How Accurate Am I?

[Azaeil]

I've had this one female guppy surviving from a batch of 3 (1 male and 2 females). The one male and other female both died within two days by getting caught in the intake of my Aqueon Whisper 10g filter (that shouldn't have happened - the red platy and three neon-black hi-fin variatuses (1m and 2 f) and two cories have never had an issue with the filter and they are approximately the same size, if slightly bigger, than the guppies). Since then I've had the female isolated with a homemade barrier in the section of the tank away from the filter - which also conveniently has the heater and the largest concentration of plants.

Anyways, the female remaining gave birth three/four days after I purchased her intentionally pregnant. I salvaged 15 fry from that 'litter' only to loose them four weeks later within minutes of each other when something got into the water - I think some cleaner from when I cleaned the bathroom got in the water - they were all plagued by air bubbles sticking to them and that's not happened before in prior water changes.

Now over the last two weeks I've been watching her grow gravid once more without a male. She's been fed a steady diet of brine shrimp that I feed my bettas and other fish and is thriving happily (She's been the only guppy I've had that's lasted longer than a week - they always got trapped by the filter and the first guppies I had I lost to ick which has been eliminated long before the new female came in - the red platy is the only survivor from that incident).

It took me a long time to wait for her to sit still because she always came up to me when I went near the tank and faced me directly in the eye so I couldn't get a view of her gravid spot.. She's definitely 'black' with the fry eyes, dropped sharply in the rear end of her belly, and her birthing tube is clearly visible.

I have seen the guppy stages thread numerous times and I just want to see how accurate I am in thinking she'll probably birth either tonight or in the next couple of days - she's showing all the signs of stage 6 with tendency to float around the surface from time to time.

 

[kribensis12]

They prefer to birth at night. So turning the tank light off will help. As soon as they square off you can expect fry within 24 hours. Birthing tube is another great indicator of an impending birth.

 

[Azaeil]

There's no tank light involved as these are open-top tanks - the only light source comes from my room light - but I'll drape a towel over it to provide her some shade and a dim light source to draw the fry to the shelter of the plants.

 

[Azaeil]

Brief update - she's given birth overnight - I managed to fish out 15/16 fry (they were moving all over the quarantine container I was putting them into so I could move them) and there's possibly 1 or 2 swimming around the side with the Platy and Variatuses if they weren't already snapped up - they had slipped past the mesh barrier I had for them.

These guys seem a bit larger than my last batch of 15 surviving babies, but here's hoping that no accident kills them off before their colors show! One of them was developing a nice black back to it :C

 

[OldMan47]

Guppy fry are quite large compared to platy or swordtail fry so I am not too surprised you found them a bit large compared to your memories of fry.
It seems that your estimation of her stage of pregnancy was quite good, well done.
Next up is the challenge of caring for your new fry. New fry appreciate lots of food frequently fed and lots of water changes to keep their tank water pristine. The frequent feedings make those water changes essential.

 

[Azaeil]

I've been able to maintain her last batch of 15 fry (which I remembered being smaller at birth since they were her first litter) quite well for a month and they were developing beautifully until that last water change.. I couldn't figure what the heck got into their water that caused so many air bubbles that clung to their bodies and killed them within minutes - but my suspicion was that some chemical from cleaning earlier got into the water :C

I heard a neat tip from a fish keeper at the Petco I got my Moby from of a kinda Miracle Gro for fry - mixing normal fish flakes with a raw egg into a paste that they'll eat all day, but will make the water incredibly dirty within a couple days. Something about the protein boost from the egg makes them grow at a much faster rate than normal conditions of a heated tank and 3 meals a day feedings. Funny thing was they fed their adult fish every other day like I do (except for mamma guppy) and their fish are FAT XD

 

[OldMan47]

Fresh egg is a common first food for tiny fish fry. It has the distinct disadvantage of causing water quality problems but is always an option in an emergency. I have used a bit of boiled egg yolk on rare occasion in my own tanks. As I say now, the main disadvantage is that the egg yolk always leads to water quality problems. A better solution, for most of us, is to allow a bit slower fry growth and use better foods like crushed flake food for the fry. That leads to less problems of fry water quality and, in the end, means better fry growth.