Geisha And Her Boyfriends...

[BlueDragon]

So after clearing up whatever it was that infected my tank, Columnaris or something else, I was wondering when I could add new Fish?

I don't want to come across as impatient or looking like I don't understand how serious this outbreak has been so I'll explain why I ask. I have four female Guppies and two males. That's as far as I got before I had this outbreak so wasn't able to finish getting enough females for the boys. Three of the females are a lot smaller than the other larger one, Geisha, who is by far the biggest and is much bigger than the boys too. Lemon, my apsoloutly-as-mad-as-a-box-of-Frogs male Guppy is very taken with Geisha. In fact, whereever Geisha is, Lemon is always acting like a shadow around her. He doesn't bother her all that much I suppose for the most part, but he is always there and is always doing 'his dance', displaying to her and trying to get her to swim around so he can chase her. He also likes to nibble her, erm... underside, shall we say ; )
Geisha didn't seem to mind all that much, but now that Sunny is well again he's also desided he fancies Geisha just as much. So now she has two males on her tail all day long. All they do is follow her and play chase, but I can see she's starting to get a bit frustrated at them and I've caught her giving them a Fish-slap with her tail a few times now.

Geisha is also heavily pregnant. Weather this is from one of my males or if she was pregnant before she came home to me I'm not sure. But she's quite huge! And I'm worried that all this attention might worry her and maybe stress her babies.

Obviously my boys fancy the larger lady as they both pay very little attention to the other girls. Sunny does sometimes have a little chase with Panda and poor Panda fancies the anal fins off Sunny and follows him around. She likes to get him to play chase with her, bless : ) But he soon spots Geisha again and is back off chasing her. So I'm assuming that I should try to find females, maybe two more? that are as big as Geisha and that maybe that'll mean poor Geisha will get a rest from the randy lads while they're off chaising the other girls. Is this likely?

So my question is how long should I wait to make sure that all is still well and nothing is left in the water before finding Lemon and Sunny some new larger girlfriends? I understand that it's a bad idea to rush with something like this, and beleive me I really don't want to have to go through it all again, but at the same time I don't want Geisha to feel upset or to get worn out with all the effection. And I don't want fights to break out between the two boys.

 

[PrairieSunflower]

I give it a good 2 weeks quarentine time between infections and new fish (or even bringing home a new fish but not adding it to the community).

More female may not nesessarily change the behavior of your males. I have 1 male to 3 females (used to have 4 but one died) and my male is simply taken by the biggest and roundest female despite everything... in fact when I removed her to the nursery tank previously he only half heartedly put an effort into courting the others. LOL

 

[Scales9]

The closer she gets to giving birth the more the males will harass her, they are going to want to be first in line to get her preggers again. I quarenteen all new fish now for two weeks before adding them to my community as we had a bad ich outbreak that has made me a little more paranoid about infections. I would give your tank at least 2 weeks just to be certain all is well before adding new fish, and if you have a spare tank quarenteen the new fish for 2 weeks as well.

 

[BlueDragon]

Thanks for your replies : )

So it may just be that Geisha is getting harrassed 'cause she's close to giving birth? Once she has dropped all her fry the boys will leave her alone again once one has mangaged to get her pregnant again? So this isn't going to be a constant thing for her to deal with, just an anoyance every now and then?
That makes me feel a bit better for her. She's not showing any signs of being particulaly stressed or upset, but if it was me I can imagine I'd be pretty sick of it all by now.

Is this behaviour an indication of how far along she is? Can it be made acurate? I've never been through this before and although I'm possitive she's pregnant I have no idea how to tell if she's about to give birth or is days or weeks away yet.
She has a very large, round belly, as round from both sides as it is from the bottom. She looks like a balloon with a tail. She has a large dark gravid spot and over the last few days, maybe four or five, I've started to see tiny dots in the gravid spot too. Pairs of them. Little baby eyes : ) They seem to move in there, not just stay still, and it's so interesting to watch. Some days she's have more eyes on one side of her than the other. I can't count how many pairs there are but with how big she is as a Fish and how big she's grew I can only guess she'll be having a few.

If this attention from the boys is nothing to really worry about then I think I'll wait a bit anyway. I understand that I do need more females really, but right now I'd rather make sure I have everything right and everyone is fine again before rushing into more Fish. If she does get upset then I'll see if I can distract the boys from her, but for now she's quite happy to give them both a good slap if they anoy her!

 

[PrairieSunflower]

Here is a picture of my largest female very very close to dropping one of her batches... complete with my male following her! You can see the huge gravid spot and fry eyes.

Here is my second largest female (same size as the other but doesn't get as round), she delivered her babies within an hour of this photo, she wasn't round or squared nor could you see fry eyes.
http/img.photobucket.com/albums/v437/HoshiG/GUPPIES/GeminiApril102012.jpg

Forgot to add... I find the male behavior "less intense" when my female is less pregnant, but he is always following her.

 

[Lettybetty]

Thanks for your replies : )

So it may just be that Geisha is getting harrassed 'cause she's close to giving birth? Once she has dropped all her fry the boys will leave her alone again once one has mangaged to get her pregnant again? So this isn't going to be a constant thing for her to deal with, just an anoyance every now and then?
That makes me feel a bit better for her. She's not showing any signs of being particulaly stressed or upset, but if it was me I can imagine I'd be pretty sick of it all by now.

Is this behaviour an indication of how far along she is? Can it be made acurate? I've never been through this before and although I'm possitive she's pregnant I have no idea how to tell if she's about to give birth or is days or weeks away yet.
She has a very large, round belly, as round from both sides as it is from the bottom. She looks like a balloon with a tail. She has a large dark gravid spot and over the last few days, maybe four or five, I've started to see tiny dots in the gravid spot too. Pairs of them. Little baby eyes : ) They seem to move in there, not just stay still, and it's so interesting to watch. Some days she's have more eyes on one side of her than the other. I can't count how many pairs there are but with how big she is as a Fish and how big she's grew I can only guess she'll be having a few.

If this attention from the boys is nothing to really worry about then I think I'll wait a bit anyway. I understand that I do need more females really, but right now I'd rather make sure I have everything right and everyone is fine again before rushing into more Fish. If she does get upset then I'll see if I can distract the boys from her, but for now she's quite happy to give them both a good slap if they anoy her!

I brought a platy because it was being chased in the LPS on the way home she had her fry so could be close

 

[BlueDragon]

Well, that first photo is the spit of Geisha! Geisha has a bright red tail, but other than that it could well be her.

She hasn't 'squared off' yet, but maybe she won't?

The second photo looks a bit like Flame. I'm not sure if she's preggers too, but time will tell.

I have plenty of plants for the fry to hide in for when she does give birth. I'm aware that most will get eaten but with three other females, one other defo also preggers, I really can't be keeping them all : /

It's quite exciting though, expecting babies for the first time : )

Lemon has always had the fancies for Geisha, so maybe he always will? He's dominant over Sunny too, so could part of it be that he feels the need to guard her from Sunny? Could that end badly if he thinks Sunny will try to 'steal' her from him?

At the minuet Sunny and Lemon are best mates and will quite happily be together without any tiffs. So if I make sure to have the correct balence of females for each of them will this mean they'll stay mates or is there still a chance of a fight breaking out at some point?

I ask 'cause they're both such friendly, playful boys, but I did know someone who's dominant Guppy was quite nasty and liked to bite the other male's heads and one day managed to kill one that way...

 

[PrairieSunflower]

Someone else will have to answer that one as my male has no competition yet... waiting on little'uns to grow! LOL

As for squaring... two of mine square off perfectly textbook and two don't.... but also, the two that square off are the two that get the roundness, so that probably means something.

 

[Scales9]

Well, that first photo is the spit of Geisha! Geisha has a bright red tail, but other than that it could well be her.

She hasn't 'squared off' yet, but maybe she won't?

The second photo looks a bit like Flame. I'm not sure if she's preggers too, but time will tell.

I have plenty of plants for the fry to hide in for when she does give birth. I'm aware that most will get eaten but with three other females, one other defo also preggers, I really can't be keeping them all : /

It's quite exciting though, expecting babies for the first time : )

Lemon has always had the fancies for Geisha, so maybe he always will? He's dominant over Sunny too, so could part of it be that he feels the need to guard her from Sunny? Could that end badly if he thinks Sunny will try to 'steal' her from him?

At the minuet Sunny and Lemon are best mates and will quite happily be together without any tiffs. So if I make sure to have the correct balence of females for each of them will this mean they'll stay mates or is there still a chance of a fight breaking out at some point?

I ask 'cause they're both such friendly, playful boys, but I did know someone who's dominant Guppy was quite nasty and liked to bite the other male's heads and one day managed to kill one that way...

It is always exciting to get fry. I hope for you that after she drops the boys will get back to normal, you are right to play it safe before adding any new fish, I would keep a close eye on them if they do start fighting it may be time to re think your plan and get some more females.