Reptile & Amphibian Forums

I know there are a million and one questions about pregnant platies, and I'm sure I've read most of them. But anyways, here goes;
I recently bought a breeding pair of platies from the pet store, and the female was obviously pregnant when I bought her. I put her straight into a breeding box, and she's just sitting on the V-Insert not moving. I read that heating up the tank a little will spark the birthing, but my heater sucks so I just added some warm water. (I de-chlorinated the water first, of course.) My tank was at 23-24 degrees, and now it's at 25. She started swimming around a bit - just to the top and skims it and sinks back down. She's also not eating. She's been in the breeding box for 2 days now, and I read you're only supposed to keep them in for 24 hours. Oops?

Anyway, when is she going to have the darn fry? Is there anything I can do to help/speed this along? I've looked for black spots near her vent, but she's a sunburst platy, so even the male has it. Help, please. Lol.

- Shaed

There sure are a lot of platy pregnancy questions.

You shouldn't speed up the process of the pregnancy. It will last about 28 days. Yes, you should only have her in the breeding box for 24 hours. More than that and she will be stressed, and could abort her babies. I'm assuming that the temps you gave are in celcius. You will be able to tell the closer she gets to having the babies because the male will chase her more than normal.... for a yummy snack. When you see that happen put her in the box and wait 24 hours, if nothing happens release her.

Best of luck.
-----
Phishie
Site Coordinator

"An ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure."

Alright, thanks! Haha, yeah they're in Celcius.

You're welcome.
-----
Phishie
Site Coordinator

"An ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure."