Livebearer breeding issues.

[SeanMurphy]

In my 30G tank I've got 4 Guppy females, 1 male. Three of the females *seem* to be pregnant, but they've been that way for an awful long time. Longer, I suspect, than the guppy gestation period. I thought I'd let you folks see the pictures.



This shot shows one of the suspected pregnant guppies (top) with the one that seems to not be. I'm starting to wonder about the male, as he's been in the tank for at least 4 weeks now, to no effect. He is rather small, so it's possible he's being chased off or intimidated by the larger females, I suppose.

On the other hand, the tank also has a bunch of platies in it, with about a 70/30 female/male split, and none of them have had any spawning recently, either.

Come to think of it, I don't think I've seen any reproduction at all since I installed my new 88W, 6500K DIY light fixture. Is the increased light possibly responsible for their abstinence? The tank has a PFS substrate and all live plants.

Just for showing off's sake, here's an image of the whole tank.

[Zagz]

How long has the guppy been that size? I've had guppies that look like that for quite a while then give birth much later than I expected. I think they look like that when storing the sperm. Kinda like they are deciding when to get pregnant. LOL. I'd be patient. Livebearer's can hold onto their fry, how long has it been since you installed the new lights?

[SeanMurphy]

The new lights went up around the middle of December. I've seen no activity since then, other than these guppies getting incredibly round and not dropping.

As an aside, here's an idea of the plant growth in that tank since I put the new lights up on Dec 13th.

[DepotFish]

what's your ph, any changes? a change in the water can prevent breeding