Can Guppies Give Birth Sporadically?

[Jozlyn]

Can guppies give birth sporadically?

The story so far……I have what I believe to be 2 guppy fry in my “Mum’s & Fry†tank. I have only 1 female guppy. She still has a very dark gravid spot. She is not fat now and was not fat prior to me finding the 2 fry so……

What I’d like to know is:

Can guppies give birth sporadically, a few fry at a time over an extended period of time, I’m talking days not hours? (she may have had more than the 2 I found and if she did they may have been eaten by their tank mates, but she doesn't look any different now to how she looked last week and the week before, exactly the same size, exactly the same gravid spot)

Does a female guppy loose (get smaller or lighter) her gravid spot for a period of time after she finishes giving birth or does it just stay there for as long as she's fertilised?

What I DON’T want to know is:
That they can store sperm/fertile eggs
That the fry need hiding places
That I need to buy or make fry food
That other fish eat fry
Etc etc etc……..

 

[theotheragentm]

Gravid spots are always present. It's not a sign of pregnancy. It becomes darker and more pronounced when pregnant. It can seemingly disappear with different lighting and angles.

To answer your main question, under normal conditions fish will give birth completely in a time period of twenty four hours. I think it is possible for fish to try to abort fry and have the fry survive. Fry come out in different sizes naturally too, so different sized fish don't mean different birthing times. Fish plump up large in the beginning of pregnancy, slim down, and then grow large until they give birth from what I've seen. That might explain your sizes.

 

[Jozlyn]

She hasn't changed in size at all since I got her, I've had her about 3 weeks now, I think. My molly didn't change size either.

it is possible the fry may belong to the Platy, I've only had her for a week and a bit, but she doesn't have a gravid spot at all!