My guppy is pregnant - when shoudl I move her?

[brookie_uk]

Hello all, for those of you who have read my other post you will know I have a poorly tank at the moemnt. but, I have a question about pregnancy in Guppy's. I am pretty certain one of my Guppy's is pregnant qas it is alot bigger than the rest. At what stage should I move her to a breed box (the oneswhere the babies fall through slits to make them safe). I don't want to move her too early because it is only a small space and she will be bored.

On average how long are they pregnant for before giving birth?

 

[Tokis-Phoenix]

Guppys usually have a pregnancy time of 3-5 weeks, you tell the female is pregnant when she has a gravid patch which is basically a dark patch located at the back of her tummy- this patch is actually the frys dark eyes you are seeing with grow darker as they develop.
It can be difficult to say when exactly she is going to give birth but she will start getting quite moody before she is about to- she will hang around the bottom of the tank on her own alot and become more intolerant of other fish and she will hang around planted area's in the tank or anywhere that offers shelter and not do much- she will also poo alot.
Your female guppy will realy look like she is going to pop is she so pregnant before she gives birth but this is not always the case if she is only expecting a small batch of fry.

My advice to you is buy a heap of fine leaved plants and make some densly planted areas in the tank where she can hide sufficiently in from the other fish- she will instinctively go to the best hiding area in the tank when she is about to give birth.
This should offer enough protection for her, but keep an eye out as male guppys will often harrass and chase the female alot before and during while she gives birth if they can find her to either
a. make her abort her fry so he can mate with her and/or eat the fry, or
b. so he makes her give birth faster and he can mate with her quicker.
Unfortunatly this can somtimes stress the mother out so much she dies, but if she has enough decent areas to hide in she will most likely be fine and safe. I would only move her to the breeding trap if you see the male overly harrassing her too much for her own goodm this is because breeding traps in themsleves can be stressful for the mother fish too so should only realy be used if being in the tank with the other guppys is not that much better either- you should only keep her in the trap for no longer than 4 days max and try to shade the trap from the tank lights.
Feeding her lots of high protein foods like freezedried tubifex/daphinia/bloodoworms/krill etc will help give her move energy for the birth and increase her chances of having a successful birth and also feeding her some cookkes de-shelled peas will also help too .

 

[wwestar2000]

I also agree you should do as I do. Just fill the tank up with plants and ornaments. Some fish like mine wont eat there young or each others.

 

[brookie_uk]

She is having her babies now. My girlfiend has just phoned me at work to tell me. Its such a shame I am going to miss it all. it is more of a shame that I haven't got he rin to a trap. I am guessing my silver shark is just going to eat them

 

[bluefire]

if there are plenty of plants and hiding places the fry should survive. you can just catch them (takes a bit of time somtimes) and put them in a trap where they wont be eaten.

 

[brookie_uk]

I only have 1 plant in currently. I am going to get some more and put them in after work.
Im all excited. Im a DAD!

 

[Tokis-Phoenix]

Don't move the fry directly after they have been born, wait at least 20mins to and hour as the whole birth process is not just stressful for the mother but also the fry, buy a breeding net(not trap as breeding traps don't actually protect the fry they just shelter the mother fish while she is giving birth, breeding nets on the other hand stop the fry from escaping from them and so stop other fish from eating them).
You can also buy more plants(particualy fine leaved/bushy ones are good) as fry will instinctively hide in them when born and will help give them a better chance of avoiding other fish's mouths, so its a sort of future insurance for for future fry batchs too.
While you are getting the plants/breeding net, i suggest you get some fry foods like TetraMinfry or "first bites" by hikari which you will be able to get at your lfs, these foods are very easy to eat for the tiny fry and offer all the nutrition they need for the first couple of months of their lives .
If you get the breeding net which will pretty much guarantee the fry from getting eaten by other fish, when you set it up in the tank make sure it has good flow from the filter going into it but it is not directly under the tank lights or has somthing to shade it