Breeding Nets For Guppies

[fishy_wishy]

I need some advice, my tank is a community tank with different kinds of tetra a few black and white widows and a molly, none are bigger than 3cm and there are 25 in total (I think, it's hard to count) in a 165 litre tank
I don't have another tank to put the pregnant guppy in and I really want to save my fry so I bought a breeding net, she's in there right now and she doesn't look stressed, I think she'd be a lot more stressed if she was in the community tank with all the other fish chasing her.
how long can you keep her in there for? how do you know when she's done giving birth? What are the signs that labour is very close? what are the signs that she is actually IN labour? is there a time of day that guppies usually give birth in? If anyone has ANY useful tips I'd really appreciate it

thanks in advance

 

[Dreamer03]

Does the guppy look kind of box like? Thats when they are the closest to birth. and im not sure of the nests, i havent used thos before. But good luck saving those fry.

 

[fishy_wishy]

Does the guppy look kind of box like?

No, not yet. I can see the fry's eyes though (exciting

 )I don't know how long she's been pregnant for because I only bought her on Friday, the gravid spot is dark and big, and she's getting rounder by the day. how long, as a wild guess do you think it will be until she looks box like?

 

[mystichorseangel]

I would say give her a week, plus or minus. If you catch her staying in the same spot and not moving much, move her to the net. I posted this on another discussion, but it will be of help:
"The average gestation period is 28 days, give or take a few. When her gravid spot, the blackish brown spot at the base of her tail, is very large and squared out from the back, and her stomach is so large she looks as though she may burst, it is a good idea to separate her from the rest. On top of that if you have never bred guppies before they are live bearers and deliver their babies slowly over I would say an hour or two and if you do not separate the female from the other guppies, and her from her babies, the newborn fry may become a nice snack. If you do not have a breeding tank or just a breeder, the fry will be safe if the tank is heavily planted, but you might not get the full litter. An average "litter" as I say, can range from 20-30 on average, plus or minus.
After the babies are all born, if you have males, keep the female away from them to rest so they don't immediately harass her again. As for the care of the baby fry, they especially enjoy baby brine shrimp, but I personally have gotten away with feeding them my normal tropical flake food, I just crush it to almost a fine dust for the babies. For filtration a sponge filter will work. Be sure to take out any sick or dead fry so they don't get the rest of the stock sick, and watch them grow and enjoy your new stock of guppies! However if you don't want even more babies, be sure to separate the males and females as soon as they are mature enough to decipher the gender.
Male guppies have a rear fin that is rod shaped and usually have larger and brighter tails, whilst females are (usually, not always) duller and have a fan shaped rear fin."
This is just some breeding information in case you didn't know

So this is just some information for if you breed your guppy again. (late reply I apologize xD)

 

[fishy_wishy]

Thank you still no fry, I'm not going to separate her I've just added more plants. I've had her for almost 5 weeks and I bought her pregnant! the person at the pet shop said she's have her babies within a week, I'm starting to think there's something wrong

 

[the_lock_man]

I would suspect that she dropped her fry very soon after you bought her, and that this is probably now a second batch. If I'm right, the original batch of fry would have been eaten.
 
Remember that livebearers have 30+ fry every 4-6 weeks. If you try to save all of them, you will soon be overrun with fish, and that aren't all that easy to move on.

 

[fishy_wishy]

That might explain it.. I cant believe I didn't notice!