Female Guppies dying after giving birth

[colin5861]

Hi

I am constantly reading about the female guppy dying after giving birth. This should not be accepted as normal.

If you go by the following procedure the mother should be healthy for the next drop.

18 days after mating move the female to a breeding tank. ( approx two weeks after you notice she has a belly before she has eaten ).

If you havn't got a breeding tank and are not too concerned about collecting ALL the fry leave her in the community tank and add some more vegetation for hiding places.

If you must have all the fry but do not have a breeding tank put her in a plastic breeder. She will be agitated so add some floating water plants to give her a sense of security.

The key is if you must move her - move her 10 days before giving birth. This allows her to get over the shock of being netted and moved.

Feed her good quality flake food and alternate with live food, I give them brine shrimp and bloodworms either Live, frozen or freeze dried.

After she drops her fry allow her one day or so in the tank/breeder and then return her to the main tank.

I do this and very rarely do I lose a female.

Any other ideas to reduce mortality.

Colin

 

[Guppy Mad]

I dont think you should move a female ten days before birth i think 5 days would be best because they dont like the small spaces and have no were to swim and also what do you put your fish in is it a breeding net or a plastic breeding trap???

 

[colin5861]

Hi Guppymad

I agree that guppies become agitated in small spaces which is why I suggested using a plastic breeder as the third option only . The best solution is to have a seperate breeding tank but I know this is not always possible especially for the youger hobbyist. Putting the female in a breeder causes anxiety primarily because the fish is in a confined space and vunerable. In that case tha addition of floating plants allows the female a measure of securitywhich reduces that anxiety. This worked for me when space was a problem. However I no longer use breeders.

As I said the problem is the move so close to the birth. If you move her only 5 days before the birth she will be in more danger of miscarrying and death. I considered that of the two evils that was the most likely to kill the fewmale.

I know that moving the guppy 10 days before works because that is what I do. If you are succesful with 5 days then well done.

When I refer to breeders I am referring to breeding traps. Breeding nets are used in a breeding tank - I do not use them but know some others who do.

Colin

 

[haaris]

i think the best way is let them have the fry where they are.
mine all swim in to my plant and then i scoop them up and put
them in thier own aquarium.
its easy for the mom and the other fish eat the abnormal and slow fry.
btw i dont recommend this for ppl with fake plants

 

[AquaNut]

I totally agree with Colin. Your best bet is to leave the guppies where they are and allow them to drop their brood in their normal tank. However, I occasionally have an especially large and beautiful female and wish to save her fry. If this is the case, I move her into her own little one gallon tank as soon as possible. Because the tank is cycled and always ready to go, there's really no problem with moving her 'too soon'. They never seem to mind it in there. The female will still eat some of her fry, but I usually only isolate an especially large female, so she usually drops dozens of babies and there are always plenty of survivors. Also, an additional key point that Colin made was that you should leave the female isolated for a day or so before putting her back with the other guppies, if you've separated her. It gives her a good chance to recover before the males all start harassing her again.

 

[guppymonkey]

I think a lot of people have problems because they set up a separate tank and don't cycle it. Also, most people have a hard time telling when the female is about to drop her fry. My guppies get very squarish weeks before they give birth and most books say that they look that way just before the fry drop.

I left my female in the tank and put the fry in a breeder when I found them. I probably would have tried putting her in the breeder but she gave birth when I was at work. It ended up probably being less stressful even if she did end up being chased by the male almost immediately. She is looking good.

 

[thebulk]

I put my female in a divided part of the tank (heavily vegetated) about 5- 10 days before she gives birth and then remove her a day or two later. Then ciphe nteh fry into the breeding trap/net. I hate puting the female in the breeder, I just think how uncomfortable it must be for her. Fish like to swim and you can almost garuntee an abortion if you dont get her in there at the exact right time.

Good luck with it

B)

 

[spanky_pp_]

i think the best way is let them have the fry where they are.
mine all swim in to my plant and then i scoop them up and put
them in thier own aquarium.
its easy for the mom and the other fish eat the abnormal and slow fry.
btw i dont recommend this for ppl with fake plants

i totally agree with you too.... I will sometimes seperate the females which are really pretty though.. Just because of resale reasons.

I find that the moving of the mother can sometimes be to stressfull and she might abort.

 

[haaris]

i bought a pregnant female 5 weeks ago already
pregnant but she still hasnt given birth and has
a huge appetite.
shes probably been pregnant for 6 weeks and still
no fry.
can i put her in the aquarium with my 1 week old
mollie fry.

p.s. the mollie fry are abnormaly large bigger than
the guppy's tail(1cm) is that normal

 

[colin5861]

my two golden coffer tail moms just gave birth . About 50 fry all told. I followed my own advice and have just put the moms back into their tank out of the breeding tank. Mothers and babies are doing well with no complications or stress.

If you dont want your females or fry to die in childbirth then give them some thought and plan ahead.

Colin