How Far (Pregnant) is My Guppy?

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Bri McLelland

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I don't want to annoy people, I'm sure there are quite a lot of threads like this. if you are willing to help, can you figure out how much longer till my guppy gives birth? (an estimation)
I'd like to know so I can put her in a breeder box to prevent her from eating the fry.... Thanks for reading.

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First of all, pretty fish!! Secondly, she looks pretty close!!

It is a good thing that you put her in a breeder box, she will definitely eat her fry!! ;)
 
First of all, pretty fish!! Secondly, she looks pretty close!!

It is a good thing that you put her in a breeder box, she will definitely eat her fry!! ;)
Thanks! I'll be putting her in the breeder box now, I don't want to take any chances. :thanks:
 
Well, the first pic looks very close. She even looks squared off on the bottom. The second pic throws me though as she doesn’t look as big in that one. Don’t put her in a breeder box as that will stress her out. You can move her to a cycled QT tank and let her have the babies and then take her out.
 
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Hi and welcome to the forum :)

In the wild, female livebearers hang out in large groups consisting of between 20 & 50 (but sometimes up to 100 or more) females. These groups have a pecking order with the biggest most dominant female ruling the group and she has a group of girlfriends who back her up. All the other females live in the group but are lower down the pecking order.

The groups of females move around rivers and waterways looking for food and places to hang out. As the groups move around a few males follow the group and try to breed with any females.

In the confines of an aquarium, the males will constantly harass the females and try to breed with them. This puts undue stress on the females and if there are too many males constantly pestering the females, the females can get sick and die.

It is preferable to keep livebearers in single sex tanks (either male or female but not both sexes together). If you want a group of males and females then have 1 male and at least 6 females (preferably 10 or more females per male).

Female livebearers can carry up to 6 sperm packets from breeding with males and they use 1 sperm packet to fertilise each batch of eggs. The gestation period (from the time she fertilises the eggs to when she gives birth to free swimming babies) is about 1 month. After which she will fertilise another batch of eggs using another sperm packet. This allows female livebearers to produce young about once a month for up to 6 months without any males being present.

If you want to breed livebearers then have a tank with females and let them give birth and use up all the sperm packets they are carrying in their body. Give them a few months without being pregnant and then add a male to the tank for a week before moving him out, or move the female/s into a tank with a male for a week and let them breed. Then move the females back into their own tank.

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It is preferable not to move pregnant fish because you can stress them and even damage the unborn fry. If you have to move pregnant females, carefully catch them in a net and then use a plastic container to scoop the female and net up in some tank water. Move her (in the net in the bucket of water) to a new tank and then carefully pour her into the new tank.

If you move the female to a smaller aquarium that could stress her.

If the new tank does not have any plants in it will stress her. Put some plants in with her. Water Sprite (Ceratopteris thalictroides/ cornuta) is the best plant for livebearers. It normally grows on the surface but can also be grown in the substrate where it grows into a lovely light green shrub.

If you don't have any live plants then add a heap of artificial plants to provide her with shelter when she goes into labour, and to give the fry somewhere to hide when they are born.

Make sure the tank has an established filter in it so the water stays clean.

Do not put the female into a tank with males until at least 1 week after she has given birth otherwise the male/s will stress her out.

Try not to move the female for at least 1 week after she has given birth so she can heal up. If you have to move the female after she has given birth, use the method above for moving pregnant females.

Most female guppies do not eat their young if the female is well fed and there are plants in the tank, but will eat them when they are confined to a small breeding trap.
 
Also!! Make shure you have a sponge filter in the tank, or you will have chum in your tank at no time!! A regular filter will suck all theses baby’s up in a jiffy, :)
 
You can use a regular filter if you put a piece of panty hose or sponge on the end of the intake tube. Works like a charm! I breed goldies and use HOB’s on my nursery tanks with covered intakes.
 

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