Guppy almost time

[Katfish]

I still cant figure out when a female guppy is ready to have her babies.
I have one that looks pretty big now, so i isolated here in one of those nets so the other fish wont eat up the new guppy babies. I had her there for 3 days and nothing, she looked kinda sad in there so i took her out.
I got a new female yesterday that also looked pretty big and today i got me a new plant - a fox tale i believe - and when i was putting it in i noticed a small guppy so i got it out as fast as i could and placed it in a small 2 liter bowl with 6 other baby guppys that are 4 weeks old. I started looking at the females and saw the the new one looked thin and the older one is still the same. So i guess that the new one had her babies and the only one that survived is the one i found. The same thing happened with a black molly that i have, she was pretty big then one morning i found her thin and no sign of any baby mollies.

Any input on how to tell when its time will really help me out .
Thanks,
Katfish

 

[hisc1ay]

I wouldn't resign to the fact that the babies are lost just yet. I had a litter that I didn't even know about. One day I fed my fish and I saw a couple babies. Came back from class that evening and saw more. In the end, I had 8 or 10. I found that they liked to hide in the rocks. Keep an eye out, you might find more than you think you have.

My girls look pregnant again too. I don't know what they look like when they're ready to deliver, but I'm making sure I check them every day so I can know for future litters.

And is "litter" the correct term?

-j

 

[Guest]

And is "litter" the correct term?

I think the correct term is "brood", but am not completely sure. Anybody else want to give it a try?

 

[Grant R]

I've heard 'Fry' being used, or is that something different altogether ?

One thing is for sure and that's that guppies are randy little buggers !!

 

[hisc1ay]

I guess fry would work, but that refers to the fish individually....like one baby is a fry. But "her fry" would work as it could refer to the group as well as a single baby.

-j

 

[Katfish]

Keeping an eye out

Thanks guys, and yes i am keeping an eye out for more of them.
The problem being that i have a comunity tank and the tetras are also looking out for them. What i did is keep some of the fox tail plant that i just got floating along with another plant so they have a place to hide.

Thanks,
Katfish

 

[CRaZeeeBiTcHisH]

if you want more fry to survive in your community tank, you need to provide them with good hiding places that are too small for the other fish, you should be able to find 'fry grass' at your lfs, but any thickly planted, dense aquarium plants should work fine, and they will hide in the gravel!! i have found that the plants that are a couple of inches tall work much better than the round shaped plastic fry plants...some of them come in connectible mats as well, so you can dictate the size and shape...