Pregnant Guppy 42 Days Won’t Deliver

Hey guys... I have a 8 gallon tank with some pregnant guppies, and one of them is crossing the 40 day mark and hasn’t delivered yet. One of them just delivered, so I don’t think the problem is water parameters. I’m uploading a picture of her, she’s huge like this since a week or more. Why is this happening and what should I do? I’ve tried raising up the temp a little bit, but it didn’t work.

 

Well for one thing are you sure she is not delivering a few at night and they are being eaten?
They can hold them in and deliver a few at a time but most will be eaten and you will want that unless you have another aquarium...
How many guppies do you have in that small aquarium??

What are your parameters?
And are you certain she is pregnant and it’s not bloat or something... they can look pregnant when they are bloated... that is a very very long time for a guppy to be pregnant.... I would have my suspicions...
It’s normally between like 20-30 days... so it’s either not pregnant and it’s bloat from over feeding or she’s having a few at a time (they can be pregnant several times at once) and she is letting a few out at night and they are all being eaten before you get up

 

Hey guys... I have a 8 gallon tank with some pregnant guppies, and one of them is crossing the 40 day mark and hasn’t delivered yet. One of them just delivered, so I don’t think the problem is water parameters. I’m uploading a picture of her, she’s huge like this since a week or more. Why is this happening and what should I do? I’ve tried raising up the temp a little bit, but it didn’t work.

Go check now and see if she bursted but seriously check tomorrow morning she might give birth at night when the lights are out.
She might feel cramped in an 8 gallon tank with other fish and that's stressing her out. If you can't get another tank try to put more hiding places or add plants (hornwort was my favourite when breeding guppies).

 

Go check now and see if she bursted but seriously check tomorrow morning she might give birth at night when the lights are out.
She might feel cramped in an 8 gallon tank with other fish and that's stressing her out. If you can't get another tank try to put more hiding places or add plants (hornwort was my favourite when breeding guppies).

Honestly.... I don’t think she should be “breeding” guppies in a 9g tank... nor do I eve think the guppies and I’m not sure what else is in there but a 9g tank with decor and substrate is enough for maybe 2 guppies... I would be letting nature take its course here... just let mom and dad and whoever else have a snack...

 

Well for one thing are you sure she is not delivering a few at night and they are being eaten?
They can hold them in and deliver a few at a time but most will be eaten and you will want that unless you have another aquarium...
How many hippies do you have in that small aquarium??

What are your parameters?
And are you certain she is pregnant and it’s not bloat or something... they can look pregnant when they are bloated... that is a very very long time for a guppy to be pregnant.... I would have my suspicions...
It’s normally between like 20-30 days... so it’s either not pregnant and it’s bloat from over feeding or she’s having a few at a time (they can be pregnant several times at once) and she is letting a few out at night and they are all being eaten before you get up

Answers.
I don’t think she’s delivering slowly! I’ve been paying tons of attention, and she’s not changing in size / i’ve just seen the other guppie’s fry (I know how to identify). My aquarium is densly planted, even if it was possible that she was delivering slowly, I would have probably seen some fry, since there are places to hide. I have 2 females and one male, just the guppies and some rcs. (I have plans for the fry, don’t worry)
Parameters: nitrate 5 ppm / nitrite 0 ppm / ammonia 0 ppm / chrolide 0 ppm. Do you think I should try the peas? Alth she’s pooping normally!

 

Not if you are certain she’s pregnant... may I ask how on earth you can identify who is giving birth by the fry??

 

Honestly.... I don’t think she should be “breeding” guppies in a 9g tank... nor do I eve think the guppies and I’m not sure what else is in there but a 9g tank with decor and substrate is enough for maybe 2 guppies... I would be letting nature take its course here... just let mom and dad and whoever else have a snack...

So, first of all, thanks for the reply. Second of all, i’m not trying to breed them for income, just for fun. I’m letting nature take it’s course and collecting the fry and raising them in the breeding box, so they don’t get completely eaten! When they get older, I will transfer some to mine and the rest to a bigger aquarium, which I don’t need to purchase right now.

 

Not if you are certain she’s pregnant... may I ask how on earth you can identify who is giving birth by the fry??

Ha! Because one of them has an oval shaped tail and the one on the pic is like fan shaped. It’s very different and you can notice that the fry are all oval shaped!
And other hint: yesterday the one that gave birth was huge, and today looks like she ran miles and miles!

 

I do agree that a 9 gallon is too small but if someone wants to try and save some of their babies I'm not going to judge them and tell them they should not be "breeding" them. I'm simply trying to help her.
I wouldn't feed peas just caus I'm 99.9% sure she's pregnant

 

40 days isn't *that* long. I had one girl pregnant for over two montha before she finally decided to drop. Most drop between 25-35 days, so I think you're fine.

She does look like shes ready to drop and time now. I wouldnt be surprised is you found fry tomorrow. Also fyI all fry are born with the small, curved tails, regardless of genes or gender. They will develop the different colors and tail sizes later in life. However since you said the one guppy drastically changed in size, it is probably safe to assume the fry were hers

It is possible the other fish are stressing her and causing her to hold her fry longer than she should. Especially if you have seen the male trying to mate with her at all or anyone pecking at her. If you have a spare tank you might want to try to move the other two guppies for a few days to give her some time alone. Or if you have a tank divider that would work well too. Otherwise, just wait and she will drop eventually.

 

Yes it’s safe to assume if they were both pregnant and one is now not that they belonged to the other mother... and I was not trying to criticize her... however you have to think of the fish too... very cramped for 2 guppies and a breeding box..... are rob putting the mom in the breeding box? That could be why she’s holding them... it stresses fish out most times more than anything.... or do you just put the fry in it after or something? If you just let nature take its course I would ditch the breeding box and just let them be in the tank... as I said they can stress certain fish out more than others.... but I have had pregnant fish that were like yours and VERY pregnant and woke up to no babies left and mom like you said right back to normal size (now mine are in 50g, 64g and 75 gallon community tanks so there’s lots of danger for the fry lol but I don’t try to keep them I also let nature take its course.... in one of my brackish tanks I have 5 gobies (4 bumblebee and 1 dragon) and that’s why I keep 7 mollies in with them... it’s a great food source for them especially the bumblebee gobies who some people have a hard time keeping alive because they can’t get them to eat.....
But ya If moms going into a breeding box at night I would jusg try and leave her out... that’s gotta be cramped with the other fish and decor and the box so she might pop if you leave her out for one night lol

 

40 days isn't *that* long. I had one girl pregnant for over two montha before she finally decided to drop. Most drop between 25-35 days, so I think you're fine.

She does look like shes ready to drop and time now. I wouldnt be surprised is you found fry tomorrow. Also fyI all fry are born with the small, curved tails, regardless of genes or gender. They will develop the different colors and tail sizes later in life. However since you said the one guppy drastically changed in size, it is probably safe to assume the fry were hers

It is possible the other fish are stressing her and causing her to hold her fry longer than she should. Especially if you have seen the male trying to mate with her at all or anyone pecking at her. If you have a spare tank you might want to try to move the other two guppies for a few days to give her some time alone. Or if you have a tank divider that would work well too. Otherwise, just wait and she will drop eventually.

Thank you for the reply! Omg I wish I had another tank setted up. I have another 2 tanks, but one has a betta and the other have a ram. I’ve tried mixing the ram with the guppies and it didn’t work well. He was such a bully!

 

How big is your betta tank?

Also I have forgotten to add... it is possible if they are too stressed to deliver they can literally reabsorb the fry.... so again if she’s in a breeder box at night time I’d get her out... could be why she’s holding them....
Think about how small your tank is... plus fish... plus a shrimp I think you said.... plus decor.... plus the breeder box.... plus substrate.... that 8g tank turns into 5g’s in no time and the recommended size for a guppy is about 5g’s however I think a 10 gallon is more appropriate... it also matters on things like do you keel 1” of substrate or 2”s.... lots of factors here but the more space the more comfortable they will be... and that’s just for guppy’s alone... then you also have a shrimp adding to the space.... I know they will be fine but I’d stick to minimal decor and not a thick level of substrate to keep them less cramped...

 

How big is your betta tank?

Also I have forgotten to add... it is possible if they are too stressed to deliver they can literally reabsorb the fry.... so again if she’s in a breeder box at night time I’d get her out... could be why she’s holding them....
Think about how small your tank is... plus fish... plus a shrimp I think you said.... plus decor.... plus the breeder box.... plus substrate.... that 8g tank turns into 5g’s in no time and the recommended size for a guppy is about 5g’s however I think a 10 gallon is more appropriate... it also matters on things like do you keel 1” of substrate or 2”s.... lots of factors here but the more space the more comfortable they will be... and that’s just for guppy’s alone... then you also have a shrimp adding to the space.... I know they will be fine but I’d stick to minimal decor and not a thick level of substrate to keep them less cramped...

She’s not on the breeder box! I’ve tried a week ago to put her for like 2 hours and she got noticebly stressed, so i’ll never put her there again hahahah for the other one, I was collecting the fry and relocating to the breeder box. I actually have an empty tank for alocating the fry but I have no filter for it, so I won’t store them there. My betta tank’s like 3.5g, so it wouldn’t be a good ideia to try haha. Honestly, I don’t think they are cramped at all! Rcs takes no space, so little waste, and I have 2.5cm of substrate, I think that’s like an inch. My tank it’s setted up since a long time, just two small pieces of hardwood and plants. It’s not like i’m keeping guppies in a 2 gallon tank like a lot of people do. If you stop and think, they actually “live in the wild with tons of space”, so if you’re raising them in a confined space, whichever size it is (8g or 10g), it’s percentage to where they should live is quite the same, a small percentage. Btw i’ve decided to take the male guppy out of the tank for some time, based on you guys input, and will see what happens