Pregnant livebearer?!?!

[keefman]

Hi all,

My first post so please be gentle.

I have found other topics on this website very informative, but cannot find a specific answer to the following questions regarding one of our livebearers:


1. Can anyone advise of the type of fish that we have?? (pictures attached hopefully) - we inherited this fish with the tank.

2. We think it may be pregnant. She has been approximately this size for 4 months. recently she has been near the top of the tank in th quiet area and looks bigger than normal. We have couple of male platys and male swordtails in there as well. We have removed her to a breeding trap just in case. She is just stationary and sometimes sitting on the floor.







Can anyone give us some advice please?

Tank established: 4 months
Tank temp: 26 deg C
Guppies, swordtails, plecs, clown loaches, corys, neon tetras, angelfish, honey gouramis, silver sharks

[username321]

You have a platy! If I were you, I would remove her from the breeding trap as she will be stressed.

[TheOldSalt]

Yes, a platy, and a very pregnant one at that.

[mesapod]

that platy might have a lot of babies... say like 40!

[keefman]

Fantastc - thanks for your help guys.

What would you advise for trying to keep the fry? I have removed her from the trap as suggested..... She is now hiding under an ornament

Anything to bring on the birth? raise temperature, lighting etc?

[username321]

a water change with water that's a tad bit cooler than the tank's temp will usually result in them dropping. keep her well fed to retard her from eating her fry and once the fry are dropped, you can keep them in the breeder box till they get a bit bigger(abt a month)

[keefman]

Just to let you know that she died of dropsy later that week

[Kribensis12]

I thought it looked like dropsy from the raised scale's, but i am new here, adn didnt see this topic. Just a reminder, if your fish has dropsy and still eat's, boil pea's, take off the shelll, and then mush them up and feed it to her. Work's every time! Sorry for your loss.

[sps60@shaw.ca]

why boil peas?? i think my 3 opaline girls have dropsy ...i thought she was just getting fat...i change water 50% every week my ammonia is .25ppm which i know its suppose to be zero but i have alot of fish in my 22gallon tank. 2 blue spot male gouramis 3 opaline girl gouramis 1 black skirt and now 3 albino cory doras... my plecto was taken out by my cat &%$&!!!...i paid 30 bux for my opalines...i would hate to loose them....how do i stop this from happening?

[emc7]

Boiled peas are fish laxatives. If the problem is something the fish ate (bloodworms are a common cause), it can save a fish's life. If the dropsy has another cause (disease) and the "pineconing" effect of scales sticking out is caused by kidney failure, your fish are doomed. Pregnant livebearers can also get "fry-bound" and die.

As to how to stop losing fish, stop adding fish until your ammonia and nitrites are zero and there are no signs of disease or stress in your remaining fish for several weeks. Then quarantine all new fish.

[ashley]

well it's definatly a plattie. I have some of them. there beautiful if you get them in the right colors. idk if she's pregnant or not. but she sure is big