Is my platy pregnant?

[itsnotfair10]

Hi!
I'm pretty new to keeping fish and to be honest it's been a bit of a disaster from the beginning.

We weren't really told about cycling the tank and were sold from the sounds of it far too many fish for the size of our tank.

We are now in the position of trying to cycle the tank with the fish in it and getting to to a safe state for the fish we have left. We lost a few very early on no doubt due to the levels in the tank so are now down to three platys.

I have been doing 20% water changes every other day and only feeding the fish every other day to try and get the ammonia down but it's still sitting between one and three.

I'm also wondering if my gold platy is pregnant. She seems to have a large Gravid spot and a very rounded belly. If she is what do I need to do?

[bunnygeek]

She certainly is pregnant but there's nothing you need to do. Do you have males as well? If so, she'll technically have 30-40 babies every.single.month for the rest of the time you have her. They do eat their own babies, zero maternal instincts. Tank mates will also help with "crowd control".

Livebearers like Platys are also capable of retaining sperm and having 2-3 more batches of babies over a 6 month period with no males around at all. Clever fish.

[itsnotfair10]

Thanks for the reply

No no males in the tank, we have 3 females.

Ok will keep an eye out on what happens, I just hope we get the ammonia under control, it's been a nightmare!

[toomuchhappyland]

All your females will be pregnant. Most of the babies will be eaten. If you want to save them, you can buy floating fry tanks which you catch them in and put them in (essentially a plastic box which floats in the tank until they’re big enough). I wouldn’t put a pregnant fish in one as it’s too stressful for her, so it’s just luck if you manage to save any before they get munched.