sun82

Hi all,
I noticed that my female guppy is pregnant. She gave birth to 14 frys on xmas eve. The gravid spot is very prominent now and the male is still chasing her. Her stomach is also square shaped... have attached two pics.

Here are my questions:
(1) How do I know if the guppy is going to give birth? I have seen posts somewhat similar answering this question but I am just wondering if there are any tips/hints that would help me in identifying it. Yesterday, I saw the stomach squared and the gravid spot real black, so I put her in another tank in the night. Morning, there are no fry .

(2) what is the minimum duration between which a female guppy gives birth? is it every 14 days? How many times would she give birth once she gets pregnant, generally?

Thanks.

Attached Images

	Image0241.jpg (187.0 KB, 139 views)
	Image0242.jpg (211.4 KB, 136 views)

VenomGrass

The darker the gravid spot is, the closer she is to giving birth. The dark spot will disappear when she has given birth (so there must be fry waiting to come out), but of course, guppies are completely cannibalistic, and unless you have plenty of dense water weed in the tank, the mother (and other guppies) will quite red to shift them quich happily eat the babies as soon as they are born. You need to be prepared to shift them quickly into another tank

platy ben

Your guppy is definitly pregnant however if she gave birth on christmas eve she is unlikely to give birth again until 20th of january at the earliest.

redlessi

All female guppies usually have a gravid spot, that does not actually mean they are pregnant. If she gave birth xmas eve, she can store sperm from that mating and have babies every 28 days or so at least up to 3 more times. Once she really squares off then she will deliver. I have a 72 gal with guppies that has a bijillion babies, for some reason mine dont eat the fry. Good Luck

sun82

All 4 female guppies have dark gravid spots .. am planning to put them in another tank with some plants.. so they can give give birth peacefully, without any disturbance from the "all time chasing" male guppies n other fry eaters...

Thank you all for the comments!

sun82

Still no luck!!

Zenandra

Once their bellies really start to square of you'll know that they are close Good luck

Meenu

Still too soon. Are you positive she is the one who gave birth on Christmas Eve, or could it have been another?

sun82

the bellies have really squared for her n somewhat squared for the other three females. i read in other posts that they can store their fry for a long time tell they become comfortable.. not sure how long she wants to make me wait?

I tried putting all 4 females in a 10g tank for two days... no luck... so, thought they are finding it difficult to adjust.. so, moved 'em back to the main tank (also 10g).

Meenu, yes she is the one who gave birth on xmas eve... her green stripped tail fin is very distinctive to identify.

Suggest me, can i put them in a separate tank (10g) for say 2 weeks or so? i am just a lil' worried bcoz if she gives fry, then it would be eaten in seconds by the other fishes in the tank.

Meenu

even she will eat her own fry. the best thing to do is to have plenty of hiding places for the fry.

But I must say, you might want to consider just letting the fry stay in the tank and letting the adults eat them, I know it sounds mean, but you will end up with fry every month - what will you do with them all?

One of the reasons livebearers have so many is because in nature, most get eaten. You may want to think about letting nature take its course. Very few, if any, will survive, and you won't have your tanks overrun with them.

It is actually a very healthy food source for fish

Llama

That's the method I use too. As an added bonus, you are pretty much guaranteeing that only the healthiest survive (thank you Darwin), and for some reason the healthier fish are usually the most colourful looking ones.

Otherwise, if you buy a breeder with one of those 'small holes at the bottom for fry to drop into seperate compartment', its the best way of ensuring you keep most of them. Just be careful when you transfer the fish, if you do it too late, the fish will stress and might abort.

platy ben

They don't need to be separated, in my guppy tank I have 2 things that help my babies survive, moon rock substrate, its large making lots of crevices and caves for the fry and I have lots of live plants, that is all that is needed.

sun82

I agree that I cannot maintain so many guppys in the future... but my LFS has agreed to take them... i will keep 15 to 20 at the most.

Meenu,
i cant let them be eaten... somehow i cannot let that happen... at least when i have some ways, i think i should do it to protect them. i agree that it is a good source of food for the fishes thou...

Llama,
I am not sure if the "healthier" survive or the "luckier".
The breeder box is the best, I agree... thinking whether to get one or not... am not gona be a regular guppy breeder...

Platy,
Would hiding places be really helpful? bcoz, they do come out n the other fishes once they find that there r frys, wouldnt they find them? jus curious... as i havent had a fry in the main tank...

Llama

Well, luck might really play a part in it - but for fry to survive, they need to 1. Find a hiding place 2. Be able to grab food without being eaten 3. Swim away from dangers

So I'd say their health is a very large factor as well.

Breeder boxes aren't expensive at all - i got one for around 2 euros (which aint a lot), its also useful as a makeshift protective 'quarantene' for bullied/injured fish, so its always useful to have one.

sun82

I checked out the price of a breeder box in one of my LFS.... it costs 1200 in rupees, no MRPs. 2 euros should be around 135 rupees. aquarium accessories are very less manufacured in india, at least not much in my city. most of them are imported from china. hence, the price is high due to all the taxes etc.

Meenu

Wow, that's expensive! That's about $25 US.

I don't blame you for feeling like you don't want the fry to be eaten. I won't get female guppies for my tank because I don't want my children (5 and 2) to see the adult fish to eat the babies.

One of my concerns is that if you let the fish breed, and end up with hundreds of fry a month (even your 15 fry you are going to keep are going to grow up and produce more babies), then you are going to have a very hard time controlling your water parameters. I don't want you to be in a situation where your ammonia becomes so high that your fish get ammonia poisoning.

sun82

Yeah, it is quite expensive here... i would probably ask one of my friend coming over from US to get it from there... i can order online though, but i guess the shipping cost would be more than the product's itself.

Once the pregnancy is over, I am planning to give the female guppies as well (to one of my friend).. so, i would be off nursing . With respect to the fry, i would keep the males n give the females, when they grow up...

Thanks for your concern, i agree that maintaining a lot of fishes would become difficult.

sun82

All 4 female guppies are put in a 10g tank... hope something turns out good !

Meenu

good luck, sun

sun82

There's a good and a bad news!!!

First, the bad news... no guppy fry!! itz been more than a month that the guppy gave birth.. the gravid spot has become oval... the squaring has reduced, the color has also become lighter.

Now the good news... all the female guppies have become really big. i havent been noticing them for a week or so n yesterday when i saw, they have really grown!! I am really suprised... over a week or two, so much of growth?! I think these females ate all the fry...

Another news... in the other tank, all 14 fry are growing well... happy to see them... they are so swift.. !!

sun82

and finally... the mom has given birth (2nd time)... there are 36 fry... wow!! so many!

Meenu

congratulations