Titi

I went to the pet store today and bought three platies for my tank. Two are females and one is a male. One of my females looks very pregnant. She was the largest platy in the tank at the store. She has a big gravid spot, and is really fat.
How do I tell when to put her in the breeder net? Should I put her in at all, after the stress she has gone through being moved from the store to my tank?

isis

Hi there

I’m no expert, but I’ve had guppies and I’ve seen that it’s best to put them in the breeder net long before they will give birth. The other fish tend to bug her when she is expecting. Sometimes they will abort the babies (because of the stress caused by the other fish bugging her)... and I’ve heard (not sure if it’s true though) that she might even ‘keep them in’ for too long and most will then be still born.
With the guppies you can actually see when she is pregnant (she gets a black area behind her tail). I’m not sure about platy’s though.

Hope it helps... but I’m sure one of the more experienced guys will come to your rescue

Titi

Thanks for the reply. My platy looks pretty active right now, but I'll probably move her into the net later tonight so the other fish don't stress her too much.

isis

How is your platy doing?

Wyoming_Bound

Dont put a female platy in a breeder. she wont drop her fish due to stress.

Titi

I didn't put the platy in the breeder after all. My male died, and I was busy with that, then a water change, so I never put her in. She's still swimming around the tank, but now she looks ready to explode!
When she has the fry, should I just pick them out with a net and put them in the breeder?

misty spills

what type of net breeder is is because sometimes if they are not used to it they get agitated and can hurt themselves if there is something to hurt themselves on and you have to make sure that oxygen get in there iswell...

if it has nothing that they could hurt them selves on and is big enough i wont hurt to put them in now, if they are ready to pop aswell

Titi

Its a Lee's Fish Net Breeder. It has a plastic frame with a net on the outside. The corners of the plastic could probably hurt the fish if she swam into it, but she does look ready to pop.

Does anyone know how quickly the mother eats the babies after their born? If I find them soon enough, will I be able to save most of the fry?

misty spills

they eat them as soon as they see them... and i had one of those net breeders i found they got cuts from them so i got a single plastic one with no sharp edges and it does better than anything else

when guppies are born normally they swim straight down and hide for a day if they can... without getting eaten

instead of breeding traps have a well planted bottom and some floating plants iswell. that should do the trick and wont stress the fish aswell

Wyoming_Bound

Platy fry like to hide in bottom of thank, mine like a pile of rocks to hide in. platy are different than guppies.

Titi

Thanks for the advice. I have a bunch of rocks on the bottom of my tank near the back, and some small plants too, so I'll let them hide in those.

ashgarrison08

female fish usually dont eat until after 12 hours of giving birth. just a rule of thumb, but i take mine out of the breeder net about 2 hours after birth.

momo9700

I would leave her alone If she's that close to dropping the fry. I know that I put mine in the net too early and she died from stress.

Also, as long as there are LOTS of hiding places, The fry can hide until you can get the adult fish out of the tank, then VERY CAREFULLY remove decorations and catch the fry. But you must be extremely careful because the fry can get squished very easily.

Fi$hFace

A few weeks ago my Gold Dust Molly had some fry. I didn't separate her into a separate tank/net because too much stress can cause them to abort. The fry will swim to the bottom and hide in grass and rocks. Any place where they can hide from the bigger fish... who will eat them. As soon as I noticed little fry darting around I scooped them up and put them in a floating breeder box. It has small holes in it to let the fresh water get in. Its great! Good luck!

Chase J

I've Heard That OYu Shouldn't Put Her In A Net If Shes Close To Dropping Her Babies. It Can Lead To Stress, Dropping THe Babies Too Early Or Ive Also Heard That Some Fish Have Died.

dakotajim

In my old classroom tank I had better luck letting the fish drop in the tank and getting the babies into the breeder afterwords. You end up with so many babies, that if you lose a few you are still ok, since in a few weeks that same female will drop more. Also, since a platy can store the sperm, you may not need to get another male right away. By the time she uses up all the sperm, the first batch may be ready to breed, although they will be her own offspring. If you get another male, I suggest going to a different store than you got the females if you can find one with healthy fish. Were I live, that is hard since we only have one pet shop plus the Petco and Petsmart. Our Petsmart has really bad livebearers.