Hello,
Although I've kept tropical fish for several years now, this is my first dealings with a pregnant fish. In the past I always bought things that were difficult for the novice to breed! With livebearers I have discovered just how easy it can be. I have a female platy, she is a sunburst x variatus cross that was bred to the same crossed male (possibly her brother I would suspect). I was given several of them as babies by a friend of mine.

She is now about a month pregnant and two days ago I moved her from my 46g planted tank into a spare 10g. I filled the 10g completely with water from my established tank so I wouldn't stress her with cycling. I placed with her several artificial plants and a live Amazon sword and moss ball because she likes to nibble off of the live plants, although I know they will not survive long term in this tank with it's poor lighting.

My concern is that ever since I moved her she had been pacing the glass nonstop! Something she never did in the big tank.. She was sometimes harassed by the males in the other tank and I would like to save the fry so I thought this would be a good move for her; give her a chance to relax and birth in peace and then allow me to raise the fry. Does anyone have any suggestions? I'm worried she is so stressed she will absorb the fry or something.. do you think she is upset by the smaller tank, being alone, or maybe the fake plants? Maybe I should move her back and hope for the best? Any info would be greatly appreciated! (Sorry for the looong post!)

Here are a few photos:
http://i1219.photobucket.com/albums/dd439/beth2324/IMG_4852.jpg

http://i1219.photobucket.com/albums/dd439/beth2324/IMG_4856.jpg

http://i1219.photobucket.com/albums/dd439/beth2324/IMG_4865.jpg

http://i1219.photobucket.com/albums/dd439/beth2324/IMG_4869.jpg

She is just getting used to the smaller tank and she's probably going to give birth soon. PS. I like the floss on the power filter, I never thought of that before!

I use one of those filter bags that PetSmart sells for about 88 cents to cover the input tube of my HOB filter to prevent Endler frys from being sucked up. Have to put my big net over the end of my syphon, too.

Thanks for responding! Hmm.. so you think she'll calm down in a couple more days? I figured it was normal at first but after 48 hours have passed and she's still pacing I got worried!
The filter covering isn't very attractive but it was the only thing I had on hand to avoid a trip to the pet store. I do like the idea of using a filter bag, maybe I'll pick one up next time I go. I knew I needed something to keep the fry from being sucked in though!
Also, what are your opinions on fry food for platys? I'm thinking I may try just using very finely crushed flakes and/or shrimp pellets which I have on hand. Do I really need too go out and buy some 'fry food'?

I'm not sure how big platty fry are. I've never bred them, only mollies and endlers. My endler fry are big enough to feed on finely crushed flakes. I also add about 1/3 of a frozen daphnia cube to the diet on occasion. The adults will eat the larger pieces and ignore the crumbs that the fry eat.

Hi,
I just joined the ALA again, but have been an active tropical fish breeder for 50 years. I've found that when fish are alone in a tank they either hide out, or become very active as you describe. If other fish were in the tank the activity would most likely stop, but the other fish would help eat the babies.

There are about a thousand Platies in my tanks right now, many varieties. The size of the babies when born are slightly different from strain to strain, but are usually about 1/4 to 3/8" long tip to tip, and they can eat newly hatched brine shrimp immediately, or finely powdered flake foods. My baby fish are usually kept in bare bottom tanks for a while and I also feed them micro worms, walter worms, or banana worms (all look exactly alike, but I have all three). I am not selling any of my fish at this time, but I give them away to kids and others who are getting started in the hobby.

Most of my Platies are fancy finned varieties, hi-fins, pin tails, and some odd colors. I enjoy sharing them with people new to the hobby. If you would like, I could send you some starts of the worms, and some baby or young hi-fin platies to add to your collection. You would only pay the shipping (Priority Mail about $8 for a small size box.) If you have an email account, I can send you some photos of some of my Platies and other fish.

Good luck on breeding.

Coleopterist,
Thank you for the information! I am possibly interested in some of your worm starts and even some platies. I would love to see some pictures of them! I will message you my email address.

I feed my fry live brine shrimp. Fantastic stuff!

The best thing that I feed my fry is deshelled brine shrimp eggs. They are better than baby brine shrimp because they have the yolk in them; the brine shrimp embryo hasn't used up all the nutrition in the yolk. Plus they are easier to keep.