pregnant platy

[OrandaMan]

I am fairly certain that I have a very pregnant platy (is pregnant the right word?).

Any suggestions on taking care of it and the fry?

[Complexity]

Livebearers are pretty much able to handle things on their own. Not much needed to be done. However, they will sometimes eat their own fry.

Offer the mother a calm atmosphere. If she's in a tank with a lot of other fish, they may pester her as they try to eat the fry as they come out. Offer a lot of hiding places for the fry so those that aren't eaten can hide and avoid being eaten. Cover any intake screens on the filters that have large enough gaps to suck up the fry. You can use a sponge prefilter for that. Have some powdered "fry" food available to offer once she drops her fry. If you don't have any, you can grind up flakes. Most livebearer fry don't require special foods.

If you have the luxury of a separate tank, you could put her in it so she will have a calm atmosphere when dropping her fry. It's not necessary, but it's the best way to ensure fewer fry are eaten. Once she drops the fry, you can move her back to her original tank and raise the fry in their own tank until they're large enough to go into the main tank. Generally, you can move the fry after a couple of weeks unless you have large fish in the main tank. Or you can just let them grow out in the separate tank. Your call.

If you don't have an extra tank, you can put her in a breeder net to drop the fry. Move her out of the net after she's done and let the fry stay in there for a couple of weeks until they're large enough to no longer be eaten by the other fish. Confining the mother to a breeder net can stress her out, but most livebearers handle it pretty well. If she drops the fry in the main tank, you can net the fry to put in a breeder net. You can also catch the fry by syphoning them out, but I'm not fond of this method.

Look on youtube for molly fry and you should get some ideas.

[Mzungu]

I've also had quite a bit of luck with livebearer fry surviving if the tank is well planted. That way the mom can hide while she's giving birth, out of sight of most of the other fish, and the fry can find their own hiding places as soon as they're born.

This way, it was inevitable that some of the fry were eaten, but many survived. And with livebearers, if you're not looking to turn your entire house into a grow-out tank, less CAN be more!

[stevenallenbarnard]

trust me, right now you're excited about having a prego platy. but trust me, once they start, they don't stop.

[OrandaMan]

lol... Thanks for the info, guys. That sounds like a good way to do it.