Not sure what to do

Question
QUESTION: Hi, I have 2 platies a male and a female, but the male has jumped out of the tank during the night, and my female is pregnant, should i put some more platies in the tank with her including males?

and also i have 3 female guppies and 2 male guppies, and I'm not really sure if all of the female are pregnant for sure, i only know that one of them have a gravid spot showing. she is not that big yet but how will i know when she may be giving birth to some fry?

ANSWER: Hi Josh,
  As far as the platies go, once the female is pregnant she no longer needs a male.  In fact, many livebearer species can retain sperm from a single mating and use it to produce multiple batches of offspring.

  As far as the guppies, I can't really say without seeing the fish, but typically you will see the female get quite "fat" just before she gives birth.

-- Ron Coleman
   rcoleman@cichlidresearch.com
   Cichlid Research Home Page <http://cichlidresearch.com>


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Yellow Guppy  

Female Platy   QUESTION: Hi so i have a yellow guppy and he's a bit bigger then the other guppies i have in my tank, and i wanna know if you would be able to find out what kind of guppy he is.

Also, i have a red wagtail platy and she just had baby fry on August 16th, and i just wanna know if when she may have another batch of fry, and when i might expect them on being born.

Answer
Hi Josh,
  All guppies are the same species.  There are hundreds of manmade varieties of guppies and unfortunately I can not tell one from another.  Sorry.

  As for the platy, I suspect she could have another batch of fry within the month, but there are no guarantees.

-- Ron Coleman
   rcoleman@cichlidresearch.com
   Cichlid Research Home Page <http://cichlidresearch.com>