Gestation! What The Freak Have I Got In My Tank?

[IonaMcCluskey]

ok, so i'm freaking out here! i can't understand what is happening in my tank.
 
i bought some supposedly endlers, their gestation is supposed to be about 23-24 days. they may be guppy cross but guppy gestation is even longer.
 
the run down is i bought the fish on the friday,
a week later one gave birth to 4
a week after that another gave birth to another 4
the next week nothing
next again week another 4......this would be about right for the first female to rebirth BUT
a couple of days later i was up to 15 new fry, so
either the one that birthed the recent 4 actually tane 3 days to birth 15 and i should still have had another birth the following week,or
both females gave birth within a few days of each other, which means one went a week early.
next week nothing
NOW  about 16days after the start of the last birthing they are birthing again!
 
this would tie in with someone giving birth after just 2weeks the last time.
 
is there a livebearer that gives birth/ has a gestation period of only 2weeks?
what is happening in my tank?

 

[Malex530]

Guppy and endlers give birth like crazy, sometimes you get a fish giving 10-50 EACH DAY! They only give birth when they feel safe so you must be doing something right!!!!!!!

 

[IonaMcCluskey]

i assumed that because gestation was 23-24 days, they would only give birth every 23-24 days.
so, are you saying that they can carry several differnt batches at different stages of gestation at the same time?

 

[DiddleBug]

Yes, I'm confused too.  I have heard live bearers can have their fry over a few days sometimes, but besides that usually 20 day pregnancies is as short as you get. Sometimes with my fish I get confused who had what fry.  Or maybe you thought a female gave birth when it was actually another?    

 

[IonaMcCluskey]

there is only the 2 females that ever look pregnant. one is constantly like the side of a house, the other not anywhere near so large. but i can see the definate squareing off just before a birth and then a day or 2 after the squareing is gone. they both squared off the last time, then lost it, and the larger one was looking rather square the last day or 2, but i didn't pay it any heed as i didn't think anyone should have been due.
i'm totally at a loss as in what is happening in my tank but it does seem as if the larger one especially is giving birth every 2 weeks.

 

[hobby5]

What is the temp in your tank?

 

[RockabillyGuy]

Like You said "they can carry several differnt batches at different stages of gestation at the same time" So it is. There may be even wider range of variaties with giving birth.

 

[PrairieSunflower]

Well, I've had lots of guppy births in the past and the gestation was thereabouts 30 days, some sooner some later.  In all the batches I've had... only ONCE did a guppy have a staggered birth, she gave birth to 3 then about 5 days later a few more, then another 5ish days the rest making about 25 babies in total.
 
 
How many females do you have?  You said 2 look pregnant but do you have more?  Not all will look pregnancy for at least their first batch, and often first batches are smaller.

 

[IonaMcCluskey]

@ hobby5
the heater is set at the higher end of 25 but not into the 26, so i'm guessing 25.
i don't want to set it much higher as i have neons in there and am hoping to add a center piece fish at a later date also.
 
@ parairie sunflower
there is in fact 3 adult females but i've never noticed the 3rd squareing off like the other 2 and she is small compared to them.
when the 2 larger ones square off it is quite deffinate to see, they do certainly look like they are carrying a box under them.
 
i think i'm going to have to seperate them. i know this will go against how they are supposed to be kept with regards to numbers and m/f ratio.
the rate they are birthing at way outstrips the rate the fry are growing at, therefore the existing fry are still to young for me to take back to the lfs and i want to keep the first 2 batches. if i leave the set up as it is the tank is going to become unhealthy for the fish.
i have a spare 2ft tank that i could put the 3 female adults and 6 young females in and leave the 1 adult male, 2 young male and the present fry in the bigger tank.

 

[Lillefishy]

Females can carry sperm for a few months so even if you separate them you're likely to get more fry for a while

 

[IonaMcCluskey]

yeah, i was aware of this but i was hoping that it was some kind of spieces survival instinct that went along the lines of
if there is a male present breed as much and as fast as poss, if there is NO male present use stored sperm sparingly.
i will have fingers, toes and goodness knows else what crossed in the hope that the above is true and at least slows the rate at which the fry are produced.

 

[RockabillyGuy]

Just dont worry. These same females may start to give birtg 1X per month.(if having males) I´m 42. I have guppys since I was 8 years old. All these birth giving variations are really existing. Why? There are many reasons. 1 - young female with first birth giving.  2 Very heavy changes (disease ,cure,water chemistry changes,)..& much more.

 

[IonaMcCluskey]

if i leave everything as it is and just don't worry about it everything in the tank is gona die due to serious overstocking leading to an unhealthy tank.

 

[PrairieSunflower]

I separated my males and females for that reason (when I kept guppies) and it took 4-6 months of monthly birthing before the females ran out.  They were like clockwork even without males.

 

[IonaMcCluskey]

oh my word! that does not sound good

if they would stick to clockwork and birthevery 23-24 days it would still be a slower rate than what appears to be every 2 weeks.
i double checked with my lfs today and they said they will take what i don't want to keep