Possibly pregnant guppy?

[kaitym]

Could the one on the left be pregnant? She's much larger than the other one. I can't get a good look at her but she is much rounder and the other female seems much more interested in the males.

[Floyd R Turbo]

I didn't even know mine was pregnant until I found a fry during a cleaning. She wasn't much bigger. She was hanging out above the power head a few days before I found it. What I've read is that they will hang out near a heat source before they deliver, power heads give off heat.

If your fem has ever been around a male, she's most likely pregnant. Get a breeder trap unless you just want to feed your fish a good meal. I will post pics of my DIY trap, I'm in the process of making it.

[kaitym]

Thanks. I have a seperate container that I planned on using for if I needed to seperate one of the fish. Would that make due or should I go out and find one of the containers with the v-shaped slots? I'd rather not walk into the room and see a mass murder going on.

[Floyd R Turbo]

You most likely wouldn't see it...mothers can turn right around and eat their own fry. I think I was lucky to find 1 hiding in the plants.

The container would work to catch the fry. Then you probably want a separate tank for the fry so they can grow instead of being confined. Plus with guppies, the best is to separate the males and females at 3 months or else they will inter-breed which I think is bad or something. I don't like in Arkansas so I don't know anything about that. (if you're from Arkansas...it's a joke...don't get offended

[kaitym]

lol No I dont live in Arkansas. I live in Maine (oh so much better...) Would an other tank the same size (5.5 gallons) or smaller work until I figured out something to do with them? And I read somewhere that once they're like an inch or so long that they can go back with the parents. idk I'm all new to this lol didn't think I'd have to worry about my fish reproducing

[cfd]

Is that even a female?

If so, she's probably pregnant, but not close to having fry yet.

Mine looked like she was about to burst, then within a day or two dropped about 30 fry.

[meegosh]

Those are both females, I'd say the one on the left is a week or so off from dropping. You may never know she dropped any fry because they might get eaten. Like I said in the other post, I only had 1 fry survive from my first batch, after that the parents seemed to lose interest in eating the fry.

There is no set length you should wait for the fry to grow to. I have a few, couple day old, fry in my tank with about 7 adult size females and they don't even bother the fry. Typically if the fry is bigger than the other fishes mouths then it is safe to let them go. Most people just let nature take its course since they are such prolific breeders.

[Floyd R Turbo]

If you want to save the fry you have to watch closely, look for the mother 'standing' on her mouth, possibly twitching like she's having contractions, then very gently move the mother from one tank to the other (with matched water conditions) and put her in a breeder trap (your LFS will show you) so that the babes will drop through. After she's done, you move her back to the other tank...

You're actually SUPPOSED to move her a week before she gives birth...but that takes practice on the timing, and I don't even know what that is. I'm assuming that because I found my fry 3 weeks ago tomorrow, I'm moving her today. Still working on the DIY breeder trap...

[kaitym]

The only thing I'm really concerned about right now is that I'm going out of town for a few days. I have someone to keep an eye on them, feeding and what not. Should I tell them if they see this happening to move her or should I just let it take its course? They don't really know a lot about fish and they dont have access to this information.

[meegosh]

I would just let nature take its course. You can stress the females out really bad when trying to net them and move them around. This won't be the only batch of fry you will have, trust me!

[colematthewmalaka]

If you have males with them she probably is. If she looks like she's gonna blow you should move her so she can give birth then move her back. If you don't want babies your screwed because they only have to breed once and can give birth up to six more times after that without mating again they save some sperm from the first matiing and pretty much **** themselves from then on LOL

[kaitym]

I was gone for about 5 days since the last time I wrote. The female I think is pregnant has gotten bigger, more round, and the gravid spot has gotten almost black. She's been getting slightly aggressive towards the other female and wants nothing to do with the males. Thinkin about moving her to her own tank but I'm not sure. Any suggestions?

[kora_the_lone_koi]

A long time ago I bought two guppies and they had babies but when I came home....... Well lets just say I was 8 and didn't have any experiance(can't spell either lol) with breeding fish. I learned a few weeks later that you had to have a breeding trap. I'd like to get back into it again. Should I have a seperate tank then what I already have(10gal, 2 small koi, 2 sarpas, 1 black mystery snail)? Sorry to get off topic, my guppie was swollen like a blimp! And ya she does look prego.

[meegosh]

If you want to save the fry then I would move the pregnant guppy sooner rather than later. You can stress the mom out bad by moving her when she is close to dropping. If it were me I would let nature take its course... you'll eventually end up with a boat load of guppies either way.

[kaitym]

I think I'm just gonna wait and see what happens. If she has them in the tank, theres tons of hiding places for the fry, and it wont really break my heart if they eat some. Should I get different food or would the food that I feed the adults work?

[mike47517]

well im just gonna put it pretty simple. as long as you have male and femal guppies together the female will always be pregent till she dies.

[mike47517]

whoops didnt read the end. for food just crush up the adults food real good.

[Floyd R Turbo]

Here's mine from several days ago. I've been told that it could be a week to 10 days from this point. I think it depends on how many broods she's had. This one had some fry of which I found only 1 about 26 days ago, and she's grown to twice the size I bought her at, not counting the belly expansion.

When they get ready to birth, the area around the gravid spot 'squares off'. I'll post pics if I can before it happens.

As for my fry, I took a bunch of flake food and put it in a small ziplock and crushed it into almost powder, then I would dip a toothpick in the tank and get some of the flakes stuck to it and dip that in the tank. I was doing this with the fry in a trap in the 55, now I've got the fry and female in a 10g with a bunch of plastic & live plants for cover.

That tank is also experiencing a mini-cycle, which I had hoped to avoid, so unless you have the time to allow another tank to fully cycle, I wouldn't suggest moving her. I used a sponge filter that I had stuck in the gravel of my 55 for 1/2 week and transplanted some fake plants and a handful of gravel to give it a jump start, which did actually happen, but I still and getting ammonia and just today nitrites, pretty good considering the tank is not even up for a week. I do a big water change daily (40-50%) using water out of the 55 because my tap water pH is too high and it would cause a huge swing.

[kaitym]

The female on the right was the one I was curious about.. I took this picture about a week or so ago.. Shes not much larger, more round I suppose, but the gravid spot is getting almost black. I'll work on getting a better shot, gotta charge the batteries on the camera.

[mike47517]

yeah the one on the right looks to be pregnent. just keep your eyse open and pay attention to her. i usually see that the female has slimmed down before i ever discover any fry.