Good Fry Setup?

[Meggie :)]

I am expecting some guppy fry in the next week, maybe two. I was just wondering if this is a good setup for saving a few? I know that unless I put her in a trap I won't be able to save all, and there's no way I'm putting her in a trap ...

(and I know that this tank is small for breeding fish, but I am upgrading to around a 75 gallon tank as soon as we move within a month or two and it will have sand and live plants)

and if you need an idea of how big these plants and decor are, in the picture with the big green plant with pink near the purple one, you can see my black and copper balloon mollies up in the corner

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sorry, a few of the pics are flipped

 

[This Old Spouse]

Actually, if you put a few more plants in there for the fry to hide you should be okay. It looks just like the 5 gallon tank I have for my fry.

 

[Meggie :)]

It's a ten gallon i think ill be turning it to either a breeding tank or quarantine tank once i get my 75 gallon do you think they will hide in the little nooks and crannies in the shells and the "house" ?

 

[This Old Spouse]

It's a ten gallon i think ill be turning it to either a breeding tank or quarantine tank once i get my 75 gallon do you think they will hide in the little nooks and crannies in the shells and the "house" ?

If they can get to them fast enough

 

[Meggie :)]

i hope so!!! haha maybe not all, just a few...besides i only have 4 fish in there two balloon mollies and two guppies...think some will make it?

 

[This Old Spouse]

They might. I just think they'd have a much better chance if you put more plants in there for them to hide in. Also, be sure to put a nylon stocking piece or something similar so they don't get sucked into the impeller.

 

[Meggie :)]

and i know that this is prob under the wrong topic but do you think that she has about a week or two left? her gravid spot looks almost completely black

 

[This Old Spouse]

Are you sure she's pregnant?

 

[Meggie :)]

i think so...I bought her a few days ago and all the other guppies in there were obviously pregnant, so im assuming that she has been with a male before. why, does she not look pregnant? she looks round when I look at her from up top and head on, but im new to breeding guppies so i can't be sure.

 

[Meggie :)]

here are a few better pictures...

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[This Old Spouse]

If she looks rounder from the top and front then she probably is. But from these shots she looks just like mine, who aren't preggers.

 

[Meggie :)]

but doesn't her gravid spot look awefully big and black though? Cause I have another female guppy whose gravid spot is really small and not very dark and this one's gravid spot goes to her anal fin...

 

[This Old Spouse]

I wish my females would be slow enough to get photos so I could show you their gravid spots. Some are big and black, others not so big and lighter colored. And NONE of them are pregnant. If she blows up like a balloon and looks very, very round, then she's probably pregnant. Just before she drops fry she'll do what's called "squaring off" where she looks like a box.

Here are some shots of my unpregnant guppies. Sorry about the quality but these are the worst possible conditions to try and take photos!

You can see they all have dark gravid spots here, some bigger than others. But no babies in my future!

 

[Meggie :)]

okay...your tank looks absolutely amazing from what I can see of it!

And this has probably been asked before, but I woke up this morning and her gravid spot had kind of changed colors...it's still dark, but it has sort of an orangey hue to it and it is speckled...what does that mean?!

 

[This Old Spouse]

Honestly, I don't know why the gravid spots change colors! I just know to mostly ignore them and concentrate on the shape of the fish. When she starts getting noticeably rounder and fatter, then start looking for the squaring off stage, which inidicates fry are due very soon.

When I did have pregnant guppies, they were in a heavily planted tank and the fry had to fend for themselves. The very first time I had fry, there were about 150 of them and I sucked them all up and put them in their own tank. I was an emotional wreck! But all of them survived, and next came the question of what to do with all of them! I ended up trading 20 pair for a store credit at the LFS, but I still have a 15g tank of 19 females, a 29g with 29 males, and a 5g with 5 female fry. I hope to end up with very few of each in the end.