My male guppy looks pregnant.

[ilooklikemyfish]

Hello all!

My male guppy looks pregnant. I might be new to fish, but I'm pretty sure that's very unlikely

I've been keeping guppies for about a year and a half now. I bought 4 male guppies - one of them (Zebedee) grew much faster and larger than the others and with a larger belly that we thought it might be female, and recently the other three boys have been paying it a lot of attention. It spends most of its time hiding under the rock or in the corner, and one other guppy (Gus) likes to nip its stomach.

I checked the anal fin and Zebedee definitely looks like a male.

- The belly is twice the size of the others. Is this alright? Is it just different genetics or is there a problem here?
- Is the fact the other men are paying him attention (we thought they were flirting) just bullying behaviour? And is there anything we can do about that?
- Is hiding at the bottom or behind the filter just because Gus the guppy is being mean to Zebedee?

Thank you so much for your advice. I really want to get Zebedee happy again, even if it means rehoming.

 

[Slaphppy7]

Welcome to TFF

@emeraldking , have a look at these pics, please

 

[StripySnailGirl04]

Water parameters? Since when was his tummy that big?
This might be constipation or a result of overfeeding. This was common in my guppies too.
Definitely not pregnant.

 

[emeraldking]

Hi,
This is just a big male. Which has probably shown his gonopodium a bit late then the other males. Such males look like females for a longer time. But won't show a gravid spot at all times. Looking at the size of this male, the chest and belly area look normal. It's not bloated. This is how a male of this size should look like. Nothing to be worried about.
So, don't worry, he's not pregnant.

 

[DragonScales+Doubletails]

looks like a potbelly guppy to me. just like a balloon molly. bigger belly.

 

[emeraldking]

looks like a potbelly guppy to me. just like a balloon molly. bigger belly.

Well, balloon guppies do exist. But such guppies are called short bodied guppies. There's a real difference in a short bodied guppy and this specific male.
Overhere a picture of such balloon guppies (short bodied guppies):

 

[ilooklikemyfish]

Thanks for the replies everyone - I really appreciate it.

Just to be clear, I didn't *really* believe that Zebedee might be pregnant (at least not when I saw the anal fin and realised he was definitely male).

I hadn't heard of balloon guppies. Really interesting.

So it sounds like the consensus is that Zebedee is physically fine and I should stop body shaming him. And that the behavioural stuff (sitting on the bottom often under a piece of wood / hiding behind the filter) is because his tankmate Gus is a bit of a git?

Water parameters? Since when was his tummy that big?
This might be constipation or a result of overfeeding. This was common in my guppies too.
Definitely not pregnant.

Parameters are the best they have ever been:
Ammonia (test tube test) - zero
Nitrate (strip test) - zero
Nitrite (strip test) - 0.03mg/l
Hardness (strip test) - 8
Carbonate hardness (strip test) - 14 (too high)
PH (strip test) - 7.9
Chlorine (strip test) - zero
C02 (strip test and also drop checker) - 6mg/l (slightly low - but deliberate as I want the oxygen high while there's some algae treatment going on.

Belly has been bigger for months. I just wasn't concerned Zebedee was so different from the other males until I saw she was a he!

Thanks again everyone!

 

[DragonScales+Doubletails]

Well, balloon guppies do exist. But such guppies are called short bodied guppies. There's a real difference in a short bodied guppy and this specific male.
Overhere a picture of such balloon guppies (short bodied guppies):
View attachment 153674

never said this was a short-bodied guppy. I was just saying that some guppies can be bigger in the gut, no need to be snippy.

 

[emeraldking]

never said this was a short-bodied guppy. I was just saying that some guppies can be bigger in the gut, no need to be snippy.

I wasn't snippy. Sorry, if you thought I was. But you were referring that it was looking like a balloon molly. I was referring that balloon guppies do exist. But instead of calling them balloon guppies, they are called short-bodied guppies. That's all.

So, my apologies if you thought I was snippy. But I wasn't snippy. I even didn't think of it.

 

[Colin_T]

I hadn't heard of balloon guppies. Really interesting.

Try to avoid balloon fishes of any type because they have shorter bodies and suffer from more internal health issues than their normal shaped counterparts.

 

[DragonScales+Doubletails]

I wasn't snippy. Sorry, if you thought I was. But you were referring that it was looking like a balloon molly. I was referring that balloon guppies do exist. But instead of calling them balloon guppies, they are called short-bodied guppies. That's all.

So, my apologies if you thought I was snippy. But I wasn't snippy. I even didn't think of it.

Sorry for the misunderstanding, I was trying to use easier to understand terms for the OP. By correcting me (not that you necessarily did) to me you came off snippy. but I now see I was wrong.