My Guppy Has Been Pregnant For 4 Months

[fishy_wishy]

The temp is 26 degrees C, I feed them once a day. What does the chestiness mean? I hope being pregnant all the time isn't harming her

 

[bluesword23516]

She is really big in the front. Thats what I meant for chesty.
 

The temp is 26 degrees C, I feed them once a day. What does the chestiness mean? I hope being pregnant all the time isn't harming her

 

[fishy_wishy]

I understand that, what I mean is what does it mean is what is it doing to my fish and how did it get like that?

 

[bluesword23516]

If anything it would decrease your fishes life by a few months.  It wont always happen like that though.  I had three old females that started out my batch, one was pretty chesty and she lived just as long.
I think what causes it is just genetics.

 

[Jamowens]

Did your guppy have its young my female still hasn't .

 

[*pete*]

Mmmm... livebearing fish never cease to amaze me, I've had Guppies heavy with fry for months too, try a big dose of live Daphnia !
 
Then again some can look sleek and virginal and drop 30+ fry !!!

 

[fishy_wishy]

she fiiiiiiinaly had her fry today, but she died after :'( 
there are about 20 living in my guppy tank with 2 females and a male, they aren't trying to eat them, thank goodness. I forgot how small they are! I don't think my platy fry were this small?

 

[bluesword23516]

Oh, I'm sorry. No one ever likes to lose their fish.  

 

[fishy_wishy]

I know poor thing I'm really happy about the fry though, none have been eaten by my other 3 guppies ... do you think they will eat them later on? I feed them all three times a day (smaller meals) so they hopefully won't want to eat the fry

 

[bluesword23516]

No, the longer the fry are in the tank the better chance they have of surviving.  Just keep the tank clean  

 

[fishy_wishy]

Okay, I thought about separating them when they were born but no one seems to have bothered them and I do want them to survive, I've heard bad things about breeding traps... I tried feeding them crushed fish flakes and egg yolk but they weren't interested, is this normal? 

 

[bluesword23516]

Often times the fry have gotten enough to eat just from things in your tank. With my experience my fry haven't really started to eat crushed flakes until they are about 5 days old. They are constantly looking for food. Just keep giving the food so they have it just in case.  My fish love the egg yolk.  I never give the whole thing, but whenever we make boiled eggs I give them some.  I don't like the yolk, but my fish do! 

 

[Nebula]

Hi, did anyone have a solution to this problem as my brother has a guppy he got off me, she's been pregnant for approx 4 months and a week or so, and she is so large that her scales have begun to stick out like they're flaking off due to her size. I'm concerned about the fish's health and am wondering if I can help her at all.

 

[fluttermoth]

Hi there, Nebula; so sorry you haven't had a reply yet.

I'm afraid that a fish's scales sticking out like that is a symptom of a disease called dropsy. You could try giving the fish a salt bath (1 tablespoon of Epsom or aquarium salt, dissolved in a gallon of warm water; leave the fish in it for 20 minutes, twice a day), but dropsy is nearly always incurable

 

[Colin_T]

Fat pregnant looking livebearers can have intestinal worms that can make the females look ready to drop babies. I had a female black molly that was huge and getting bigger. 6 months later she still hadn't given birth so I ended up treating the tank for camallanus (thread worms). Within a few hours there were worms being expelled from her butt and the following day she was extremely skinny. She was basically full of worms. A couple of months later she gave birth to 121 babies

If scales are sticking out then it can be an internal infection, however this usually occurs quickly and the fish balloon up over a day or two and then usually die. The fish will stop feeding when they balloon up and will often breath heavily or gasp at the surface.

If your brother's guppy is still eating and swimming around normally, then she is possibly full of worms and needs deworming.