# Platy ready to give birth?



## DjSupreme

Hello,

I have some Platies that look pregnant, and I just want to know how I can tell that they are ready to give birth? I have about 10 pregnant Platies and I dont want to buy 5 breeder boxes. Also, when is a good time to put them in the breeder boxes because I know they get stressed out being in them.

Thanks!


----------



## Sherry

I have a tank full of platy's and I hope I can help you. Are you planning to breeding true strains? It is a difficult thing to keep straight, and you need many many tanks to do this. and lots of patience. I only have one tank, ( for them ) and if I kept every baby that was born I would be overrun and over stocked in about 2 months. I let them have the fry in the main tank. That way I don't have 50+ or so survive each batch being born. I do give them lots of hiding places, and do give them a chance. The last batch I only had one survive, the batch before I had 6 survive. They seem to have babies every 4 to 6 weeks. I do have some awesome tuxedo x red wag crosses. They are red with the black sides. They are pretty. 
It is very hard to tell exactly when the are going to give birth. Some have huge bellies, that turn into a flat belly on the bottom, almost square like, some will get a black spot on their sides, some will hide, some will go off their food about a day before they give birth. All of mine are different, and I never know until I take a flashlight and check the grass at the one corner of my tank. They are way smaller than a grain of rice, they are hard to find sometimes. 
So there is no real right answer to your question. Waiting for platy's to give birth when you want them to is a never ending wait. They love to tease you.....
I know I probly did not help you in the least. Fish are like human kids. they only come out when they are ready. Which seems like forever....
I only kept one batch of babies, my blue mickey mouse ones. They were all nice and I got I think 19 out of it. I have given a lot away. Not all. The rule of thumb is try and only put them in the birthing box or net 24 hours before they give birth. I don't know how in the heck we are supposed to guess that. 
Let me know what happens and how many she has if you decide to put her in a net or box......


----------



## ChessieSFR

yeah, platy births for me usually end up with me doing a "round up" of babies when I find them in the tank.


----------

