pregnant platty?

Just noticed one of my plattys is getting quite round! Her belly is swollen and sort of a different colour from the rest of her - could she be pregnant? I've got 5 plattys but I dont know if they are girls or boys, how do you tell the difference? What will I do if she has babies - i havent got a clue how to raise them.

Help please!!!!

OK, How To Tell The Difference Is Easy, Male Platy Have A Different Shaped Anal Fin (The Fin Right Next To The Bum Hole), On A Male, It is Sort Of Tube Like (Resembling What A Male Human Has) On Female Platy, Its A Normal Shaped Fin, If You Watch The Platys, Espcially When They Chase Each Other, You May Notice The Male Rais n Lower This Fin, When You Know What To Look For, Its Easy. Males Are Often Smaller As Well.

If The Female Is Pregnant, IE You Have Only Just Noticed, It Will Probably Be A Few Weeks Before Any Sprogs Are Dropped, You Will Notice The Female Getting Much Fatter If She Is Preganant (Actually Very Likely If You Have Males).

As To Raising Them, You Don't Need To Do Anything TBH. They Have Quite A Few In A Brood, There Is Little Point In Trying To Ensure They All Survive For Many Reasons, But Mainly Because As Livebearers, They Breed Like Flies In A Sewer, Your LFS Will NOT Give You Anything But A Laughter For Them, And In My Opinion, If The PLatys Are In A Community, You Dont Want To Be Over-run With More Fish.

Nature Will Take Its Course, I Have Had Two Surviving Broods Now, Two Babies Survived The First Time, One The Second Time. This Means Ill, Slow Or Plain Stupid Stupid Babies Were Eaten By The Rest Of The Tank Occupants, But Looking At Your Sig, There Isnt Too Much To Eat Platy Fry So You May HAve A Good Few At The End Of Things. They Grow Quite Fast, You Dont Really Need To Worry About Special Food For Them, They'll Pick On Bits Of Algae And Eat Tiny Bits Of Flake And Generaly Scrounge Around The Tank. If You Do Want To Feed Them Specifically, I Would Just Use Your Normal Flake Food, But Grind A Pinch Of It Up Almost To Dust. I Have Found 'Baby Fish Flake/Powder' From LFS To Clog The Filter Unless You Switch Them Off Before Feeding.

My Advice Is Simply Do Nothing And Let Nature Take Its Course, If They Are Strong Enough, Some Will Survive Without Your Help.

Be Prepared For There To Be No Survivors From the First Brood Tho, And When They Are Born, They Are Tiny, So It May Be A Week Or More Before You Actuall See Them. No Need To Q The Female, The Stress Of being Moved Will Do MAore Than Good.

What's with all the capitals Rich - not your usual style (thankfully)

Dont know if I fancy just leaving them to get eaten tbh. I was thinking I mght go and get a small tank to put the babies in until they get big enough to go to the lfs.

I suppose I would have to go through the whole cycling thing again would I because i was thinking if they are just small baby fish they wouldnt be making much waste and so it might not be as important to have a cycled tank.

I dont want to make the mistake of not cycling the tank but I dont know if there will be time to get it donebefore the babies are born!

you would need to cycle the tank.

just buy a floating nursery box or net, put that in main tank, and put sprogs in the net. All unnecessary imho, more will be eaten than you see anyway, they hide in substrate first, you wont see them, the other fish are more likely to spot them b4 you. by time they are big enough for you to see em easiky, most fish will leave them alone.

in your tank, there is nothing that will eat a baby platy, so leave everything as it is. less stress all round that way

No babies yet, but I have got a net for them - I don't want to see them getting eaten! I'll have to keep a close eye on things now to see what's happening.

This is sooo exciting, I never thought I would be getting baby fish (how sad is that )

youll have to knit little bootees for them charley

lol. Am I right that plattys are the type of fish that have fish babies - I mean they dont lay eggs?

If you dont really want a load of babies is it best to get fish that lay eggs then, because I think a lot of the eggs get eaten before they hatch dont they?

Also if the eggs do hatch, are they then fully developed fish, not little tadpoly things? Sorry, are these really dumb questions?

Probably!

Yep, plattys are livebearers (along with guppies, swordtails, mollies etc.) and thus give birth to fish fry...tiny little replicas of their parents.

Btw, there are no "dumb" questions...I'd be embarrassed to repeat some of the things that I asked as a newbie...

Oh, go on Mary, I wont tell anyone honest!

Hiya charley, any news on the babies yet? What are you going to do with them when they do come, are you going to keep them

a simple ting to do is to put the fry n a breader net but make sure not to keep the mother in with them they will probelly get eaten.and then when they are about 3 cm long put them in main tank.