Pregnant Guppy

Hi guys

About 2 weeks ago my female guppy gave birth, but all the fry were eaten.

I have now purchased a "guppy breeding tank" that floats in the aquarium. I see she is pregnant again, but when will I know when she needs to be put into the breeding tank. I don't want to put her in there unnecessarily, as I feel it cruel to keep her cooped up in such a small area.

 

Watch her carefully, when her back gets a pronounced bend in it and the spot on her anal area is VERY dark then put her in the breeding tank.. Personally I HATE breeding tanks, just put in a whole bunch of Java or Guppy grass (Solex69 will give you the proper names):bigsmile: and the babies will lurk in there for the day - Then when you have the time, transfer them to a bucket or small tank for them to grow in. In the bucket or small tank do a regular small water change - about 10-20% every other day and keep it in a warm place, then you do not have to go out and get a filter, pump and heater.

Guppies will breed in a boiling kettle or a glass in the fridge:blink1::smile1: - so the babies are very hardy, you do not haveto pamper them.

 

I have yet to see a guppy give birth in one of those guppy breeding tanks. It just seems to stress the fish out more. I've seen heavily pregnant guppies in those breeding tanks that just do not drop their babies, as soon as they are moved out of the breeding tank and back into the fish tank, along with lots of floating plants, they drop their babies. Just my personal experience.

What I do (much to hubby's dismay ) is if I see baby guppies in the tank, I simply move them to their own little tank until they are big enough to move back with community fish. I still haven't had the heart to feed them to the other fish as live food or to watch them be eaten by their fellow tank mates

 

Thanks for all the advice.

I don't have a spare tank to put the guppy in (Only recenly started hobby.) The first birth was very successful in that the babies did hide in the plantation, and lasted about 2 days, but the Danios turned into midnight hunters, and hunted them til the last one was gone.

 

Perhaps another option for you would be to let the guppy give birth in the tank amongst the plants and rather get yourself one of those square nets which stick to the side of your tank (they are MUCH nicer than the breeding tanks and cheap) then just transfer the babies into the net to grow out a little. Pros are low cost, sharing the same water as the other fish so less maintenance, and you can get water flow through it (unlike with the guppy breeding tanks), and it won't stress the mother out. Just get a largish net then.

 

Sounds like a better option. I will look into that this weeknd.

Thanks Veegal

 

Here they are if you really want to know

Najas guadalupensis
Vesicularia dubayana
Try ceratophyllum submersum as well...does the job too.

If you have a loads of bushy plant types in the tank, then you guppy fry should survive. They will spend most of their time in hiding until they are a bit bigger and will then swim more freely in open space.

Those plastic breeding tanks works gr8 in my opinion...it basically gives you 100% fry survival rate (unless some fry are just plain dom and doesn't swim through it). I've used it before and it did the trick. But, if you dont feel to intervene, then get loads of plants and then you sorted

 

I'll more than likely give the breeding tank a try. I don't necessarily want to over-populate my tank with plants, as I only have a small 40l tank. I also think I have overpopulated my tank already, (22 fish), and need the swimming space for the fish. I'd like to have one 'batch' of successful fry just to have that notch in my belt... but there after, I'll more than likely let the rest of the fry be live food for the rest of the tank-mates. (Just don't tell my wife this...)

 

Best you don't let her find this post on the public internet then lol

D