Polly is pregnant!

[MamaPizza]

And Paul is the daddy

Breeder trap ready, am on constant watch to get her in on time but not too early so she can safely pop her babies and they can hide from her and the others.

WTF am I going to do with 20 odd platies?

[EauRouge]

Oh, how I wish. My 4 ft tank went to ebay a long time ago. I used to have 5 tanks at one point but I gradually had to get rid of them. The 4 footer had to go when I was expecting DD2. I tried to convince DH to get rid of the sofa but he refused

I only have a little 12 gallon now, no fish in it yet but it's planted and cycling. I'll post a photo when I can find the camera. If you post a photo of your plant I might be able to tell you what it is.

I wouldn't call myself a real expert. I think I'll plump for geek 'enthusiast'

[MamaPizza]

BIRTH ANNOUNCEMENT

I am pleased to announce that Polly has finally reached 2nd stage labour and she is in the process of pushing out her adorable platy-babies. So far we have five live babies and there are more to come! Welcome to the world little babies, there are many mumsnet aunties who can't wait to meet you

[MamaPizza]

EauRouge, five tanks - wow! Those DHs and children take over, eh? Will post pics later, too excited to watch the birth now

[OldLadyKnowsNothing]

Congratulations! I know nothing about fish, but I kept seeing your thread title in Active Conversations and had a read through this morning. :)

[MamaPizza]

Thanks, Oldlady.

Well, those babies are not the cleverest. After I posted she had number six, which never went down but stayed up there with her and was eaten... Then one of the ones in safety decided to go back up to her and you guessed it - she ate it. Another one was also on its way back up, why don't they just stay in safety? Tzk tzk tzk Anyway, quickly went out and upon return there were 6-7 live babies (not sure if the 7th was hiding in plants or me just seeing things). She probably popped a few more, but must have eaten them, especially if they decided to go back up to her. She seemed finished, so we got her out. She is now calm, none of the males are chasing her and I think this is a sign that she is truly done for now. Well, at least six live babies isn't bad, it means we can keep them all. YAY!

Let's celebrate!

[OldLadyKnowsNothing]

[EauRouge]

Fantastic! Here's to the new parents Well done Polly!

So, what are you going to call them all?

[MamaPizza]

Oh oh, we found another one in the main tank, couldn't get it out but will try to get it later to safety. Although others seem to be leaving it alone.

Names? Well we got to keep up the tradition of "P". We have Paul and Polly, baby Peaches (about 3 months old) and now six-seven fry. Suggestions? Shame we won't know their sex for a while yet, but one will definitely be Priscilla and another Percy

[NoWittyName]

HUGE CONGRATULATIONS POLLY AND PAUL. and

Would love to see some photos of them if you can snap them and post.

Will get my brain working for P names. Number one decided all our fish should be called Dave .

[NoWittyName]

Paddy, Patrick, Pearl, Peggy, Penny, Peter, Petra, Phoebe, Phil, Pheonix, Pippa, Polly...

[MamaPizza]

I will post photos later, promise!

Number seven is still out in the main tank, but he seems to be fine. Couldn't catch him, so we will just see if he survives 'out in the open' with the others.

Love some of the names. Penny and Peggy are definitely on the list

[BareBums]

Congrats - I made the mistake of leaving the baby in the tank when our spotted Molly gave birth...needless to say the baby was not there in the morning!

Poor little thing, the parents were like sharks trying to get at it, I thought it would be alright where it was.. 'sigh

Lesson learnt!

[MamaPizza]

Pictures of the proud parents and some of their babies on my profile. I don't know if it is clear enough, couldn't zoom any more without it getting blurry. All happy so far :)

[MamaPizza]

HERE are some clearer pictures.

[MamaPizza]

Need to scroll down on the link for the fry.

[NoWittyName]

GORGEOUS!!!

Thanks for linking to photos.

[nenevomito]

Never been in the Fishtank before, but wanted to pass on my congratulations for the birth of the little platys.

Can you name one Pedro?

[EauRouge]

Ahhhh, so sweet!

[MamaPizza]

Thanks all

Love the name Pedro, shame we won't find out for a while whether they are male or female.

The six in the trap are happy and there are two more (yes, we found another one) in the main tank that also seem fine, so let's hope all eight survive.

[NoWittyName]

How are the little bubbas doing?

[EauRouge]

Are they sleeping through the night yet?

[MamaPizza]

They are thriving! We have ten (!), there are four in the main tank which seem very safe in the plant. They seem to sleep through as they are so cute when I turn on the tank light in the morning and they slowly wake up :)
They are now getting some colour. Will take some more pictures tomorrow and upload them. So fascinating!

[EauRouge]

I was just kidding about the sleep thing It's always the first thing people ask about babies, innit. Looking forward to pics!

[NoWittyName]

Ooh - can't wait for new pics.

[MamaPizza]

I know you were kidding . I first wrote out a long message about how Polly is constantly having her boobies out to feed them, the stinky nappies and that she is exhausted but then changed it They are really cute though when they wake up, love watching all my fish do this in the mornings.