Can Anyone Help Me With My Guppies ?

[jennakid]

hey , im 13 years old. and i have 5 male guppies and 2 female guppies. about a day after i bought the 5 male guppies. i noticed a gravid spot on BOTH of my female guppies. and from what i have been looking up. they are pregnant. which i was hoping for it. i have got a breeding trap for guppies. and is it ok to put the two female pregnant guppies in the breeding tank at the same time ? i have marked on a calender for roughly 28 days. so thats when were planning to put them both in there. the thing is. i don't know how long i can leave them in the breeding trap together for. i want to keep these frys.. but i dont want to risk taking the pregnant guppies out because they have not had them, because all my family will be at work/school. and no one is there to keep an eye on them.
i don't really want to buy plants just yet for the new fry if the guppies have them in the tank. so thats why i bought a breeding trap. so can anyone help ?

thanks.. jenna.
ox

 

[LauraFrog]

Firstly, how big is the tank? If it's at all possible you should put more female guppies in it, or give away some of the males. You should have at least 2, ideally 3 female guppies for every male, or else all male or all female in the tank. Otherwise the males chase the females and fight over them and you end up with injured males and stressed females.

Is the breeding trap divided? As in does it have a compartment with little holes so the fry can fall through and be safe from the mother but still separate from the tank? If not, using the trap with birthing mothers, especially two of them, will only get them eaten faster. If you want to save the fry, it's best to use either a divided trap or a separate breeding trap. Single compartment traps or breeding nets are good for keeping fry separate from the adults in the tank until they are too big to get chomped. If the trap is divided and big enough there is no reason why you can't put two females in it at once.

The gravid spot on it's own is not a positive indication of pregnancy, but if there are five males in the tank the chances are pretty high. If the females are starting to get noticeably fat, it won't be 28 days, it will be less. They were probably pregnant when you bought them, even if they were separated from the males at the fish shop, as most fish shop suppliers ship them in mixed up bags. When she 'squares off' meaning both the front and back of the stomach is dropped out, and she starts hiding, being antisocial and refusing to eat you can be pretty sure she will drop soon. That's when you put her in the trap. If it's big (holds more than a gallon of water) you can keep her in it for a few days if you need to. I kept guppies permanently in a half gallon unfiltered jar before I knew better and had no problems.

If you post some photos of them we can probably tell you how far along they are. Good luck with them!

 

[jennakid]

oh ok.
but its been more than 28 days.
and just NOWW... their starting to get bigger
so im fine with that.
and i have a breeding trap with the V section so the fry fall through.
thanks.
ox