BettaGirl92

I think I have a pregnant Platy fish. No pictures as of right now, because i'm not home, but hopefully i'll get some tongiht.

Im new to this and have NO idea what to do.
So.

If she is pregnant... Help me?

Ghostdog

Hello I am also fairly new to tropical fishkeepingso You will need to check with one of the experienced keepers, but from what I have read you need to get a breeding trap so the fry can escape the parents who I am told will almost certainly eat them.
What I think is important is that you dont move the mother at this stage to another tank in case the stress kills her, but please doubklecheck with all that I have written because I might be wrong.
What I know for certain though is that platys are prolific breeders, and this will be a frequent event.

COBettaCouple

Sounds like she's been in the tank with males, so she is pregnant.

What we did with our pregnant platy was: gave her lots of plants (fake) in the tank, including a bunch of them planted in a corner of the tank away from the filter. We also wrapped fish net netting around the intake tube of the filter and changed the substrate to flat glass marbles (for the fry to hide in). You could also put some caves in and some floating 'guppy grass'.

Any or all, the goal is to give the fry places to hide until you can fish them out. Taking the fry out is a bit of work, but you'll get the maximum to safety by first taking out the adult fish (into a large covered container - you could put the airstone in with them too if you want). Then carefully take the decor and substrate out (into another large container with enough tank water to keep it all wet). A turkey baster is how we'd catch the fry and move them to a container with some tank water in it. They hide VERY well and you'll even find them in the debris on the tank bottom. I'd go ahead and clean the bottom with the turkey baster, being sure to not throw out any fry.

Once they're out of the tank, you can acclimate them to a tank for raising them in. Ideally a 10g or more with either a sponge filter or a filter setup with the fish net netting over the intake tube. Leave the bottom bare for easier cleanup and put some caves and maybe plants in for them to have places to feel safe in and swim to when they want to hide.

For food, we crushed a combination of foods into powder and fed them 3 or 4 times a day the first month.. moving to crumbled flakes as soon as they were able to eat them. Cyclo-peeze flakes and Omega One veggie flakes are what we'd recommend.

goggles

ok. cobettacouple gave some good advice but it is alot of hard work especaily if it your first batch. i am luck y cuz i have a permanent breeding tank set up as i breed livebearers all the time. what i do is when my females are about to drop (i know this cuz most of them stop feeding about 2 days before) i remove the female and put her in a floating breeding trap in the other tank. then after birthing remove the female from the box into the same tank for a few days. do this to stop stress to her cuz the male will be on her case straight away to breed again.
once she is ready to go back in your main tank after just let the fry go in the other tank as keeping them in a small space for too long can stunt the growth.
as for food, i use proper fry food. start them off on liquifry no.2 for a bout a week or so then switch to liquifry no.3 which is a fine powder, feed this 3-5 times daily until they are 1/3 of adult size. only then should you go to adult flake food. these two foods will promote good growth and good colouring in the fish.
i hope it all go's well and let us know how it doe's.
use which ever advice you choose as both will be fine.

BettaGirl92

okay, thanks for the advice.
here are some pictures and a video, so.
PLEASE get back to me about them.
I have three, and know all about the whole fin thing to tell the difference.
but can you guys help me?
thanks again.















Sorry about the bad quality, i had to take them on webcam. The last picture is Spotz, and i think she's pregnant.
But let me know about the others too.
They're in the video.
Thanks!

BettaGirl92

haha, i accidentally put a picture of my molly, jersey, in there.