fancy guppy birthing

[daviesmomma]

I just recently aquired two fancy female guppies that were very pregnant, one of them started giving birth to fry last night so far she has had only 13 babies. She is obviously still pregnant and I am worried she may be having complications. I have her in my guppy fry tank because the previous babies are to big for her to eat and I have two plants in there for her to hide in. The other female is in a breeding net in the same tank so I dont have to worry about transferring her once she goes into labor. The one that is birthing has been hiding in the artificial plants for awhile now and has these little red bubble looking things coming out where the babies do and I can still see lots of black behind them. I have lost three females that I believe was due to birthing complications and I dont want to lose anymore especially since these are good quality breeders what should I do? I recently had all my tanks tested and they are well set up and the guppy tanks are kept at about 80 degrees.

[Johnny Tuttle]

I don't know what to tell you beyond that when my female guppies or platties deliver their babies, I don't move them at all (well, I don't have a second tank yet) or use breeding nets. I assume it's stressful enough without moving them, too. I would move the fry if you must, but I do find that nothing in my tank eats the fry anyways.

Anything that reduces stress for the female guppies is a good thing.

[daviesmomma]

thanks, My female that was laboring is now done and is doing pretty good im letting her stay in the tank with the babies until she is showing her normal activity levels again then I am transferring into a med tank to monitor her wounds from the attack from the other female. I dont know how many she had they are all swimming together.

[haykay]

its a stressful process having babies.. I'm glad that she is doing much better!

[daviesmomma]

....well she seemed to be doing better, I unfortunately had to leave the house and go to the hospital to see my grandmother for the last time and when we got back my poor female was deceased. So on this very sad day I have lost both my mama guppy and my spectacular grandmother who I loved very much. Thanks for all the help and advice goodnight.

[FishCrazyBenBOMB]

Well I don't know, I had mollies and I know both the mother and father of my fry both died right after they were born for some reason. So I don't know what to tell ya

[daviesmomma]

I am starting to wonder if they are just carrying to many babies because my other female is showing signs of internal bleeding. I read that sometimes the females carry to many and there stomachs rupture which forces them into preterm labor and then eventual death. I dont know if thats the case here but all my levels are a good standard level. Not to mention I would think if anything was wrong with my fry tank the fry would be dead also. I have a question hopefully someone can answer it and that is, If the female dies before she births all the fry can I save them by forcing them out of her?

[Sparkles12]

Um.. I REALLY wouldn't recommend doing that to a guppy. (anyone have a different opinion?) yes, some of my females die when they give birth too, it's because of the stress. I don't like putting my females in the breeding traps because of that. I prefer putting her in a seperate tank and catch the fry as they come. (however, the mom might take a long time) I've heard that some people put a little aquarium salt in their guppy tanks because it's suposedly relieves some of their stress?, but I haven't done that though.. Maybe someone else has some info on that (or you could do some research

[OldMan]

First things first, I am sorry to hear of the loss of your grandmother Davies Momma. That can be a hard thing for anyone to suffer. I hope she was able to enjoy a full and productive life.
Salt is a bad idea for any freshwater fish. Many fish can tolerate some salt but it is not good for them. You have said a few times that your water is OK but something is very wrong when you are losing every female guppy that tries to deliver.
What are your tank readings for ammonia, nitrite, nitrate and pH? Do you know if your water is hard, soft or something in between? If you have an actual hardness reading that would be useful but it's a test not everyone has.

[daviesmomma]

I am using the aquarium salt that is for freshwater fish same stuff they use at petco for all of there tanks. The only thing I was told about the test was that my water was a little hard but I bought a water conditioner and the most recent test said that everything was good. The pH was good the ammonia, nitrite, and nitrate levels were good and the water was somewhere between soft and hard but closer to soft. I do have tetratest kit but its missing the hardness result chart so I havent tested it myself, I take my samples to the petco up the street and they test everything for me and so far nothing is in the stress level. My goldfish tank went into the stress level but I did a 50/ 50 water change and retreated it and its been fine since. I think Im going to do another 50/50 on all my tanks and see if that helps any. Thank you by the way for your condolences. My husband and I have already decided that we are going to take a break from the guppies for awhile until we can set up better because were obviously doing something wrong. Thanks.

[OldMan]

Sorry to have to say this but there is no such thing as a "good" value for your chemistry. You need the actual numbers so that you can see what is happening in your tanks over time. It is the main reason that most of us have ended up with our own test kits. If you go on line to the site that makes your test kit, many of them will show the color charts right on their site so you can do a comparison. It's not as convenient as the printed cards but will let you use the kit to read your hardness.
Salt can be tolerated by guppies but is not good for them. I never understood the Petco desire to treat everything with salt but the store near me went out of business because they couldn't keep their fish healthy enough to sell them.
With moderate to low hardness you will want to increase it for optimum guppy health. Although they are not saltwater fish, they do come from hard water sources with a pH preference of 7.0 to 8.0, not lower like you might expect from a typical South American fish.

[FishCrazyBenBOMB]

Originally Posted by OldMan

Sorry to have to say this but there is no such thing as a "good" value for your chemistry. You need the actual numbers so that you can see what is happening in your tanks over time. It is the main reason that most of us have ended up with our own test kits. If you go on line to the site that makes your test kit, many of them will show the color charts right on their site so you can do a comparison. It's not as convenient as the printed cards but will let you use the kit to read your hardness.
Salt can be tolerated by guppies but is not good for them. I never understood the Petco desire to treat everything with salt but the store near me went out of business because they couldn't keep their fish healthy enough to sell them.
With moderate to low hardness you will want to increase it for optimum guppy health. Although they are not saltwater fish, they do come from hard water sources with a pH preference of 7.0 to 8.0, not lower like you might expect from a typical South American fish.

There are online test kits?

[Barrett4444]

Hello all, I use a seperate birthing tank for my females after getting pregnant and then move them back to the main tank after I see they have given birth. I did this with my most recent fish after giving birth she seemed to lose the use of her tail. I am wondering if her stomach rupsured, of if I just super stressed her out two close to her giving birth.
Is she about to die