Guppy Pregnancy Question

[KCNM]

I have a female guppy that seems overdue to give birth. She's been squared off for about a week and a half alost 2 weeks. She's HUGE. I have a few pictures of her but they don't do justice showing how big she really is.
She's in a 10 gallon tank, 80 degrees, 0 ammonia 0 nitrite and nitrate 20 ppm.
She hasn't shown signs of dropping fry, she's exploring around the tank like normal, not hiding and no labored breathing.
Is there any reason she would be like this?

[Fishfur]

If she's not ready, she's not ready. We get anxious, waiting for fry to appear but the fish usually manage it pretty well by themselves. She'll pop some fry when she's ready and not before.

[Kittykat364]

I find sometimes if the tank is overstocked they don't drop, my platy was squared off for a while before we realized how many fry were hiding so we took some fry out and less than 2 days later she had fry. I'm not sure if it's related but it seemed like it.


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[emeraldking]

Originally Posted by Kittykat364

I find sometimes if the tank is overstocked they don't drop, my platy was squared off for a while before we realized how many fry were hiding so we took some fry out and less than 2 days later she had fry. I'm not sure if it's related but it seemed like it.


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For sure it has happend like that in your tank but in general this isn't the case. But a female livebearer drops fry when the time is right for her. Even if a female has become that large with fry, she's able to wait delivering them when she's not ready for it. So, even if 3-4 weeks have passed, she might even deliver after 6-7 weeks. It happens! 3-4 Weeks of pregnancy is just an average...

[Kittykat364]

Originally Posted by emeraldking

For sure it has happend like that in your tank but in general this isn't the case. But a female livebearer drops fry when the time is right for her. Even if a female has become that large with fry, she's able to wait delivering them when she's not ready for it. So, even if 3-4 weeks have passed, she might even deliver after 6-7 weeks. It happens! 3-4 Weeks of pregnancy is just an average...

Very true. I am pretty sure stress has something to do with it as well, if they are stressed (for any reason) they often wait to drop.


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[BBradbury]

Hello KC...

She's waiting for you to change the tank water. The rush of clean, treated tap water that you make a bit warmer than what's already in the tank is all she'll need to drop the fry. Provided of course, she's ready.

I keep large, planted tanks of livebearing fish and change half the tank water every week. There are numerous females in there and when that clean, warm water goes into the tank, there are many fry dropped within hours, if not minutes of that rush of pure, warm water.

The surface of all the tanks is heavily planted with Hornwort, Pond weed and Pennywort. So, the females have their privacy and the fry can easily hide from the adults.

Pretty easy.

B