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Mother decided I needed a pair of guppies for my tank -.-

Well the male didn't survive long in quarantine (not sure why, could've been anything) but the female went into the big 55 - wasn't really paying much attention to her as I'm not an extremely big fan of the fancy guppy

I've actually grown fond of her, but now I have another problem - my female seems to be getting heavier and heavier ^_^* Can anybody tell me about guppy pregnancies, or tell me if the other fish with bother the fry (I figure I'll end up with a breeding net) or point me to a link I can read up on it?

Tankmates: 7 Tiger Barbs, 6 Serpae Tetras, 2 Ottos & 2 Blue Rams

bigger length wise?bigger in the belly?to me net breeders have always stressed my female guppies out and ive killed quite a few of them in my beginning years putting them in one,it doesnt happen to everyone but it does happen..hopefully you have a well planted tank if you think to persue in catching fry and raiseing them..you mentioned in your post that you were not really interested in guppies but have the one mother.if anything she would eat some of her own young as fish tend to do or even if you have a betta they love guppy fry..guppies have fry every 28 to 35 days,if shes pregnant then she will have babies..how old is she?ive seen some really large grandma guppies thats had their days of having their babies males would still breed with them but they were past that point of having them..if she does have babies put them in the net breeder instead of putting the female in there.and if you dont want anymore guppies then either give away the fry or feed them out to bigger fish..take care and look forward to seeing what you deciede about it..topekaed

but alos looking at your post i see that you have tiger barbs and they will eat the babies for you if you didnt want to have any fry

I do like the guppies and would love to stock the 10 I have upstairs with them (after I move the current residents out), and yes, she is getting bigger in the belly, its almost doubled in size in the last few days.

Can u see if she has a gravid spot? This will be a large black spot just behind where her "waist" would be, on the bottom of her belly. This tells you she is pregnant. Guppys and other livebearers can store sperm for up to a year and continue to use it. You could have babies for a very long time!
If you have the 10g tank, what i would suggest is set it up, get it warm and add some nice bushy live plants, and then put the mama guppy in there. It will be a peaceful place for her to give birth, and the fry if given plants, will find lots of places to hide. I reccomend wisteria, ambulia, and hornwort, as well as anachris. All are good floating and planted, and guppy fry love these plants.
Leave a couple strands of the plant floating, for those fry who like to stay at the top.
Once the mama guppy has delivered, return her to the 55g.
Good luck, and enjoy your guppy and her future babies!
PS.
Attached is a picture of a very pregnant mama guppy, just so you can see how they look when they get close to birth.
mama guppy

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Yup, she has the black spot, and as far as I can tell is getting close to giving birth

I have had tons of success with net bredders.And I have bred guppies for 10 years.Another way and better way would be to put her in a smaller tank or kritter keeper with either a sponge filter or a small disposable filter,and something for the babies to hid in like the plastic baby grass they sell at most pet stores or even walmart.The mother usually will not eat the babies right away.It's usually the other fish in the tank that does that.Whatever you do,try not to stress her out too much or you will probably have a bunch of still borns.Good Luck!!!

Just leave her in the tank that she's in. Make sure that you have a well planted area in the tank, anachoras, java moss, just plenty of plants...

My females usually get a little slower when the time comes. (woke up this morning to have 2 side by side on the bottom of the tank giving birth ) Depending on her size depends on how many she'll have...if she's real young don't expect a whole lot. The fry tend to hide in the planted areas (leave some anachoras floating, mine will feed in that area)

Mom will usually rebound after all is finished on her end. Fry will go to the plants...easier (I'm sorry to say) to let them do survival of the fittest this round, and if you seriously want to keep fry, move her to the other tank, in the next week or 2, as she will be having another batch of fry in about a month.

Females can be pregnant for up to 6-9 months from one breeding/incident with male, as they tend to store sperm. At this time you will have a male that will be willing and wanting to breed with her, and any other female relatives in the tank. It's not bad, and can give some beautiful offspring...

Best of luck, and have fun, the adventure is just beginning :%) (Just sold 20 to the lfs, and there really isn't much difference in the tank all from a couple of females...) Heidi




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