Tigerfishy

I've had a look in the forum and don't seem to have found an answer similar to my problem...
I have recently started a fish tank (since June) and have amongst others, 5 Danios and 2 Guppies. When I bought my guppies (female) I was told not to keep them with any male guppies in case of babies, which I have not. All my other fish are male, but was told this was OK. I have only had the guppies for just over a month and when I woke up and fed the tank this morning, I saw a piece of food moving, but it was not food coz it started to swim about. It was only about 3-4 mm long, orangey but see through. It did look like a tiny guppy, but I don't know who the culprit is as my guppies have always been fat!!
Unless my neons have mated with them (unlikely!!) then it must be one of my danios. I didn't know this was possible. Is it?? and help!!!
Thank you

TFA101

Female livebearers can be inseminated at very young ages, and can also store the male's sperm in their bodies for later use. They can fertilize their young literally at their own will, and that explains your newfound babies. So your females simply mated with another male before you took them home from the store

Tigerfishy

Thank you!! Everyone did comment that they were fat, but I just thought they were made that way...
Just hope it's not eaten by the time I get home, it was sooo tiny!

TFA101

if you have enough hiding spots like rock crevices or caves, or other plant cover, your baby should be able to scope out hiding spots to retreat to when it feels threatened. And chances are, there are more on the way. Livebearers are known to spread out the birthing of their fry over a span of 2-3 days

Tigerfishy

Oooooh, thanks for the warning. Theres plenty of hiding places, my castle is unused as the hole is too small for my other fish, so it will prob end up there. It was nestling in beside the gravel when i found it, desperately trying to avoid one of my corys!

Tigerfishy

A quick update... I had in total 7 babies that did not die. This was over 2 births as the mother died after the second birth

Not to fear, I found another pregnant female that looked just the same so am looking forward to my new arrivals again!!

Irfan

TFA101 has covered your question pretty well. I've had my three female guppies isolated from the males for about 3 months and still i find new fry in their tank at least once a month. I'm trying to get them cleared of the sperm that they are carrying so that i can breed them as per my liking.

thorpbrian

The store should've sold you all males to prevent breeding...Hopefully you have enough room for all the new babies, or another tank.

Tigerfishy

Yea, i bought 2 females originally (because my shop had rubbish males and females were far more colourful at the time), but 1 was already guilty! They are great little fish, I have a designated 'guppy tank' that is big enough for them and found a local store that will take them, they are desperate for guppies apparently.
I'm able to keep most of what I have, so only a few will have to go (all subsequent births from now!)

Robin4

Tigerfishy

Haha Robin4, will see what I can do!
Got 4 babies out of my new female so far, will see what happens next month...
Little Randy is gonna look great, he has so much colour, grew really quickly and has a big orange tail and quite a large top fin already.
Will try and get pics up tomorrow night (if I can access this forum from home, sometimes it doesn't let me ) cause I'm out tonight!

Tigerfishy

Right, pics. They're not great to be honest, but they're the best I could manage!
They both show 2 babies from the second birth and Randy. Randy is the male from the first birth and is huge compared to the others born at the same time as him... Can't miss him, he is bright orange (the show off). Tried to get pics of the baby babies, but they look like little shiny specks and move too fast for the camera

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