly its lovely knowing u brought them up!!!!

speterso

I sure will! That sounds like what happened to me, I wouldn't have known this one was pregnant hadn't the store told me and she had about 8 or so that I know of...only 2 swam and the mother got them before I could do anything...the rest were dead eggs....if I'd known, I would have removed the mother but I thought I should leave her alone for a few hours....again, ...learning!! Thanks again and I'll let you know if I have more questions. Thanks!

fish_4_all

One thing that might have caused the babies to leave the bottom where they shouljd havestayed was a new tank and possible presence of ammonia of the lack circulation. Is why I don't like the seperator breeders so much because the circulation is poor at best and they are just too small. If you can find one, get one of the net breeders and get some elodea/Anacharis to put in there. This works very well with my swords and I have very few that get eaten that way.

Also, remeber to feed the mother well as she is giving birth. My female swords ate like pigs when giving birth and i think it helps for them to have a full belly to deter them from eating the fry.

speterso

Thank you for the info...that makes sense...I'll give that a try, thanks again!!

binaryjripper

I think I might know why they swam up. The plastic piece in the breeder tank that separates the top from the bottom has two different sides. One side has a large opening and the other has a narrow opening so it's harder for the lil fish to swim back up. Maybe you had the piece the other way around.

speterso

I never noticed that, thank you, I bet you're right. I'll pay attention to that next time! Thanks again!!

Wengfish

My sunset Platy sank to the bottom of the tank for a day so I thought she might be going to give birth but her tummy is totally flat. Anyway, I just put her in the breeding tank (with sections).

After 5-6 hours, I saw little balls of Platy fry. They are fertilised as I can see a pair of eyes in each of the balls, however they are not moving. The mother fish is still sinking to the bottom of the breeding tank (more babies???)

Will the "eggs" ever hatch if i wait long enough? or should I discard them?

I have never noticed my sunset Platy being pregnant. They don't look fat and their babies are orangey so it is difficult to see any black spot near its tail.... May I know how to see if the sunset platies are pregnant?
(for my emerald Platy it is rather obvious when it is pregnant. grows really fat n you can see a black spot near the tail...)

speterso

I'm not familiar with platys (I originally thought I had a Platy but soon learned that is was a molly) so I am unable to advise how you can figure out if it's pregnant or not. My black molly always got huge and it seemed each time she had babies, she was even bigger the next time. I guess this makes sense as I've heard that they have more and more babies as each birth takes place. She gave birth about every 40 days. Her last birth was the first time she layed on the bottom of the tank. She soon died after this last birth, so I don't know if that had anything to do with it or not. :( Anyways, those "eggs with eyes" are not going to hatch...they are fry that didn't make it (or fully form), so they can be removed. I've had that happen everytime my molly has given birth, but there were always plenty that did survive...so you may find a few that live (they will be tiny fish, not eggs) and you'll see them swimming around a little. If this is your platys first birth, you may not have any that survive but you never know. That was how it was with my molly. However, she has had 3-4 births after and have always had plenty survivors. I think my molly only took a couple of hours to have all her babies, so I'm not sure if your Platy is finished or not. I've read that it could go on for a day or so, but I never noticed that with my molly. I had a Guppy who also had babies but I never had any unhatched fry (egg looking with eyes) ...any fry that died in the breeder tank were basically "belly up" but fully formed. I hope this helps, as I'm still learning myself, but I believe this follows suit with all the livebearers. :D