My son had bought me 2 platys one red and one mickey mouse. They were supposed to be 2 females but now one looks like she is pregnant. I heard that they can hold sperm for quite sometime. I hope they are 2 females and this is the situation. They are in my 30 gallon community tropical tank with some tetras. I know this is cruel but I hope that they eat them when they are born, I don't have another tank or the room for babies. If any survive is there anything special I should do. I don't think they will be born for awhile. Oh yes, how long are platys pregnant before they give birth so I am not surprised.

If you dont want the babies then do nothing, but if you do then densely plant the tank so they can hide. The females take around 30 days to drop, but could be any time if they are already showing.

The other platy, I think is a male, sure is sticking around her all the time. She is checking out the coconut shell I have in the tank, with a hole in it. So maybe she will have her babies in there. Will keep you updated when she gives birth and if I decide to keep any of the babies.

To stop the male continually harrassing her you should get 2 females to lessen the attention.

but if i get another female I will have lots of babies that i don't want. My son was trying to be nice and buy me fish since some died from old age and now i have to deal with babies. I will see what happens because i am not going to buy a nother female. thanx

The easiest way to tell a male from a femal is the Anal fin. On a male you can see it, its long and kindof looks like hes constantly pooping. A female will not have one quite as long. Hopefully you have two females. I myself have 3 females and one male now (yeah hes a pimp). The females harrass each other just as much as the male bothers them. I have lost both batches of babies from two of my females because they ate them and the tank was being treated for Columnaris. They only have about 15 babies apeice Im told, and they usually eat as many of them they can catch.. well mine did. Plus your tank has other fish that will eat the babies as well. Im hopeing mine get pregnant again personaly, but I don't have an overstock issue (yet). Im sure I will after they all give birth a couple times

Good Luck!

they can have more babies than 15 but usually only the older ones have alot of babies and i heard it was about 40 but the other fish will probably eat the babies so if you dont want them you dont have to worry but if you do decide then good lik catching them b/c they can be quite fast. also the female usually gets pretty territorial and very agrressive about the day before she gives birth so that is also a sign. i have missed all of my livebearers giving birth. but once at a friends house my friends dad woke me up at about 3 in the morning to watch it so if you could catch her in the act it would be something interesting for you and the rest of your family to watch. good luck!!