How is she pregnant?

[andy182]

In my tank larger tank I have one pregnant fish and I dont get how she became that way. She is a variatus sunset platy, at least in all the pics I have seen online that is what they say. I have male creamsicle mollies and at one point had a male guppy. I have attached pictures of exactly what the fish look like taken from other websites on google, mine wont sit still long enough to get a good pic. If I am wrong on the platy then the petstore lied about what she was. She looks exactly like the pic exept a large gravid spot and her belly is huge. Any help would be great. Thanks in advance.

[emc7]

Female platies can store sperm for months. Unless you've had her 6 months, assume she is pregnant from a prior encounter and make preparations.

[andy182]

Well I thought that but she is my only surviving baby from the previous one that I had. I have raised her alone and she has never encountered a male of her species. That is where my confusion lies, she is probably around 6 month old right now.

[funlad3]

It was Either her dad before she was born (Weird, right?) or the molly. Most live bearers can interbreed, so expect either genetic misfits, or some cool looking hybrids!

[Revolution1221]

it is possible that with no females around for the male molly he had no ther choice but to go for the platy. i know its possible to mix mollys and guppys so i dont see why platies couldnt as well.

[Kissing keeper]

Well u can mix swordtails with platies.

[TheOldSalt]

It's a Christmas Miracle! A virgin birth! Go tell it on the mountain! The Platy Messiah's coming is nigh!

Mollies and platies can't cross.
( except for Amazon Mollies and Lake Peten Mollies, but even then it's only the female molly that gets pregnant by a platy, never the opposite. )

[funlad3]

Funny TOS. Seriously. COuldn't it be the platie's father before it was born? I read somewhere that platies can do that. Strangely.

[Revolution1221]

Originally Posted by TheOldSalt It's a Christmas Miracle! A virgin birth! Go tell it on the mountain! The Platy Messiah's coming is nigh! Mollies and platies can't cross. ( except for Amazon Mollies and Lake Peten Mollies, but even then it's only the female molly that gets pregnant by a platy, never the opposite. )

thats actually really interesting thats odd that it can only work one way... do you know why?

[TheOldSalt]

It's because those two fish don't need actual sperm to hatch the eggs, which are largely parthenogenic clones. All they need is a bit of seminal fluid, from pretty much anything, to trigger the development. The milt does not fertilize the eggs, which already have full chromosome sets, but it "wakes them up."
Platies, on the other hand, need normal fertilization. Also, they have three sex chromosomes instead of the usual two, so while platies and swords can cross with each other, they can't cross with anything else.

Now, funlad... what the heck did you say?

[funlad3]

The father can impregnate his daughters before they are even born in the development stage. If I'm not mistaken, its an adaptation that normally triggers form lack of males, but can happen much more often in a fish tank.