Guppie Fry

[ibb]

Hello,

My guppies and a plattie gave birth around 25th last month. There is only 1 guppy and 1 plattie that look like they are heavily pregnant. I have been keeping a close eye on them as we only managed to save 8 from the last batch but suddenly noticed 3 fry swimming today. The thing is i have tried removing the mother into a breeding tank so we get them all but she will not give birth. Is there anything i can do to solve this problem? We don't want to breed professionally but we have family and friends who want the fry to start their own tank. The 8 babies and 1 of the ones we saved today are in a separate tank and swimming quite happily. Also when do the guppies start showing colour? They are about 2 cm long and silver. The 1 plattie is orange and a bit bigger.

Thanks
Steph

 

[Tokis-Phoenix]

Good water quality, diet and tank enviroment are the best things to encourage a platy to give birth- personally i would just add a bunch of plants to the tank to create a nice densely planted area in the tank for the fish to give birth in, do some small water changes with dechlorinator and make sure the fish are getting a varied diet.
What are you currently feeding the fish and how much? Are the scales on the pregnant fish stocking out at all?
When the guppys start showing color depends partly on their age and their type, but they should start showing color at 2months old max, although it will take a further 1month until they are sexually mature and another 3months after that until they are full grown- platys take a bit longer to do all this than guppys, in both fish though metallic colors, fully developed patterns on the fish and vibrant colors like red are the last to come about about.
If you are giving the fry to a friend when they are large enough make sure they wont inbred too much as both guppys and platys will not say no to breeding with their brothers/sisters if they can, and too much inbreeding can result in bad health problems for the fry.
ps: This is more a livebearer section thing than an emergency section thing .

 

[Ivan Sloshed]

Hi Like Tokis-Phoenix said about 2 months, mine are about 2 months old now and 3 out of seven are showing colour so i think these will be males, Tails have not developed yet suppose will take anouther 3-4 weeks
Ivor

 

[ibb]

Thanks for both your replies. I guess i will just have to see if there are any survivors as the mums will only give birth in the big tank. My husband is going to get some more plants for the tank tomorrow. I have been told Java fern is the best but i cannot get them where i live. I'm in Australia in NSW. What other plant could i get to hide the babies in? So far we can see 3, well my husband can, i only see 2. Can i ask some more questions? How big should they be when we let them back into the main tank so they don't get eaten and i am feeding them smallfry drops which dissolve into food. When should i try normal flakes. Also how long should i wait before i give them to my mum and friends?
The water is fine, we had that tested at the aquarium.
Thanks for all your advice
Steph