possible gravid guppy?

[delfisherman]

i have no clue how two guppys got into my tank but i have two female guppies that are gravid but i have no males in the tank. they are in with my molly's and rams. what would happen if i never get them a male?

 

[khoifish89]

the possible answer is when you got them at your lfs or at the farm where you lfs get the guppies, they might put the female and male together.

 

[pcdebb]

they were already pregnant

 

[delfisherman]

they are very egg laden and never fertilized. i have had them for atleast 6 months so if they were fertilized they would have had babies by now. my mollys when i was breeding them seriously they were having babies every 3 weeks so i assume guppys are the same. if i get a male i assume it wouldnt take long for baby guppies

 

[khoifish89]

guppies or mollys are all livebearer. they give birth to live fries.

 

[delfisherman]

ill get a picture to show you. i know guppies are live bearers thats why im so perplexed

 

[pcdebb]

I'm confused. How long have you had the guppies?

 

[BettaGal]

Guppies, and I think all livebearers for that matter, maybe not all, can hold sperm for up to six months. They may have not had a male and mated since you bought them, but they could have been "pre-hit" meaning they had already mated before you got them and have been holding the sperm. If you add a male to the mix, you will have fry. My guppies were a little odd. She didn't get pregnant for a few months, and I had one male and one female. I was new to fish and guppies, and took the advice of the fish store person, and I get now that it's supposed to be more females than that. My guppies would make love every hour on the hour, I kid you not. They aren't hard to breed at all. Just put a male and a couple females together, feed them, and you'll have fry.

 

[MacDracor]

If its a guppy and it's female, then it's almost certainly pregnant. They only need to be exposed to a male once. Six months is average time they can store sperm but by no means is it the max. I've heard of instances of up to eight months. They can also reabsorb a batch of fry if conditions are unfavorable. So you really could go six months without any fry.
Another distinct possibility is that they have been giving birth every six months and you just haven't noticed because the fry are eaten. I once had a male guppy follow a female around to eat the fry as they popped out. Seriously, he was right behind and beneath her for an hour snatching them up as they were born.

 

[delfisherman]

i thought that myself at first but they have been this way for atleast two months and the fish themselves are atleast 6 months old. i dont even know how they got in my tank. ill get a good picture when i get home tonight.