DeanL1984

HI Guys, I have had my tank running for 4 month now, and have around 14 fish, the biggest beeing an angel (that is only small still however) then 2 platys, 1 pigmy plec. and 5 neons.
The problem is my Guppys 2 males and 3 females.
They always seem to get pregnant but then either die, (which i then replace like for like) or dont have the fry.
What am I doing wrong, I realy want to breed guppys and am thinking aboput a guppy only tank after I gain a little experince in my community tank.
My water seems fine (To a novice anyway)
pH 8.0-8.5
nitrites. 0.0
nitrates 40ppm
My water is very hard, dont know if this is important to guppy breeding or not?
temp very stable at 25-26.c
infact the heater has been on less than half a dozen times since i got this tank 4 month back. Im gussing our home is always warm.
What can I do to get my guppys to actually give birth.
Thanks guys

ray_sj

Are you allowing the guppies to give birth in the community tank? Or do you move them to a separate birthing tank? If it's the same tank, the fry may have been eaten by the other fish, unless you have a lot of places for the fry to hide (such as floating plants or java moss).

Hard water should be fine. I have water similar to yours, and my guppies have no problems. Some guppy strains have been overbred and are pretty fragile. Sometimes they just die.

Bindel2303

Two things may be happening. The first on is that your fish are pregnant and get stressed because they don't want to drop their fry in an environment that they see dangerous (this is if you have not put her in a breeding box or removed her from the tank) allowing her to get sick and die. The second is that she does give birth, all the fry get eaten and then she is over stressed by males to soon after giving birth causing her to get sick and die.

I have lost more pregnant females after they gave birth because I left them in the main tank too soon after giving birth. To in sure both delivery and the survival of both the mother and the fry put her into a breeding box when it looks like she is about to give birth and then separate her from the fry (so she doesn't eat them) but still do not put her in the regular tank for a couple of days. Let her re-coup. They don't through a mother out on to the street hours after giving birth and let every guy there nail her, its not healthy for her. Same idea here.

Hope this helps. Good luck with the breeding!

Shawnie

great advice from everyone..id like to add that you should have a ratio of 1male to 3-4 females..it cuts down on the stress to the pregnant females ....if you are truly wanting to have guppie babies, id do a tank with just the guppies and lots of plants for hiding..angels will definitely eat all your fry as they love the hunt...

Nick G

Agreed. I have to remove my Guppies a copule of days before birthing, as the Angels in my community tank are fry vacumns! They hunt down every one without fail!

DeanL1984

I wasnt planning on moving the pregant females just yet til I know exactly wot im doing, just want to actually have a succesful pregnancy in my community tank first. I will prob remove the angel to ensure the fry survive. I dont want to put her in my breeding trap incase i missjudge how longs is left and shes gets stressed beeing in there alone too long.
as always your help is greatly appreciated.

ABCDemily

Two thing could be happening. Guppies don't like to drop if they don't feel safe and calm, and protected. You should probably put them in a breeder box.
If you have too many males to females, this could also be stressing your fish.
Good luck!

matt6765

You should proble move the guppies into a breeder tank so the babies dont get eaten

DeanL1984

Hi, I now have my grandads tank, so will use this as a guppie only breeding tank. I have put guppies into their on their own. there are 2 males and 5 females. im sure 4 are pregnant, 2 defitnaly. I have plenty greenery and will remove all adults back to my community tank when the fry are dropped, (if i should not do this let me know please). What can i now do to give the guppies the best life to ensure succesful births?
Thanks again guys.

Nick G

Feeding a variety of live, frozen and flake foods will put the Guppies in good health. I personally use breeder traps for birthing all of my livebearers, this is not everybodys chosen method however. If the Guppies are going to birth in the tank then I would suggest adding some Java Moss which is excellent for the fry to hide in, and I would remove the males, as they will pester the females trying to mate with them whether they are pregnant or not. This can stress the females, causing them to either hold the fry, or deliver prematurely.

DeanL1984

Right, I have now removed the 2 males, so only have the 5 females in this tank now. Any more help would be greatly appreciated.
Thanks again

Nick G

Just keep an eye on the females. Once you see that one of them has definatly given birth remove her back to the other tank. As long as there are lots of hiding places for the fry you shouldn't have any problems. On a related note, what sort of filter is in the fry tank?

DeanL1984

The filter is a fluval 1. only small i know but cant afford anything better right now.
Right i went out earlir and b4 i did my female looked like she was going to give birth, when i got back from the gym there was one fry in the tank, now eaten!
I moved her into the breeding trap in the breeding tank, so she can have the rest, have i harmed my chances? i.e will she be to stressed to give birth to anymore?
.......as im typing this shes had 1 more, but this one still has a yolk like yellow belly, what has happend? help!
thanks so much guys.

Sharkitty

Why do you want to breed them? Do you intend to sell the new guppies?

DeanL1984

No just as a hobby, ive only had fish for 4 month, so am new to breeding. 1 more thing...how long can a guppys labour last from fisrt fry dropped to last?
thanks again.

Sharkitty

What will you do with them when you are successful and have a zillion guppies?

DeanL1984

I will keep the better ones and give the rest away.

Does any1 know how long birthing last so I know when to take her out of the breeding trap so she doesnt eat any.
Thanks

Bindel2303

Two things. First a guppy can start giving birth, then if stressed or circumstances change, withhold the rest for a while longer. I imagine this is what happened when you moved her (if she has not finished dropping her fry). In any case I would say normally as short as an hour to a few hours. Under extreme circumstances maybe up to a day or two to drop them all.

Second I would suggest not putting mamma directly back into the community tank at large to soon. Leave her in with the other female guppies for a couple of days. If you put her back in the regular tank to early and the males begin harassing her she may get sick or die. Females can be very vulnerable after giving birth.

DeanL1984

the female is back in the female only breeding tank. not my community tank. she has given birth to around 15-20 fry and is looking fine, so am very happy now. the fry still has small yolk like bellies, smaller thank yesterday but still about the same size as its head, am i right to assume i should not feed til the yolk belllies have gone?