# Help prego platies



## arin (Mar 26, 2012)

I am very new to owning fish. I have had them for about 3 weeks now. have noticed that 2 of my platies bellies are getting bigger. If they are going to have babies i need advise on what to do.


----------



## dfish23 (Feb 21, 2012)

arin said:


> I am very new to owning fish. I have had them for about 3 weeks now. have noticed that 2 of my platies bellies are getting bigger. If they are going to have babies i need advise on what to do.


well there are a few things you can do. First option is to put the female in a breeding trap that you can get at any local pet store and will either be a net kind or plastic (ive used both and either one seems to work just fine). when she is close to giving birth put her inside with some plants, real or fake.You can tell if she is close to giving birth by the shape of her stomach. It will go from very round shape to a somewhat squared off shape. Once shes done giving birth, which can take as long as a day, you can release her back into the tank. feed the fry at least 2 times a day, however 5 or 6 smaller meals would be better. Keep in mind though platies can give birth to up to 60 fry at a time. of course most of the time is more around 20 or 30 but still you have to take into account if you will have room for that many fish and if, you dint want to keep all of them where you can re home them. 

Second option is to forget the breeding trap and "let nature take its course" and just add a good amount of floating plants, real or fake, to the tank for the fry to hide in. this usually results in only a couple fry making it to adulthood.


----------



## Pitluvs (Jun 22, 2011)

dfish23 said:


> Second option is to forget the breeding trap and "let nature take its course" and just add a good amount of floating plants, real or fake, to the tank for the fry to hide in. this usually results in only a couple fry making it to adulthood.


This is what we do, we have java moss and a few babies last every time and we rehome then. The first time your livebearer has babies, it's exciting and you want to keep/save them all. But, they will product a batch almost every month and at some point you're going to wish they didn't. My tank is FULL of swordtails. I would put some plants in and let the strongest and healthiest survive


----------



## arin (Mar 26, 2012)

Thanks that is very helpful i am going to the pet store sometime today to see what they have a pick something up. I think i will be leaving them in the tank i really don't have room for alot of babies. Also i will be looking for a new home for the male. might go and get a small tank and get another male and give them to my neice, she will think it great.


----------



## arin (Mar 26, 2012)

well went to the pet store and got some more plants that came with a cupple od snails lol and i got a breading net for the babies. also found out that my local pet store will take the fry once they are big enough  no worries about finding them homes. another question is there a website that i can look at to see what a platie looks llike before she is about to give birth?


----------



## AquaNinJa (Apr 6, 2012)

Oh goodness I am in the same situation! I have a pregnant platy also! I've been breeding tropical fish for about a year now and I'd love to give you some advice! One of my mickey mouse platys is pregnant also. What I do is I check up on my tank a lot. When I see fry in my large tank I put them in a breeding net. You can get breeding nets at almost any petstore. I highly recommend the one from TOP FIN because it is very cheap, and it works amazingly! I've had it for a year and it's never doubted me! I have that in the corner of my tank and as my fry are swimming around, to prevent them from getting eaten, I use my net and catch them and put them in the nursery. I don't really recommend the plastic breeders with the cracks at the bottom because of the lack of air flow and I think they would most likely get eaten in those by the mom if you don't take them out in time, plus being in the nursery can stress out the mom. Also keep in mind when you catch the fry in the large tank if that is what you decide to do, babies have a natural instinct of hiding, so some of them might be hiding in the gravel. Keep the net in hand just in case you just so happen to see a little fry peering out of the gravel or plants.
Hope this helps!


----------



## Pitluvs (Jun 22, 2011)

You'll notice your platy is about ready to give birth by the size of her stomach area, but also the color. If you notice the back of her stomach looks very dark, she's close to being ready to go. I just leave mine, because I find those breeding boxes a bit of a torture which stresses out mother fish. As a Mom of two children, I know that stress during labor can cause issues for Mom and baby. So, I don't stress my fish out with those boxes.


----------



## arin (Mar 26, 2012)

AquaNinJa said:


> Oh goodness I am in the same situation! I have a pregnant platy also! I've been breeding tropical fish for about a year now and I'd love to give you some advice! One of my mickey mouse platys is pregnant also. What I do is I check up on my tank a lot. When I see fry in my large tank I put them in a breeding net. You can get breeding nets at almost any petstore. I highly recommend the one from TOP FIN because it is very cheap, and it works amazingly! I've had it for a year and it's never doubted me! I have that in the corner of my tank and as my fry are swimming around, to prevent them from getting eaten, I use my net and catch them and put them in the nursery. I don't really recommend the plastic breeders with the cracks at the bottom because of the lack of air flow and I think they would most likely get eaten in those by the mom if you don't take them out in time, plus being in the nursery can stress out the mom. Also keep in mind when you catch the fry in the large tank if that is what you decide to do, babies have a natural instinct of hiding, so some of them might be hiding in the gravel. Keep the net in hand just in case you just so happen to see a little fry peering out of the gravel or plants.
> Hope this helps!


Thanks for the advise. I do have nest and I was planning on putting the Fry that I can catch in it. How long do you usually leave them in there? I am always watching my tank and my two platies....Really hoping that they don't have them at night as i might lose them all but i guess that is the way it goes sometimes.


----------



## AquaNinJa (Apr 6, 2012)

I usually leave the babies in for about 1-2 months, also depending on they're size. Usually since I have other fish I breed in my tank I need more room for fry. If I am over stocked I usually just release them into the big tank when they are big enough to not hide in the gravel or big enough to not get eaten  most fry are really good at hiding especially in the gravel away from bigger fish, so you wouldn't have a large problem


----------



## arin (Mar 26, 2012)

Well here it is the night before Easter and my 4 year old is fast asleep waiting for the bunny. me and my boyfriend are up watching 1 of the platies. she looks like she is going to burst and she has lost alot of color and she was hiding in the plants. We put her in the breading net and nothing yet. going to wait awhile and if nothing happens will probley put her back in the tank and hope for the best.


----------



## arin (Mar 26, 2012)

well false alarm no fry yet


----------

