Fair warning, im hesitant to even ask on here because usually toxic people who want to just argue or belittle or boast their knowledge that they barely have tend to reply the most when they aren't experts so if that's you don't reply I don't care and I don't plan to be your validation dump or your ego tripper and im not going to argue with you I'll delete this instantly if it gets out of hand. Be respectful or f off I'm not playing those games. I'm not a noob I've been keeping fish for awhile my water parameters are fine. I don't need a lecture on the nitrogen cycle these people's go to when it has nothing to do with what I'm asking. They are just noobs acting like experts and it's often obvious I know more than they do. Sorry if you're offended. Lol I just don't want to deal with those people. And I've never been to this community so I don't know what to expect. This is a fairly knowledgeable individual who doesn't know everything about this species I'm sure.
With that out of the way. I'm not new to these fish I've kept them before and had good breeding but I'm no expert on these. Last time I got them I had babies instantly like the first night cuz I purchased pregnant adult females. But this time around my fattest female seems like she's over due to drop and I think something's stopping her like the relentless males or not feeling safe enough. However I got these fish as fry this time around and obviously that adds time. I'm not sure if she's not dropping or if she's just not ready yet. They have been adults Ide say a 3 months and I've been seeing breeding behavior the whole time. I thought it only takes a month or so to see babies. I have tones of apotheosis roots in my 30 gallon tank as cover it seems sufficient but I could be wrong and need more hardscape to break up the tank and that's what I'm not sure about. Last time had a lot more plants and a well done scape and they loved it. However, I had two fancy goldfish for a while like years so I took out a lot of stuff to prevent injury I haven't put it back in it was really only some large dragonstone and they decimated the plants as well. Long story short they died during a power outage and the tank got way too hot even though I had battery powered air stones and a battery powered fan blowing on the water. 😭 I loved those fish. But after months of no fish just ghost feeding to keep the cycle good I decided to get platies again because it was really fun last time I just got too many varieties last time and they eventually all turned into a super bland patternless less pretty genetics that I eventually got very bored of and gave them away for another tank because I knew their genetics would muddy the water on anything new that I put in there pretty quickly. This time around I got 1 type red wagtail platies one of my favorite types. I bought 12 fry off of eBay and after the goldfish I don't have much in there in the way of hardscape but after the goldfish I allowed the roots of my pothos to take over the tank and I figured it would be plenty good enough. So my question is I guess what do you think is going on and what should I do if it is stress or safety. I have a breeder box should I put the female in there that looks like she's ready to pop. Yes I have too many males before ya ask lol as it was luck of the draw so it's very possible she's too stressed to drop although there seems to be a hierarchy among the males where the dominant one chases off the others and they kinda just give up chasing constantly so there's really only one bigger male that's been chasing her around, consistently anyway. My worry is I keep reading that experts say no breeder box because it's also a stressor idk how true that is. but I need her to drop to so I can get the numbers more evened out. Should I just do it and see if she drops or no. Or do you think I'm just being paranoid and impatient ands just not done cooking yet. Although there is more males than females she does not seem stressed out by it there's no clamping or anything like that and she eats well and she's the biggest fish so she does tell the males to piss off if she's not in the mood sometimes and oddly they kinda listen and at least stop bumping into her and chasing but hangout near by. Kinda weird I didn't see this hierarchy or dominant females last time, she's a broot. Lol I also didn't think it was possible to have issues with breeding with a live bearer. Lol sorry about the top message I just don't have time to deal with ego. Sorry no picture that's one of those things that they like to over analyze and get all high and mighty about when I know this setup is fine outside of hard scape which I will fix eventually I just didn't think it was necessary with so many pothos roots they provide plenty of hiding spots it seems anyway.