Guppy Had 2nd Abortion....

[rarefish]

One of my large female guppies has had her second abortion. She just gives birth to little eggs with 2 black eyes each . I have been putting her in a net or breeder box when she drops and squares up, but every time she gives me a false alarm and gives birth too early. Should I put her in another tank, such as a five gallon or leave her in with the other fish before she supposedly gives birth? Could stress or a sickness be doing this to her? Thanks ahead!

JBJ

 

[Kiarra]

It really does sound like stress. Breeder nets and boxes aren't really very good for them...it stresses them out way too much, and they often do abort for that very reason.

You have a couple of options here.

You can add a lot of floating plants to your normal tank where she lives, and let her give birth there. The fry will hide themselves in the plants, and you can either remove them from there or leave them there to grow up (the bulk of them will get eaten if they stay in their tank, but some will likely make it to adulthood).

You can move the female into a different tank before she gives birth. But there's a problem with this that you've already noticed...they do have a tendency to abort. If you're careful about it, and/or wait until she's already dropping live fry, then you can get her into the other tank without having her abort.

I've used both methods.

 

[Tokis-Phoenix]

It could be the breeder net, but what are your water stats(ammonia, nitrate, nitrite) and when you do water changes are you positive you add water thats the same temp as the tank?
I would say if there's anything amiss in the water stats this would alos be a likely explanation for the fish's abortion- also if you keep her in the breeding net for too long too.

 

[guppymonkey]

Breeder nets or boxes kill fish. Its pretty much a law. Imagine being shoved into a tiny box with poor ventilation when you were already under stress! If you truly want to breed livebearers I would suggest using a separate tank for the babies. They will be able to grow properly when given enough room. A breeder box really isn't enough room, its like trying to raise your kids in a closet!

 

[Tokis-Phoenix]

Ahem guppymonkey, i have used breeding nets to shelter loads of livebearers(although i never do it now to having too many livebearers always breeding) in the last year and have never had one death from one so i do not think this always the case or the law as you put it.
A breeding net is much often better if you have fish that are likely to harrass the mother fish to death or miscarriage, would you let your female guppy give birth in a well planted tank of tiger barbs? i think not. That is why breeding nets(although stressful for the fish) are usually better than keeping the fish in the current situation.
Also not every can get a new tank cycled and running in time for livebearers especially when they are new to the hobby or just scint, and i breeding net usually settles for second best.
Don't be to hasty to judge a situation; livebearers can miscarriage for many, many reasons and it would be a shame if out friend here somthing amiss in their tank and didn't know it.