Possibly pregnant guppy?

[Floyd R Turbo]

Babies!!!

Look at what I woke up to this morning!!!

This is about 1/2 of them in 1 group, you can see some of the others in the upper left in another group, there's about 17 in all that I've been able to count. Woo Hoo!!!

EDIT make that 19

 

[mike47517]

lol congrats, ya done good, enjoy

 

[kaitym]

Cute babies!!

Congrats!! They are too cute.. I'm kinda looking forward to seeing some babies. Whats the right temp I should keep the tank at? Right now it's between 78 and 80.

 

[Floyd R Turbo]

That's fine. I don't think it makes a huge difference, just don't go above 80. 82+ is too hot for some livebearers I think.

 

[mike47517]

That's fine. I don't think it makes a huge difference, just don't go above 80. 82+ is too hot for some livebearers I think.

yeah. what he said

 

[kaitym]

I just checked the temperature and it's been steady at 78.

 

[mike47517]

good

 

[kaitym]

So she still hasn't dropped them.. Wondering if there's something wrong, not as far along as I had thought, or if shes just fat and not pregnant at all.. the gravid spot is black but shes not acting any differently and still eating normally. I've tried to avoid any undue stress as much as possible.

 

[Floyd R Turbo]

My gup acted normal right up until 1 to 2 days before, you just have to pay attention and watch for changes. On mine, I could have sworn her gravid spot completely disappeared, then the next time I would look, it was back. Some of the things she did were hang out next to the heater (had it turned up to 79-80), hang out behind the sponge filter, position herself at a 45 degree angle tail-up (and sometimes vertical), and was not very interested in eating anything except brine shrimp (which she devoured).

It's just one of those things...you never know!

 

[kaitym]

Still Waiting...

Ok because I was becomming a little worried.. I still am, but I'll just keep checking.. Shes started to chill nearer to the heater which is set at 78/80. Hopefully she has them soon, I'm pretty excited

 

[kaitym]

So here's an update. Was just watching my fish, which I don't do as often as I could, and I could swear that I saw just one fry near the bottom of the tank. I tried getting a better look, blinked, and it was gone. So just to be sure, I moved the mother into her own space for some observation. The water is the same as the main tank and I'll check on her in a couple hrs. If nothing happens, should I move her back into the tank or just leave her in the seperate space and wait? I just don't want them being sucked up into the filter and I'm trying to locate some nylons that I havn't worn. I know I have some, just locating them might take a bit.

 

[Floyd R Turbo]

The new fry are sometimes really hard to spot, they blend in easily. It's possible that one of the other gups ate it, but they are pretty quick. Keep looking. Keep the mama in a separate tank for a few days if you can, sometimes they'll drop a fry and the next won't come for 24-48 hours.

I managed to catch my Molly right before she gave birth, and just quickly transferred her to the fry tank with the guppy fry in it, and within 5 minutes she dropped 21 fry. We lost count it happened so fast, and I caught it on video. She just zipped around the tank, stopped and dropped, zipped around some more, etc. It was pretty cool to watch. If I ever figure out how to upload on YouTube...

 

[MichaelsLilGray]

The pictures you showed me of the suspected female looks like a male to me lol. Females have 2 fins.. usually not tucked.. were as the males only have one... and ill let you guys figure out what the fin is....

 

[kaitym]

lol I'm pretty sure it's a female. I can see what you mean though

 

[kaitym]

I have a fry!!

I found one! I checked the tank again after a little while and there it was. Got it out and into a safe place. Havn't seen any more yet, but still waiting and mums still in a seperate space.

But now what do I do? Should I put it into a fish bowl until it gets bigger or should I leave it in the net?

 

[Floyd R Turbo]

You could leave it in the tank with the others, but you need to give it plenty of cover. Find some plants, hornwort is great, so is java moss, and the fry can hide out from the bigger fish there. Plus, they eat microbes off the plants. I have 40 fry in my 10, and usually I only see about 1/4 of them when I walk by, they just chill out in the hornwort (floating)

 

[kaitym]

How much to the plants typically cost? And do they need any type of extra lighting? I dont have a hood or lights on my tank now.

 

[kaitym]

The new baby

This is the only pic I could get for now. Only found this one after 4 hours. Thinking the others may have gotten eaten. Just glad I could rescue one. Can't wait to see what it is and what color!!

 

[Floyd R Turbo]

At my LFS, I get a clump of six 3 foot strands of hornwort for $3. It may be hard to find that cheap, but look around. It's a low-light plant, so a desk lamp next to the tank would probably be enough. If not, just buy more. Mine falls apart and I have to clean up the tank daily, but I've got about 4 strands floating in the 10, and whenever I do a water change, it stirs it up enough for more to break off. You could just use a lot of fake plants also, you don't have to go with live.

 

[kaitym]

Thank you for the advice. Gonna hit up my lfs and see what they've got. Just one more question.. How big does the fry need to get to be totally safe from the dinner menu before I let it back in the tank?