Which One Gave Birth?

[IonaMcCluskey]

i have 3 adult endler females, tess who looks so heavily pregnant she could explode, prima who looks quite a bit pregnant but nowhere near as big as tess, and white tail who doesn't look pregnant at all.
someone gave birth last nite. if i "read" my tank right it was prima that gave birth.
 
could it be possible for a less pregnant looking female to give birth before a more pregnant looking female?
 

 

[bigcheed]

entirley possible. not every birthing is the same size. i have hi red endlers. my two females give birth regularly sometimes too only a few fry sometimes lots. i think it just depends on how many eggs they are carrying at the time. endlers dont need to mate for every pregnancy. the female can hold sperm from one mating for quite a while and then use it herself at need. i think they do this to limit the amount of fry they have in one go. ive noticed that my young females had huge broods first time round. for some its too much and they dont recover and die. but the ones that have survived have had alot less fry in each drop since.

 

[IonaMcCluskey]

i do have a male in the tank so not suprised at pregnancies.
i've already had two batches of fry born, both had 4 fry each time and the one last night had 4 fry (that i've seen)
going on the 23-24day gestation period i was expecting another batch today or tomorow and then another next week. i'm thinking one of my females just isn't old enough yet to have young. if it was prima that birthed last night that would mean tess has another week to go and she already looks horribly deformed she is so big round the middle.
i also wondered if it was maybe a case of they had bigger broods the older they got but your endlers seem to disprove that idea
 
i don't know if it is relevant but when i look at prima her gravid spots look like black holes with defined edges where as tess's is not solid black or clearly defined round the edges.

 

[IonaMcCluskey]

i've just tane a video of them (should have thought of that last night,doh) it doesn't really show how much bigger tess is.
https/www.facebook.com/photo.php?v=1348893411917451&l=2544729186618492006
at the start it's prima & tess, then the camera follows tess. the one being followed by the male is prima, the one (i think) gave birth last night.

 

[bigcheed]

ohh yes indeedy shes ready to drop any time. you can tell because she looks square and not round. sure fire way to tell. the closer she gets to birth the more transparent her gravid spots will get. its sometimes possible to see the babys through them near birth time. not somthing i have seen with mine but have seen pictures.

 

[IonaMcCluskey]

lol these fry are so wee it's hard enough to see them once they are born, don't think my eyes will focus enough to let me see them still inside

 
now i'm quite concerned about her as according to my calculations she should still have about a week to go, i thought it should have been her last night as she is already so much bigger than the other one was

 

[bigcheed]

im sure she will be fine. she looked very active still in your video. if she suddendly hides that will be another indicator. no dramas chuck.

 

[IonaMcCluskey]

yeah, she doesn't seem to be bothered about her size, she just swims about constantly eating, great algae control
i've been quite lucky so far in that i usually spot when they are giving birth, perhaps i spend to much time watching my fish lol