Reptile & Amphibian Forums

Hi, I'm new to this forum and have had tanks for about 6 months. About 10 weeks ago I bought 5 platies, 2 males and 3 females, and put them in my 190 liters (don't know what that is in gallons ) tank with quite a lot other fish in. Even if the tank is well populated, there are lots of hidingplaces, and no sign of stress as far as I can see. I've only tested for nitrite, and there's not too much. The two females has looked pregnant, with dark spot and everything, for two months now.. That's too long! They both should have given birth now, shouldn't they? My pet dealer says, that the fry has "fossilized" inside them, and that they may die or not..?? They both look healthy enough, moves around from top to bottom, eat well and poop well.. But I don't like the sound of that! fossilized fry? Anobody has any experience with this or ever heard of it before? I can't find any information anywhere on the net, pleaaaase heeelp.. I don't wan't my platys to suffer, and I would rather euthanize them if they are in pain, but as I said, they seem healthy enough.. even if they I look like they're about to burst.. I thought that platy pregnancies was about 4-5 weeks, so they're loong overdue. Any info on this would be greatly appreciated

First off fry don't fossilize, lol. If the female would abort the pregnancy, the fry would be re-absorbed into the females body, or she would drop the dead fry, depending on the length of term they are. They could of aborted pregnancy though just due to the stress of a new tank. If the tank is populated heavily, they could have also had some fry, but the fry may have been eaten, or hiding. Any number of things is possible.
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Mike
MS Livebearers

All the info you need on mollies:
http://slacker1202.tripod.com/id14.html