How Long Until She Drops?

[OldMan47]

Newborn guppy fry are as easy to catch as dipping the net in the water under them and lifting it. They have no real speed to escape, which is why they must either hide or be eaten. A few days later they will have learned to swim and will be much harder to catch.
If you put those plant trimmings into a new tank with the fry, the plant growth will take care of the ammonia that the fry produce until they are big enough to be moved back in with the adults.

 

[Ny82]

Oh so I wouldn't need a filter? As that one doesn't have one. It's in this new tank with the new filter. I like running the 2, the ammonia seems to be stable.
Aww they sound so cute, i'm so frantic. I just did a water change as for some strange reason, in the 2 or 3 hours since last testing it, the nitrites went a light purple unless I didn't do it right cus the drops do come out the bottle quite fast. I only checked the water as I noticed the corys going up for air very frequently a lot more than usual-so my spidey sense kicked in and I knew something was wrong
The fish love when I do a water change, I try not to pour the water over them but they come to wherever i'm pouring it and zip around in the bubbles-esp the danios. It's so worthwhile when you see them playing like that

 

[OldMan47]

A brand new unfiltered tank with only the few fry in it should do fine with weekly water changes. The plants will use up some ammonia and water changes weekly will take care of the rest. Don't try it with adults or other fish in the tank. The very light bioload was a part of my reasoning.

 

[Ny82]

A brand new unfiltered tank with only the few fry in it should do fine with weekly water changes. The plants will use up some ammonia and water changes weekly will take care of the rest. Don't try it with adults or other fish in the tank. The very light bioload was a part of my reasoning.

Ah ok thanks
I hope she drops today, but they seem to be swimming around the top of the tank. I just checked the water, the ammonia is 0 and the nitrites are 0. There's 2 filters breaking the waters surface so I don't understand what the problem is i'll do another water change today and see if that makes it better.

 

[Ny82]

I did a water change this morning, the waters just clearing now even though I always add accu-clear the platy are swimming about, the danios and tetras are swimming about but the guppys are still at the top. The water is testing as spot on.
The female hasn't dropped yet, I have bought one of those floating traps-luckily I can take the divider out the middle so it gives the babies more room. Or shall I put her in it?

 

[Akasha72]

Hi Ny82, I have livebearers too. I noticed my female sunset platy was heavily pregnant around christmas time. She was getting chased by every male fish in the tank and getting stressed. I put her in the breeding trap to give her a break from the chasing. I switched out the lights, left her in there overnight and woke up to 15 fry the next morning. I let mum go straight away and fed her along with the others. I now have 14 surviving fry in my spare 26 litre tank - they're getting big now and will be going in with the adults very soon.

If you feel you want to trap her then do it. So long as she's not in there too long she'll survive. Put some weeds in the trap with her. I'd aim to do it in an evening so you can leave her in peace over night in the dark and I reckon you'll have fry in the morning.

Be aware that fry can swim out of the slots in those breeder boxes though so if you able to get a net (or even a pair of old tights perhaps) around it it will stop them escaping and being eaten.

 

[Ny82]

Hi thanks for the help.
I have a pair of tights I cut and put over the filter to stop the sand going in and making that chugging sound! Great minds!
She's been stopping on the sand and putting her tail in the air and sort of swimming backwards and then just swims away so I put her in the trap and covered it with the floating plants. I hooked the trap on the thermometer to stop it tipping.
She seems relatively calm and keeps doing the tail up in the air thing. Sometimes she's almost vertical. Is she ok?
I think I still have the tights I used for the filter, if not I have plenty of un opened tights, black ones-what if I cover the whole trap or half with the black tights will she be calmer?

Thanks

 

[Akasha72]

she'll be calm if she's in the dark so you could try that. I mentioned it as my first experience of breeding traps wasn't very good. I trapped a female, she had about 5 babies and I watched everyone of them swim out of the slots straight into the waiting mouths of another adult fish. It was so upsetting that I bought a breeding net aswell and put that around the plastic trap so if they swam out they couldn't get into the main tank.

As for is she okay I'd say yes she's fine. Let nature take it's course. She should be fine in the trap for 24 hours but if she starts showing too much sign of stress then letting her go is a better option.

Lot of members on here will say they'd never use a breeding trap, others will say there is a place for them. The way I see it is it's your decision. You do what you feel is right

 

[Ny82]

she'll be calm if she's in the dark so you could try that. I mentioned it as my first experience of breeding traps wasn't very good. I trapped a female, she had about 5 babies and I watched everyone of them swim out of the slots straight into the waiting mouths of another adult fish. It was so upsetting that I bought a breeding net aswell and put that around the plastic trap so if they swam out they couldn't get into the main tank.

As for is she okay I'd say yes she's fine. Let nature take it's course. She should be fine in the trap for 24 hours but if she starts showing too much sign of stress then letting her go is a better option.

Lot of members on here will say they'd never use a breeding trap, others will say there is a place for them. The way I see it is it's your decision. You do what you feel is right

Omg that must have been awful. This is the only reason I put her in, I would feel awful if I could have prevented babies being eaten - yes I have a lot of plants but I also have a lot of gaps for the corys to come in an out and the other fish would find them.
ok here is my DIY botch job lol
sorry for the crappy pic, the tank lights are off

and the top view

Thanks

 

[Ny82]

Still no babies - she's defo pregnant isn't she? lol I don't want to have put her in too early. She's just swimming around at the moment. I won't be able to sleep tonight worrying about her.

 

[Akasha72]

she's definitely pregnant but she'll have her babies when she's ready ... bit like us humans ... they come when they're ready lol

 

[Ny82]

lol yeah. She's still in the trap, quite calm actually just swimming around.(I keep taking a peek, i'm sorry I can't help myself )
Should I leave her in overnight? If she's not had them by morning when I wake up i'll let her out.

 

[Cazgar]

If she seems calm & not stressed then she should be ok overnight
You've put plants in to make her feel safe, so there's nothing more you can do but wait.
It's always exciting when you're waiting for your first batch of fry, but try not to disturb her too much

 

[Ny82]

It really is! i've never ever had a fish have babies EVER!!!
I think I said before in this thread-last time I had them my guppies didn't go near each other lol.
I know I need a slap, I keep lifting the tank lid to see what she's doing cus obviously, i've covered it with a black piece of tights so I can't see in!

 

[Ny82]

Well I just checked on her, unfortunately she's died. I can't believe it. She was fine just an hour ago. I did 2 water changes one yesterday and one today. The stats were spot on.
I'm so devastated.