Naturally Dark Gravid Spot Or Pregnant?

[guppymommy]

I have a few female guppies that have darker colored bodies and their gravid spots are dark (the spots were already dark when I purchased the guppies). Are they pregnant and close to dropping fry or are darker bodied female guppy's gravid spots naturally dark?

If so, how will I know if they are pregnant (other than they get fat of course). Also, I have a female that was quite chubby when I purchased her, but she has yet to drop any fry. She is much larger than my other females, but her gravid spot isn't dark (though it is slightly darker at the top). Is she just chubby?

These are my darker colored females with dark gravid spots:

This is my fattest (though she doesn't look like it in the picture):

And these are the two who's spots I have noticed get darker:

 

[guppymommy]

I have also noticed that the chubby one, and one other have larger gravid spots. Is a larger gravid spot an indication of nearing drop time or is it just a genetic thing?

 

[Annastasia]

Those dark gravid spots are normal. They always have gravid spots, since they store eggs/sperm and have parts of their reproductive system there too. That's a common thing to see.

The one that looks chubby looks semi-close. I'd say a week or more to go, though.

As for pregnancy signs...getting fatter, gravid spot getting larger/darker, you can see fry....it's hard to say, it varies by fish. But aren't they always pregnant?

A larger gravid spot may be an indication of pregnancy. But sometimes it's just the fish. If you look closely, and you can see eyes in there, then you know they are close. Behavioral changes are also a good sign.

 

[guppymommy]

Thanks. My lighter colored females have lighter gravid spots and they are easy to see eyes in, but I can't see any eyes in the darker ones.

 

[dwarfgourami]

Two of my female guppies stopped having pregnancies about 6 months and 1 year ago ago respectively. Of these, one (the younger) kept her dark gravid spot, so I imagine she had the eggs, but had run out of sperm. The other is an absolutely ancient specimen, and her spot has grown gradually lighter- is there some sort of fishy menopause. She had stopped having pregnancies before the male died, and she is now an emaciated crotchety old wrinkly- but still holding her own. I know in some other livebearer species females stop giving birth after a certain age, so presumably she has reached whatever is the guppy equivalent.

 

[vix]

Hmmm now i'm confused lol, i don't know whether mine are pregnant or not