Immaculate conception?

[Julie16]

Hi - new to all this and wonder if anyone can help me. I recently inherited a tank with a few fish in it (previous owners left it behind!) Have had all sorts of problems with it, now hopefully under control, and all bar 2 of the fish died. The only fish in it for the last couple of months have been one pleco and one guppy. There has only ever been one guppy, never a pair. Tonight I have a tank full of baby fish! Presumably they are guppies? (tiny things, some with white bodies and some all black). I'm a bit mystified & have no idea what to do with them! Any help appreciated! Thanks.

 

[Clairel]

Congratulations....Wohoooooooooooo

Sometimes Guppies are pregnant when you get them from the lfs, even if you have no males yourself, they sound lovely Im not too experienced, when it comes to fry, as my fish have never had any yet So maybe someone else can help you with the care of them !!

Good Luck

Claire xx

 

[BigC]

Female Guppies can have may broods of fry from one mating (with a male) every 28 days or so. They will live quite happily fed with very finely crushed flake food.

 

[dwarfgourami]

Nah, nothing immaculate about guppies.

 

[black angel]

My females had 3 broods after the male died.

 

[paulthegreat]

Guppys and the rest of the common livebearers(Swordtails, Mollys, Platys) can store semen in the form of "packets" and can have as many as six batches of fry even after just a short period of mating. Further questions will be happily answered in the livebearer forum Good luck with the fry!

 

[MegTheFish]

Can they be born black though? I know mollies can and other livebearers, but my baby guppies are always born with no color and they devolp it when they are growing up...

 

[Julie16]

Thankyou! to everyone that replied.

 

[DaveW]

I didn't realise that guppies could store sperm, AMAZING.
You learn something new every day.

 

[paulthegreat]

Meg,

I think that the colorless fry is a self-defence trait so they are harder to see and less likely to be eaten. I do not know about Gups having much color from birth, but even the others(Swords, Mollys, Platys) have fry of a much lighter shade even when they are going to be black. Survival trait again. My Orange Swordtail fry are born with only a light opaque orange quality to them and the few black fry I have seen are more of a smoke-grey from the start.

 

[Annastasia]

Guppy fry usually come in two colors when they are born, whiteish/grayish, and brownish/blackish. When they are darker colored at birth, that generally means they will be a darker color, and the lighter ones will be a lighter color. Most times, the females will generally be darker at birth, but there are always exceptions.

So yes, it is entirely possible for her to have black or dark Guppy fry.