Breeding guppies, would enjoy some help!

[alia258]

I have a healthy fish tank and recently baught three guppies (2female, 1male) I think one is pregnant (early stage, possibly not pregnant though) and would like some help with my fish, because this is my first time with female fish (had only males before) and my first time breeding fish (though I HAVE bred hamsters and gather the general idea. My tank is balanced and I will post my stats once I figure out how to make it my signature. Any quick tips? I thank you in advance ^^

 

[alia258]

I can't figure the thing out so I'll just put my tank info here:

The water is all over healthy, clear, and kept at an even 78°
10 gallon tank
I have 1 fake plant and 2 live ones (the pleco likes the large amount of algae that grows on the plastic one, which is why I kept it)
I have old ruins looking decorations with cheap glass beads on the bottom of the tank
My fish are all healthy
I have 3 neon tetras, bob, joe, and jim
I have a young pleco, Oscar
I have a bottom feeder/catfish/thing that eats the food off the bottom of the tank, spot
I have 1 male guppy, to be named something Japanese (such as tiger or leaped on account of his color)
I have 2 female guppies, also to be named something Japanese

There was recently a parasite infection with two previous females I bought to go with my amazing male (his pic will be put up seperatly for his memorial) the females brought the infection into the tank, killing my male and infecting my pleco (who, thankfully, survived) I treated the tank with copper safe, which has a high copper content, will this affect the babies? I plan on transferring them into a seperate tank (to be baught) but filling it with the already acclimated water from my current fish tank. Any pointers?

I am aware that my tank is full and the baby guppies need seperate tanks, I hope for the best in my guppies pregnancies!
Here are some photos of my tank:




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The guppies are quite energetic and healthy, as you can see from the blurry pics. The clear/albino one is the calmer of the bunch, and therefore has the clearest photos! Please send me feedback on my fish and any ways that might help with the birth of my baby guppies!

 

[alia258]

These are two guppies I purchased:

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(btw the algae is there because this was taken before I had my pleco)

The one on the top died of old age, very shortly after buying him. The one on the bottom lived a long life, until recently, he was killed by a parasite brought to the tank by two females with plans to breed with him to keep his color in future generations. I have these new guppies to live on and create healthy fry to honor my dead beauty

Name: shequeria
Lived in my tank for a year, it was a horrible loss to lose his beautiful coloring ?

 

[alia258]

That second pic was an accident btw

 

[jetajockey]

Moved to Freshwater & Brackish - Breeding.

 

[alia258]

Moved to Freshwater & Brackish - Breeding.

I'm confused by your post, please elaborate for me

 

[BHead707]

I'm confused by your post, please elaborate for me

he is a forum moderator, he moved the post because it was located in the wrong section

 

[alia258]

Oh! Well okay, that's not gonna bother me! I still need info and help! I'm afraid I might accidentally mess something up!!! D:

 

[BHead707]

guppies are fairly easy to breed, usually just put a male and female together and boom, they are live-bearers so they will not lay eggs. ive never bred them myself, but do a little searching on this site and youll get some good threads on it

 

[Artist]

IMO both female guppies are pregnant
The dark tailed female is pregnant for sure and she is around 3weeks so i would say in a week you will have fry maybe less.

the lighter tailed one it is harder to tell but i do believe she is pregnant as well but if not she will with in 2 weeks if you keep the male with them

The fish in your tank may eat the fry so i would think about getting a breeder box, net or another tank for the fry to grow in

I find this cool hang-on breeder box it is just like a hang on back filter but you can put your fry in and they will stay safe and when you dont have fry you can use it as a filter ( I will put a link at the bottom that has info about the hob breeder box)

Finnex External HOB Refugium / Breeder Box + Air Pump (shrimp breeding) | eBay

 

[alia258]

I'm not using a breeder box!!! Those things are unusual to me! I'm thinking about creating a tank for birthing with a two foot tall vase (like for flowers, but bigger) and using a net that has holes that the fry can get through when they sink to the bottom. I will hang the net in the vase about halfway from the bottom, so if momma gives birth early or when I'm not there she can have plenty of room to hang out and stuff! Only problem: will the babies swim back up to the momma within eight hours? And if I move the momma sooner then necessary will she abort, or would it be a good idea to move her earlier so she can adjust to the tank? Or should I just completely scratch my ideas of a home made birthing tank and come up with a better one? Oh and are you sure my darker one is pregnant? She's still pretty skinny, I doubt she has very old ones in her if she is...unless they don't get fat until the last week of pregnancy? I'm pretty sure the clear one isn't pregnant, I should be able to see the eggs with the naked eye. Can you just tell me all the tricks to telling if a female is pregnant so I can double check, and to perhaps learn better strategies than just staring at them really hard? I heard something about a light somewhere? I'm still very nervous about the first batch of fry! Invade you couldn't already tell!

 

[alia258]

Oh! And I plan on keeping the male in there! I might not take him out actually, unless I put him with the baby males so they can "learn how to be a grown up" if they need it or not, I really don't know though, but I heard that guppies learn how to act by watching other guppies be guppies. I assume eating crumbled up fish flakes is healthy enough for fry? Once they're old enough they'll be switched to color tetra granules and freeze dried blood worms (but the worms are more of an occasional treat to keep protein in their diet)

 

[Artist]

By her tail is her gravid spot. This is how you tell how pregnant she is. Also you see how fat she is.
Week 1: She will be a little fatter, but fairly normal. Her gravid spot may be a little darker, but fairly normal still.
Week 2: She will be more fat, that will be noticable, and her gravid spot will be darker and a little bigger.
Week 3: You will now be able to really tell she is pregnant. She will be still more fatter and her gravid spot will still be getting bigger and darker.
Week 4: She will be delivering very soon now. As hard to beleive, she will be even more fatter and her gravid spot will be huge. Watch for these signs, this indicludes that she is almost ready to drop. (have fry)
1. Unsual behavior such as not eating and becoming unsocial.
2. The males will be bothering her to eat the fry and mate.
3. She will go somewhere around the plants or the heater.
4. Even if all else fails, you can tell with this, her stomach at the back will become a lot more squared off.



Tips:
#1: Guppies can have fry every month and can store sperm so be ready for a lot of fry. Better yet, let your local petstore take them off your hands if they will.
#2: ALWAYS keep 2-3 females to evey male. The males can harrass a female to the point of death. (Probably won't happend, but still be careful.)
#3: You might want to keep a spawning mop in your tank just in case your female has a drop while you're not there. Here is where you learn how...
http://www.aquarticles.com/articles/bree...
#4: Google it if you can't find all the info you need. I fould all this on the internet.
#5: Have Fun!

 

[alia258]

You know what? That's not a breeding box, it's an external attachment aquarium (completely different in my view) I might just use that thing! It'll fit into the room nicely! And it'll give the female a place to hang until she's recuperated and stuff! Quick question though...by adjustable baffles, does it mean the plastic dividers or is that something else?

 

[alia258]

Oh and the link from your last reply said 'not found'

 

[Artist]

With the hob breeder you can also use it as a filter when you don't have fry in it

Like it The DIY forum on how to make breeding stuff

 

[alia258]

Here is what I know so far about pregnant guppies:
The info on pregnancy stages (much of it prior knowledge, you just put it in order for me)
The sperm saving thing (prior knowledge as well)
The momma will try to eat the babies
Other fish will eat the babies
My bottom feeder (the little light brown one) should be safe to place with the fry, because he will eat any left over food and ignore the fry (please check me on that one, if I'm wrong, I'll be a cold blooded murderer)
The gravid spot will be pink/red on my clear girlie
The gravid spot is brown/black on colored guppies
IF my darker guppy is pregnant, then I don't know what a non-pregnant colored female looks like
Not all of the fry are going to live
Some may be born deformed and if they're suffering I might have to leave them in ice water to numb them to death (at least there's no pain involved in that method)
I hope there are deformed ones that are healthy enough to live happily, because that would be cool!

I will be posting more pics tomorrow! I'm going to put each one into my little carrier cage to try to get a better pic of them! I'll also be updating you on the guppies names ^^

 

[alia258]

Oh and with the job filter, I'm only gonna use it for fry, because the only other purpose it'll serve is as an isolation tank for sick ones, and I'm sure that's not going to happen any time soon! I'm still not 100% on what method I'll use for my birthing tank, I'll need something that can circulate water from the original tank into the other one if I use my original idea

 

[jetajockey]

BN plecos won't mess with the fry at all, you are right about that.

 

[alia258]

I'm not talking about my pleco, I mean the little catfish bottom feeder thing that dosent eat the algae but the left over food. Or am I wrong and both kinda are considered plecos? Here's a pic, the little one on the right is the one I'm talking about(he's sooo cute! And keeps my tank clean cuz I have a slight tendency to over feed on accident):




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The one on the left is Oscar, the algae eater. I might put him with the fry as well if it's beneficial towards them! ^^