pregnant red wag platy?

Question

my red wag   my name is candace and I have been getting in to aquariums more now.. i currently have 3 male betas in own places and i have a 10 gal community tank.. so far i have 2 male guppies 2 shrimp 1 dwarf frog and 2 platies... one male Mickey mouse platy and a female red wag platy.. i have had them about a week and 1/2.. the female is noticeably bigger than the male... by her anal fin she has a very small black dot I'm not 100% sure if its the gravid spot or not.. i attached a picture so you can see... do you think she is pregnant? if so how long? another question is will she stop eating the day she is going to have the fry?  PS i already have a breeder for her just in case... (how long can she stay in there?)

Answer
Hi Candace,
Your platy is definitely pregnant!

Most platies are pregnant for about 4 weeks or so depending on the size of the brood.
Younger females will have smaller batches fry in most cases. And larger, older females having larger broods.

When a Platy is about to give birth. Usually she will isolate herself from the rest of the fish and may sit near the surface or hide in plants. She may or may not eat. The sad thing is the mother fish will often eat her own fry. But this can be lessened by providing hiding places for the fry in the form of bushy plants or putting her in a breeder. The only thing is sometimes this can stress out the mother fish. Some individuals panic while others are calm. The best time to put her in there is when she displays the isolating behavior and her belly is quite large. Leave her in for half a day at least. If she doesn't have her babies then she will have them another day. If she is comfortable in the breeder, you should be able to leave her in there for days even.

Baby platies are fun to raise! You should be getting babies before you know it!
Good luck!
Susan~