Hi all

Well it appears one of our platties had a "gentleman friend" while awaiting purchase (about 2 weeks ago), and is looking a little rotund with a gravid spot forming. We'd like to actually like to try and save the fry and raise them (for experience).

The question really is, when should the female go into a breeding trap? I have no experience with this, and I don't really want to leave her in the trap longer than I need to, but on the other hand..? At least we can time her after this lot, but at the moment we have no idea when she fell pregnant..

Any advice, or pictures, would be great?

Thanks

WTM

Hi WTM,

Bit hard to tell the "exact moment".. but the darker the gravid spot.. the closer she is to dropping.

Breeding traps can be very stressful for some fish... and even reduce birth numbers, and the more natural way of having lots of fine leaved plants in your tank would be a better option... depending on the other fish you might have in the tank.. which you don't mention.

If you do a search in the Livebearer section, there's bound to be a few pics there.. and I seem to remember one or two of them actually dropping the fry.

She might not drop the full lot all at once BTW.. and could drop them over several days depending on conditions and how she feels

Take care now .

Bill.

hi WTM,

when a livebearer is about a drop. her vent will be open. it actually becomes nearly vertical ifyou observe closely. this is the method i use, if i see a platy like tat in the picture shown. i would put her in a trap, let her drop, collect the babies and release the mother. this wont stress the female too much as i only leave her in there for 1-2 days.

due date is near, keep an eye on her.

dropping soon, notice the gravid spot vent becomes vertical a bit.

she ready as her vent is very straight, put her in the trap, will be dropping in 1 -2 days.

good luck with your platties keeping.

regards

shiuh

Thanks guys, that's a lot of help... from looking at those pics I'd say she's still a bit off being ready... (she's not that big yet, but definitely bigger than the other Platy)

Pegasus: The other fish are: 1 fighter, 1 other Platy (female), and 2 Bronze Cory. There's some java fern in the tank, but that's really all that could provide cover, the other plants would be no good for that... so I don't hold much hope for their chances in there.... hence the trap

Of course she could just be a little "rotund" and I've got it all wrong.. :roll: :lol:

platies tend to eat a lot. do realise big belly doesnt mean dropping soon.

Have started to wonder that actually, she just looks so much bigger in the belly than the other Platy...

In the long run whether she is or isn't it's okay by us... in the long run were wanting to try breeding, just hadn't planned to try so soon... :lol:

Thing is that she has a definite dark spot near her vent...

Wait and see I guess... :-?

W.

her vent will be open

Ah...what is vent :oops: ...is this where the babies come out?

Well subsequent to my last post we decided she must not have been pregnant as she appeared to drop and it was well over 3 weeks since we got her, so we returned her to the main tank.

Anyway to cut a long story short on Monday we found a small baby platy swimming around our tank (periodically being chased by the larger Platties). He/she was hiding in the Java Fern...

We've saved it and put it in a breeding trap, together with the mother (obviously seperated) in the hope she maybe had more to drop.

So far there appears to be no more (am going to release mum back into the rest of the main tank tonight).

The question I have though, is how big are fry when they're dropped? I'm just wondering if this baby was dropped recently (i.e. we have three weeks to go until the next drop) or whether it has just survived in the tank since mid last month (which I doubt).

Also how big should a fry be before being released back into the main tank (occupied by 2 Platties, 1 Betta, and 2 Brz Cories)?

Platties are very small when their born, just 2 eyes on a stick, I wouldn't put it back in the main tank until it's bigger than the Betta's mouth. And remember, they can streach their mouths. I underestimated the mouth size of my largest Angel and ended up having to remove 1/2 eaten baby platties from my main tank the first time I breed platties.

We have a couple of sunset platties they are both preg one is much fatter than the other but you can see the babys eyes inside their bellys. Does this mean they are the stage of preg? Is it true if you poor cold water over them that this can make them give birth.

You should be able to see the black dots (eyes) long before they are ready to be born.

...Is it true if you poor cold water over them that this can make them give birth.

That will put them into shock which may make them give birth before they should. :evil: May also kill them. :evil:

:evil: This is a very CRULE and BAD idea. :evil:

They will give birth when they are ready, you will learn to pic it in time but don't be too concerened if you get it wrong the first few times as they breed quite fast.

this thread is dated back in 2005

Yes shiuh but it was added to with a further question 04 Aug 2006 which was then answered by Kei Anne