Guppy

[Rxblade123]

I have another guppy hovering right above the bottom of the tank. It tries to move as much, but it still has to use some strength to swim against the current. It has a dark gravid spot, is it ready to have some fry? I want to be able to know when they are ready to have some fry because, so far all I know is that, 2 guppies had a batch of fry. The first batch was all eaten. The second batch was all eaten except one, which I have in a small styrofoam cup.

 

[Sati]

The second batch was all eaten except one, which I have in a small styrofoam cup.

You mean you have a baby in a cup of water just sitting on the counter or something...?

 

[astroguy]

If the femalge guppy has a square belly (instead of a round belly), it is ready to have fry within a week. Why do you have a strong current? Guppies do not like that.

 

[PK Tester]

I have a pretty strong curent...eclipse system 12...they do perfectly fine. It sounds like your female guppy may be pregnat or sick. The square belly crap is not always true and depends on your experince with guppies. My guppies DO NOT get square bellies. Is the guppy significaly larger than the others or then when it use to be...As far putting the fry in the styrofoam cup...it will die. How many plants do you have in your aquarium? I have GREAT success with java moss and just leating my guppies be...natural selection takes care of the rest. My last batch though I used a breeder net...then later transfered those from the breeder net into a 10gal aquarium. I suggest buying a breeder net...placing the large female into the net intil the babies are born...when the babies are born remove her. What size of tank do you have? Can you handle a large amount of babies?

 

[astroguy]

Good to have different opinions! However, I would not call comments from others "crap". My four female guppies *do* get square bellies. An eclipse system 12 has some current, however, it is not to be considered strong. A strong current is typically created by some powerhead. I do not know which strength Rxblade123's tank has, however. And guppies do prefer water without too strong a current, that's where they come from. I agree with PK Tester that you will have good success with java moss and that you need to be prepared to have a lot of fry over time!

 

[millipede]

guppies...

I was going to ask the same questions about size of tank and plants... I have a 15 gal fw with too many guppies in it. Even with quite a few adults there's always babies surviving. I have a lot of plants including some java moss. With all those plants in there the babies have places to hide and the adults don't really get hungry as often. They always have something to nibble on. Depending on the size of the tank if you only have one pair of guppies and you get a plant or two, and or some other hiding places, you should have better luck having some babies live. I agree about the styrafoam cup. If you are going to keep the baby in something small I'd pick something that was glass or plastic.... And if it isn't going to have a filtration system then you would definitely want to put a small piece of plant in there. It will help keep the water a little cleaner, add some Oxygen and something to nibble on... but with some plants and stuff you should be able to put it back in the adult tank unless you want a seperate tank...

 

[PK Tester]

Sorry Astroguy...Theres just so many people preching this square belly stuff and it makes me mad because its VERY hard to see properlly. The Eclipse varries with its current...depending on the water level...the lower the water level the more extreme the current. Again I appologize your advice is not crap...its just people new to guppies can not easily see it...it takes time.

 

[Rxblade123]

I have a penguin 170 on a 10 gallon. I filled up the water a bit higher while I did a water change, so the current is weaker. I have some duckweed in the styrofoam cup. I am not worried about a huge population of baby guppies. I just want some to keep them alive until I can tell whether it is male or female. I'm keeping the males since I have only 2 males. I have about 14 other females in the tank. Oh and this maybe overcrowding, but there is no sign of stress or sickness in the tank. Oh and I also have a 1.5 inch albino frog in there. It ate about 2 or 3 of my smaller male guppies. I have 7 stems of anarchais in there and 2 stems of moneywort in there. I could leave the baby guppy in the tank, but I fear the frog swallowing the baby guppy. If I find out it's a female then I will let the frog eat her if it wants, but I need the males. I dont want the males to die off. My frog got fattened up a lot from the other baby guppies lol.

 

[QuteRN35]

last saturday i looked at my female guppy and sure enough she looked squared, I put her in the "birthing" tank and with in 3 hours i had Fry !!!

 

[Guppyman]

Hi All,

Time to inject my 2 cents. Guppies most definitely "square-off" within 24 hours of giving birth. I can walk by a tank and instantly spot a female that is ready to drop and I use this method on a daily basis. I've had females that look they swallowed a marble go 2 or 3 weeks past when they were supposed to drop, based upon the day of their last drop, but within 24 hours of going from very round - to looking "boxy" - the babies are born. I appreciate the fact that everyone's experience is different, but facts are facts. - Frank/Guppyman

Oh, and as far as abbreviations go bw could mean either bloodworms OR blackworms.

 

[STOINKER2]

My partner had a guppy that had fry last week we managed to catch 6 of them and put them in a breeding net, however sadly only 2 have survived.

We have 2 other pregnant guppies that are really big and round so, now i'll look out for the squareness to hopefully put them in a breeding net.

We also have a pregnant red coral platty, does the same aply for when they are ready to drop???

 

[platylover]

Yes platys do "square off" as guppys do. Basically everything that has been suggested in this post will work for platys also. Good luck to you and your platy fry!

 

[PlatyLady]

Wow. I always saw something a little diff about my platies and guppies when they were about to drop fry, but could never put my finger on it. Squaring eh? It's not mentioned in any of my books, but that must be it. I wonder how I never heard of it before... (feeling so naive ) LOL