pregnant guppy question

[the Ents]

Do guppies 'save a few' to be born later?

Our new female, after 4 wks, had a few (fair-sized mind you), and not only still looked like she had more to go, but 2 wks later has not 'liberated' the rest.
We know livebeares can have several litters off of one mating, but isn't there supposed to be like a 4 month interval? she looks like she is ready to pop nearly everyday, but never does.
Does she want a breeding trap to call her own? We transferred her 1st batch into it.
She's pretty active, up at the top, not looking for a shelter, but being shadowed by the male and the other 2 mo. olds.
Is she being 'shy' because her entourage won't let her be? and can this undelivered batch be harmful to her?

(pulse racing)
ok, trying to be calm...

so what do y'all think?

[jasonit]

I think I have heard that they can stall giving birth, until conditions are good, but I haven't heard of them giving birth to part of a batch but not all. Cut her some slack, having babies is tough on a gal's figure! ha ha! Anyway, mine gave birth about a month ago, and she never lost her size either. I wondered for a while if she was finished too. I think they can actually have babies about once every month or so... I am not positive, but it seems that I have read that somewhere. Anyway, I wouldn't sweat it too much.

[IronDogg]

Guppies will birth about every 28 days or so. Yes, they can store sperm from different males, and use it for a number of pregnancies. So one batch of fry could have multiple fathers. Sometimes, some of the larger older females get so big, you think they may explode. If she remains that way for too long (few days), she may be getting "egg bound" (so to speak). It can help to raise the tank temperature up to about 82 degrees and add some salt (1 tablespoon per 5 gallons). This may relieve her somewhat, and make the birthing process a little easier on her. Make sure you don't have any other species in the tank that are not tolerant of higher temps and/or salt though. I don't think that the birthing process is taking two weeks. What is more likely is that the fry were hiding very well, and it took you this long to notice more babies...
If the males are being relentless in their chasing of her, then it may be a good idea to give her a break and put her in the trap when she is close to giving birth. If possible, you should keep her separated from the males for about a day after the birth, to give her a chance to rest up before she is attacked again... Good Luck!

[the Ents]

update:
right after we posted we divided the tank to give her some peace & quiet, & the next day we had fry - and youll never believe this -

the fry left the enclosed area thru the holes in the divider and swam their way into the breeding trap which was already housing the previous batch!

i mean, how accommodating!
(they had a little help cuz the water level of the trap let them access the keyhole near the top)
so now we have 3 generations of fry...and it still looks like more to go!

you shoulda seen the touching sight of the adults nose to nose at the divider - looked like 'visiting day at the penitentiary'! realllly gotta get the camera going here....

[the Ents]

further update:

it is with sadness that we are announcing the death of Ginger II.

she was a joy from the 1st moment we saw her, all sleek and beautiful. her grey scales were each edged in thin black rims, and her tail was coral - tie dyed with purply-black. her 1st fry resembled her and her 2nd appear to be blond variety.
Fred, her mate, is ignoring all others and is despondently pacing the side wall. he stays and makes long eye contact with us whenever we're at the tank.

she had two batches of fry in short time. she never looked like she was 'done' being pregnant! in fact, she got larger than ever. we theorize she was 'fry-bound'(izat possible?), and internally haemorrhaging.
it appeared as a pinkish bruise or possible suckmark on her L side, posterior to her pectoral fin. she was removed to quarantine tank. the affected area rapidly progressed in colour to dark purple and she paled in colour overall, with a general watery-looking aspect. poss edema? the following day she developed a darker patch on her interior right side along with a dark vertical line along her ventral side. (resembling diastitis recti, a dark area on some pregnant humans which indicates the abdominal muscles have separated along linea alba)
she passed several large and colourless stools. there was no wasting, which is concurrent with tuberculosis. in fact, she fed normally right up to the end. we're afraid we let her suffer longer than we ought, because we were still hoping...