I Need Help With Guppies

bettachick49 · May 19, 2006

Hello, I just recently bought 50 guppy fry from a breeder in Ohio. The fry are indeed small and I had to separate my large guppy from my new baby guppies. How fast do guppies grow? Also it looks like some of the guppies are pregnant, they have the gravid spot and they are getting very fat. Is this possible? Will it be hard for them to give birth? This is my first time experiancing this with guppies so I really don't know. Please help. Oh also I heard that it is very easy for guppies to get illnesses, should I add anything to the tank to prevent this?
Amanda

Nickelback · May 19, 2006

bettachick49 said:
Hello, I just recently bought 50 guppy fry from a breeder in Ohio. The fry are indeed small and I had to separate my large guppy from my new baby guppies. How fast do guppies grow? Also it looks like some of the guppies are pregnant, they have the gravid spot and they are getting very fat. Is this possible? Will it be hard for them to give birth? This is my first time experiancing this with guppies so I really don't know. Please help. Oh also I heard that it is very easy for guppies to get illnesses, should I add anything to the tank to prevent this?
Amanda

Hello I don't know a hello of alot about guppies but I do know they grow quick and breed quick.We bought guppies for our tank and had no idea how quick they would breed.We just keep scooping the fry out all the time and putting them in their own tank away from their terrible parents who eat them.Apparently if a male is present every 28-31 days they drop about 15-40 fry thats what i found out on this website.Well we have had this last lot about two months and the tails and that are showing and their getting much bigger in size to what they were.They do grow pretty quick depending though on what your idea of quick is.Well all the best with your guppies hope someone else can help you more :fun:

guppymommy · May 19, 2006

I have some fry that are three weeks old and though smaller than the adults, they are larger than the new fry I have. They do grow quickly! I'm not sure how quickly they become pregnant, but I know that I can see a gravid spot on my three week olds now. They are also fat, but I think it's due to the fact that they are growing and not to being pregnant. I did read something about the age that males begin to breed, but I can't remember where it was, or what it said. Sorry!

How old are the fry that you purchased?

bettachick49 · May 19, 2006

Guppy Mommy said:
I have some fry that are three weeks old and though smaller than the adults, they are larger than the new fry I have. They do grow quickly! I'm not sure how quickly they become pregnant, but I know that I can see a gravid spot on my three week olds now. They are also fat, but I think it's due to the fact that they are growing and not to being pregnant. I did read something about the age that males begin to breed, but I can't remember where it was, or what it said. Sorry!

How old are the fry that you purchased?

Hello, I just asked the guy that I bought them from and he said that they are juveniles and I don't know how old they are they all have to be a different age though because I have some really small ones and then I have some medium sized ones (sorry for the mixup). I also asked him if any of them were pregnant and he said that most of them are so I guess i'm stuck with young pregnant guppies lol :look:

. Do you know if it is going to be hard for them to give birth? And at what point do I put the pregnant females in the breeding trap because I dont want any of the fry to get lost :unsure:

. The gravid spot is getting pretty dark on some of my females and i'm not sure when the right time to put her in there is. What do you do with your pregnant guppies? Thanks so much.
Amanda

guppymommy · May 19, 2006

So far, I've only put one female in the breeder net. I saw her dropping fry and put her in the net. The others I have left in the tank and just rescued the fry as they were dropped. I'm not sure how young they can be when they drop fry. I know they can store the sperm though and I don't think they will drop fry until they are mature enough. I do have a smaller guppy that dropped fry the day after I purchased her. I'm not sure how old she was, but she did have a more difficult time recovering. She's fine now though.

Good luck with your guppies. I hope someone can help answer your questions as I'm still rather new at this myself!

bettachick49 · May 19, 2006

Guppy Mommy said:
So far, I've only put one female in the breeder net. I saw her dropping fry and put her in the net. The others I have left in the tank and just rescued the fry as they were dropped. I'm not sure how young they can be when they drop fry. I know they can store the sperm though and I don't think they will drop fry until they are mature enough. I do have a smaller guppy that dropped fry the day after I purchased her. I'm not sure how old she was, but she did have a more difficult time recovering. She's fine now though. Good luck with your guppies. I hope someone can help answer your questions as I'm still rather new at this myself!

Thanks so much.
Amanda

Gutty · May 20, 2006

i've experienced this, i got rid of them before i could find out, but i had 2 5 week old females with obvious gravid spots. they could be pregnant, doubt it's exactly healthy to be pregnant that young, but if you're sure they have gravid spots yeah they may be pregnant

BTW guppies like freshwater salt

Annastasia · May 21, 2006

I'd suggest you don't move them into a breeder trap/net, unless you see them giving birth. Otherwise, you run the risk of greatly stressing them out, and that's where you'll start having birthing troubles. Your best bet is to just let the females give birth in the tank, and give the fry some hiding places. Floating plants are great, hornwort seems to be a favorite.

Guppies can start giving birth around 3 months. So it's quite possible you may be getting fry soon.

How many males and females do you have? Or is it impossible to tell? And what size tank do you have, since with that many females...you may have a ton of fry, and they can quickly overrun you. Do you have a place to give/sell them to?

Good luck!

Gutty said:
BTW guppies like freshwater salt

Do you mean marine salt, to make the water slightly brackish? Which is true, they do like that. But freshwater salt is usually aquarium salt, which is just used for treating illnesses...it doesn't really do anything to the water.