Is my fish Pregnant? A newbie "must read"

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Andy Sager

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I'm sure we have all seen this header on a lot of threads. It's a common question by new or newer aquarists first keeping fish. Thanks to the folks at Tropical Fishkeeping.com, I'd like to share their post so that we can clear up this question once and for all. ;)

"We need to give a little insight on the difference of a terminology here. I have seen many post saying, "My fish is pregnant." . Well, this may or may not be true. First of all, egg layers cannot become pregnant. Have you ever heard of a pregnant chicken? I have not. Egglayers, fish that either lay or scatter eggs include cichlids, danios, rasboras, goldfish, tetras, catfish, and anabatids, become gravid. That is they become full of eggs which are laid and fertilized externally.

Livebearers, on the other hand, become pregnant. The eggs are fertilized internally inside of the female by the male. The young are born alive and are free swimming in a short period of time. Fish that can be termed as pregnant include guppies, mollies, swordtails, platys, pike livebearers, and a few others that don't come to mind at this moment. (
I'll add Endler's Livebearers to this list.)

So, when you post about your fish, you now know the proper terminology."


And to further answer the next questionyou are probably thinking, if your fish does become gravid, there is nothing you HAVE to do for it. Fish can go an entire lifetime without breeding and just carry or reabsorb their eggs over time. So unless you are actually trying to breed your fish, there is no need to be concerned if your fish is gravid. Just enjoy their plumpness. (y)

Hopefully, this will end the multiple threads of "is my Tetra, Barb, Danio, Gourami, etc. pregnant?" The answer is always going to be "NO, they are not." If you are not sure if your fish is a livebearer, ask your salesperson when you buy them. If they don't know, that should be a clear indication that you shouldn't be buying your fish from there. They should know this the day they started working. (IMO):nono:

Okay, class dismissed. Go enjoy your fish now. (y)

PS: This thread is not intended to insult or demean anyone who has posted this question but to educate all on the subject of proper fish terminology. :)

 
Is my oscar pregant? I just fed it a whole box of donuts and it looks all round and fat now ;) nice work sir Andy!

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Anyone find this information helpful enough to make it a sticky so everyone can read it when they open this forum? Please chime in. :)
 
Only a handful of fish in the aquarium trade are livebearers. So if your fish is not a Guppy, Molly, Sword-tail, Platy, Endlers Livebearer or gambusia(mosquito fish), chances are, rest assured your fish is not pregnant, but may at most, be gravid.
 
Thank you Andy, if this gets made into a sticky we should post pics of pregnant livebearers and signs of pregnancy, gravid egg layers and fertile eggs so that hopefully all those types of threads might slow down, they seem to be a plague in this section.

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Is my oscar pregant? I just fed it a whole box of donuts and it looks all round and fat now ;) nice work sir Andy!

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G900A using Aquarium Advice mobile app


Haha that's great. I would love for this to become a sticky. Be very helpful to all the newcomers.
 
Haha that's great. I would love for this to become a sticky. Be very helpful to all the newcomers.

I'm working on it but for now, I think we need to keep bumping it to the front page so it doesn't get lost in the back.
A good word from my fellow AAers might help get this sticky thing "stuck" on the front page. :D

Happy fish keeping :lol:(y)
 
Lets keep this alive. I can't believe the mods haven't made this a sticky by now. This is a topic that is brought up multiple times a day. basically if your live bearer is a female it is pregnant.:lol:
 
IMO more than mere curiosity of a fish being pregnant/gravid, it is the excitement of having a fish spawn in the home aquarium. This is basically what leads to multiple threads created so often. Ich for eg, is a common disease that can prove fatal if not treated correctly. However how many thread here have been attributed to it?

P.S. only an Admin or a mod has the authority to make this thread a sticky.
 
. Ich for eg, is a common disease that can prove fatal if not treated correctly. However how many thread here have been attributed to it?

P.S. only an Admin or a mod has the authority to make this thread a sticky.


I can only fight one front at a time. ;);)

I think it would great if there was also a sticky to a chart of common fish diseases and best treatments for them. A lack of full understanding of diseases, in many cases, is the reason there are so many threads for them. I can blame this on everyone from the store down to the hobbyist. IMO, If everyone had a book about proper fish care and diseases when they first set up a tank, there would be a lot less threads on this site and others about problems and more threads about good experiences to share. (y) You don't want to know how large my library was when I got started and how much bigger it got by the time I was out of the business. lol :facepalm:

As for "P.S. only an Admin or a mod has the authority to make this thread a sticky.", thanks, one has already contacted me regarding this. We are working it out (y)

Anyone want to take up the challenge for disease stickies? (y)
 
I can only fight one front at a time. ;);)

I think it would great if there was also a sticky to a chart of common fish diseases and best treatments for them. A lack of full understanding of diseases, in many cases, is the reason there are so many threads for them. I can blame this on everyone from the store down to the hobbyist. IMO, If everyone had a book about proper fish care and diseases when they first set up a tank, there would be a lot less threads on this site and others about problems and more threads about good experiences to share. (y) You don't want to know how large my library was when I got started and how much bigger it got by the time I was out of the business. lol :facepalm:

As for "P.S. only an Admin or a mod has the authority to make this thread a sticky.", thanks, one has already contacted me regarding this. We are working it out (y)

Anyone want to take up the challenge for disease stickies? (y)

Im up for the disease sticky, Ive actually been thinking about doing one for a long time and this just gave me the little extra push.
 
I had thought of that a long time ago, but also realized identifying each disease accurately can be a tricky proposition. Without more than sufficient experience, you might end up with a lot of people across the globe putting a price on your head. ;)
 
newbie here as some may know.. thanks for the tip. helps even if its basic info.

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my guppy pregnant or no? sry pics blurry
 

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