Guppies

[Lezlee]

Hi there, I am a newbie and this is my first post. I have recently bought 5 female guppies and they are all pregnant. I have put them into a tank on thier own. How do I know when they will give birth, what should I look for. Is there a chance that they will abort because of the change in tanks (from pet shop to me). Please help and give me as much info as I need as I really want to be successful. My grandchildren are so excited and they cant wait to see some baby fish. Thank you all, Lee

 

[Lezlee]

Also, I forgot to ask. When they have thier babies (okay fry) will the female eat them. What should I do?

 

[WILDER]

They hide before they are about to give birth and also some females get abit moody and aggresive towards other females when their about to give birth, the female does eat the babies but I leave mine in the tank and let them take their chances, alot survive if you have plenty of hiding spaces and plants for them to hide in, or you can remove the babies when you see them with a net and put them in a tank of their own, or you can buy a plastic breeder you put the mother in and their is a grid that the babies can swim through to safety,
You feed the babies on crushed flakes and baby brimestrimp, then at a couple of weeks you can try them with frozen bloodworms.

 

[Lezlee]

Thank you so much for your reply and all that information. How often do you think I should feed the pregnant females.

 

[WILDER]

3 times daily but also give them other things like bloodworms,daphnia,brimestrimp,veg, so their fry will have a good start, good luck with the new arrivals.

 

[sylvia]

However, you may want to make sure the tank is cycled (if you are new to fish) before you try saving the babies. You can always add a male later and have more fry.

 

[Lezlee]

So I have got 5 females that are all pregnant, with the set up that I have, what are the chances of any of the fry surviving. Can anyone advise?

 

[sylvia]

What size tank do you have (hopefuly nothing under 10 gallons) and what sort of ornaments/plants are there in the tank?

The larger the tank and the more hiding places, the more the fry that will survive. Also, the females will not give birth to many fry if this is their very first pregnancy (which you have no way of knowing about as they were at the LFS) and more if they are quite mature. Obviously, the more fry in the first place, the more fry will survive in the end.

 

[Lezlee]

Hi Sylvia, I have only got a small tank for the females. I do have a big tank but I thought it would be safer for the female guppies to stay in the smaller tank until they have had thier babies. My large tank has got Black widows, tetra's, cory's, an angel, couple of frogs, suckers and some gourami's. The smaller tank has plants in.