Trying to save fry- are these fish pregnant/carrying eggs?

[Caseyloren]

Hi there! This is my first post, so I’m sorry if anything is wrong! I have googled everything until my eyes turned red, and I cannot figure out if these fish are going to have fry or not so I’m coming here in the hopes of help <3!

I attached pictures, but they’re all flipped. None of them are swimming wonky like that. I also have multiple tanks, all good levels, heat at 76-78 F per tank. Don’t know if that’s relevant for this question but hey, why not toss it in?

I have a guppy I put into a breeder box, but I can never tell if they’re squared off or not. I think my post title is misleading but I can’t change it now. Basically, I’m not sure if she’s ready to be in the box. She looked it to me, but she hasn’t had fry in the past 2 days since I put her in, so I was going to take her back out if someone said I was wrong. I just want to save as many fry as possible, so I don’t want to release her and have everyone eat the babies again.

I also noticed my corydora and cherry barb looking unusually round, and I’d love to save their fry as well if they’re carrying eggs. I have a spare tank I can easily whip out if they’re ready to drop, but I can’t even be sure my Cory is a female!

 

[Dallascowboys16]

Hi there! This is my first post, so I’m sorry if anything is wrong! I have googled everything until my eyes turned red, and I cannot figure out if these fish are going to have fry or not so I’m coming here in the hopes of help <3!

I attached pictures, but they’re all flipped. None of them are swimming wonky like that. I also have multiple tanks, all good levels, heat at 76-78 F per tank. Don’t know if that’s relevant for this question but hey, why not toss it in?

I have a guppy I put into a breeder box, but I can never tell if they’re squared off or not. I think my post title is misleading but I can’t change it now. Basically, I’m not sure if she’s ready to be in the box. She looked it to me, but she hasn’t had fry in the past 2 days since I put her in, so I was going to take her back out if someone said I was wrong. I just want to save as many fry as possible, so I don’t want to release her and have everyone eat the babies again.

I also noticed my corydora and cherry barb looking unusually round, and I’d love to save their fry as well if they’re carrying eggs. I have a spare tank I can easily whip out if they’re ready to drop, but I can’t even be sure my Cory is a female!

The guppy is certainly pregnant and appears to be close to dropping fry. If you want to save them, move mom into a separate tank or breeder net and watch her so you know when she drops her fry. Livebearer females experience a hormone surge when giving birth that prevents them from eating their own fry for a while. If you get mom moved out of the nursery within a few hours you should be good.

The Cherry Barb and Cory do appear to be gravid females (a fish that gives birth to live young is pregnant, a fish that lays eggs is gravid). When Cherry Barbs spawn they scatter eggs into clumps of plants. Locating them and moving them would be very difficult. Typically when breeding egg scattering fish like most tetra and barb species you would move a gravid female and a male into a separate tank, leave them for a day or two and then move them out of the tank. From there on out you can hatch the eggs and raise the fry in the breeding tank. Much easier than moving egg covered spawning materials (which can be done, but typically not the method of choice).

Corys on the other hand will lay their eggs on hard surfaces and they are much more visible and easier to move. In the morning when the lights come on, check the glass panes of the tank as they tend to be the preferred spawning surface of corys. You will see small clear eggs on the glass. By gently rolling your finger over the egg it should come off the class and stick to your finger. From there you can move the eggs into a rearing tank where they can be hatched and raised safely.

The fry of egg bearing fish tend to be harder to raise as they go through a pseudo -larval phase where they can't free swim and absorb their egg yolk. You will need access to small live foods like freshly hatched baby brine shrimp in order to raise them. My recommendation would be to try your hand at raising guppy fry before attempting an egg laying species.

If you want more information on raising specific species google is a treasure trove of information and holds the knowledge of generations of fish breeders. Good luck!

 

[Alyxx]

Hi there! This is my first post, so I’m sorry if anything is wrong! I have googled everything until my eyes turned red, and I cannot figure out if these fish are going to have fry or not so I’m coming here in the hopes of help <3!

I attached pictures, but they’re all flipped. None of them are swimming wonky like that. I also have multiple tanks, all good levels, heat at 76-78 F per tank. Don’t know if that’s relevant for this question but hey, why not toss it in?

I have a guppy I put into a breeder box, but I can never tell if they’re squared off or not. I think my post title is misleading but I can’t change it now. Basically, I’m not sure if she’s ready to be in the box. She looked it to me, but she hasn’t had fry in the past 2 days since I put her in, so I was going to take her back out if someone said I was wrong. I just want to save as many fry as possible, so I don’t want to release her and have everyone eat the babies again.

I also noticed my corydora and cherry barb looking unusually round, and I’d love to save their fry as well if they’re carrying eggs. I have a spare tank I can easily whip out if they’re ready to drop, but I can’t even be sure my Cory is a female!

Welcome to the forum! The guppy definitely looks squared off and close to dropping her fry. I would keep her in the breeding box and keep a close eye on her for a day or two, but if she hasn't given birth by then just release her back into the tank. Some guppies get a bit stressed in the breeding box and try to hold off on giving birth. It looks like your tank is reasonably well planted so odds are pretty good for at least some fry to survive if they happen to be born in the tank itself instead of the fry box. Or just move the pregnant guppy into the spare tank (with some hiding spots) until she drops the fry.

As for the cory and the cherry barb, I wouldn't worry about potentially raising their fry until you have a source of live food for them. Vinegar eels, microworms, and baby brine shrimp are all fairly easy to obtain and raise foods for fry.