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Hi. i have a wiered guppy i think. it goes up to the underside of the female guppys and nips their under side, then his gonopodium goes forward . i think he might be trying to mate with my femalesbut ive never heared of this before. also , the females are pregnant i thnk, they are swelled up big n i can see spots through my biggest ones stomach, i think they are developing fry. my water is 76deg fer. i have 4 guppys, 1 wild snail i cought, 1 mystery snail, two corys ( one is albino) , and i know its a mistake i have a dwarf spiny eel that is 5 inches long that stays hidden in a cave i have for it. i have a ton of plants in the tank. plz tell me how to breed them succesfully plese.

p.s. , forgive my bad spelling

Are you sure that he is "nipping." I don't think this is unusual. When i bred guppies, some of my males did this. To ensure the fry's survival, i would immediately remove them from the main tank, and put them into a breeder net. If your plant life is very lush, some will probably survive in the tank.

Good luck!

†Aquapickle†

I have male platies that do this to the females. It is not unusual. I think your female is getting ready to give birth. The dark places you see on her belly are the eyes of the developing fry, so it should not be much longer. With a lot of plant growth, the babies should have plenty of places to hide, but if you get a breeder net you will be able to net the babies to put into the net, thus saving many more of them. The adults will eat their own fry otherwise.

It is normal behaviour for males to poke or nudge the underside of the pregnant female. This promotes or motivates the female to bear the fry and it is completely natural. Nontheless, if done in an overly aggressive manner this may cause injury to the fry, this seldom happens though and I wouldn't stress about it. These are tough fishies!