My Pregnant Guppy, Molly, & Platy Journal

[Billsfan905]

OKAY so an update- 5 days ago I went home, which is 4 hours away. I brought a 5 gallon tank to bring home all my fry in, plugged the filter in the car and left the air conditioning off and all fry made it home happily I put them in a the fry net with my mom's other 2 fry as her tank is completely cycled and has been for over 2 years. Going to let them live there until a week or two before I go home again

I brought back home 2 of her guppies who were bullying and nipping at her other 2 male guppies- she had 4 male guppies and no females! I also filled up my tank with her cycled water, took a bunch of her gravel and put some plants in the 5 gal! Plugged it back into the car for the 4 hour ride home and both guppies made it back in great shape

ANYWAYS so as soon as I got back into my appartment I did 3 emergency water changes. I hadn't lost any fish but they were moving slowly (probably since the temp climbed up to 85 without the AC in one tanks) I tested the water while my boyfriend was vigorously draining water and the results made me SO happy! 0 ammonia 0 nitrites and 5ppm of nitrates! Pretty sure this tank is cycled now- left it alone for 5 days and there is NO ammonia or nitrites! I'm just hoping the 80% water change didn't kill a lot of the beneficial bacteria.

The other 2 tanks had ~0 ammonia and 5ppm nitrites. Did ~95% water change on both of those. I tested the 5 gallon tank with my mom's water and it still read 0 ammonia and 0 nitrites, so I put about 2.5 gallons of the cycled water into both of my uncycled tanks, along with a few plastic plants and a bunch of gravel from her tank. 1 guppy went into my 10 gal tank that now has 3 females and 1 male who is very young and small and I have never seen mate with anyone yet, and the other male went in with my mollies & platys.

As soon as I put him in the tank he went crazy and tried mating with all three girls! LOL probably the first time he'd seen a girl in over a year. (Just realized he must be an old fella)

About to do a water test again, it's been 8 hours since I changed all three tanks last night

TANK 1 (only 2 weeks old hopeful the cycled gravel and plants will speed it up a bit)
Ammonia- 0-.25
Nitrites- .5-1
Nitrates- 0 fml
pH- ~6.6 (low eek)

TANK 2 (the one I suspect is cycled)
Ammonia- 0-.25
Nitrites- .25- .5 praying I didn't kill off the beneficial bateria with my huge water change yesterday
Nitrates- under 5
pH- ~6.6 also eek

TANK 3 (been cycling the same amount of time as tank 2, ~6 weeks, but still isn't cycled!)
Ammonia- .25-5 EEK
Nitrites- .5
Nitrates- 0
pH- 6.4 even lower ahh

The only reason any of them have ammonia is because my tap water has 1.0 ppm of ammonia!

Going to do ~80% on 1st and 3rd tank and leave the 2nd one alone and hopefully it'll still be cycled Come on bacteria!

 

[slimeneo]

The water and gravel don't actually contain the bacteria you need to cycle- only the filter does.

Glad to hear that everything is well though!

 

[Billsfan905]

Slimeneo- REALLY? ahh boo I guess I will stop trying to use the gravel from my cycled tank then LOL

 

[lolobunnz]

Great log. I hope you continually document your experiences. I loved reading it and i am certain many will enjoy your detailed cycle log as well! Great pictures <3

 

[Billsfan905]

Great log. I hope you continually document your experiences. I loved reading it and i am certain many will enjoy your detailed cycle log as well! Great pictures <3

Awwww, you are so sweet! I will post an update tomorrow with more pictures and the results of my tests

Maybe other newbies can learn from my mistakes

Two of my fish are definitely pregnant again, they gave birth around 2 weeks ago and they're already large, can't imagine how many fry they have inside them!
A bunch of my other female guppies look like they're also a week or two pregnant! YAY can't wait for the fry
My other fry are at my mother's house, as I was scared to keep them in my uncycled tank! I will probably bring them back home next week and give them a 10 gallon tank to themselves, I just want to make sure it is cycled

I wonder how much they've grown! The molly fry are over a month old now, the platy fry are almost 3 weeks old, and the guppies are about 2 weeks!
So exciting, I can't wait until they grow up and start to show their colours! I bought her pregnant from the pet store, so who knows who she mated with!




Water Test Results for August 28, 2012

Tank 1 (35 gallon)
Ammonia- under 0.25
Nitrites- 0
Nitrates- 0 boo
pH- 6.4

Tank 2 (29 gallon)
Ammonia- under 0.25
Nitrites- 0
Nitrates- 5.0 ++
pH- 6.6

Tank 3 (10 gallon)
Ammonia- under 0.25
Nitrites- 0
Nitrates- 5.0 +
pH- 6.0 (WHY IS THIS SO LOW UGH)

Tap water, one hour after being treated with Prime water conditioner
Ammonia- 0.5
Nitrites- 0
Nitrates- 0
pH- 7.6 ++

Lately the water has been so amazing, I've barely been doing water changes because the only thing that is questionable is the ammonia and it's still less than my tap

I don't understand why the pH is so low in tank 3! I'll do a water change and it still goes back down to 6.0, yet my tap water has a high pH! Does not make sense to me!

Also weird how the nitrites have been 0 for over 2 days yet there are no nitrates in the 2 tanks

I took pictures of my results compared to the tap water.. crazy stuff! The flash made them impossible to see, sorry that they're a bit dark!

Ammonia: In order: tank 1, tank 2, tank 3, and tap

Nitrite: In order: tank 1, tank 2, tank 3, and tap

pH: In order: tank 1, tank 2, tank 3, and tap

 

[Billsfan905]

Water Test Results for August 29, 2012

Tank 1 (35 gallon)
Ammonia- under 0.25
Nitrites- 0
Nitrates- between 0 and 5.0
pH- 6.6 (pH slightly higher, yay!)

Tank 2 (29 gallon)
Ammonia- under 0.25
Nitrites- 0
Nitrates- 5.0 still woo wooo
pH- 6.8 (slightly higher again! woo!)

Tank 3 (10 gallon)
Ammonia- under 0.5 eek
Nitrites- 0
Nitrates- 0
pH- 6.0 (ugh still soo low! going to buy crushed coral today)

So goals for today:
1. water change on tank 3
2. buy crushed coral for tank 3
3. put some of the filter media from tank 2 into tank 1 I'd put it in 3 but I think it's a waste because I read the bacteria will starve at such a low pH! Goal is to slowly get it up naturally without harming the fishies!

 

[Billsfan905]

Water Test Results for August 30, 2012

I checked the water periodically yesterday, and tank 3's ammonia went up to 6.2 at one point. I added a big crushed coral rock decoration and it was fizzing and bubbling like crazy at first. I moved all my fish into the 35 gallon and 29 gallon as both seem cycled. Trying to deal with the 10 gallon tank and raise it's pH and I don't want to harm my fish. I don't think it cycled because the pH was so low. This tank was initially meant for all my fry anyways, hopefully it picks up soon

As soon as I get the pH up higher I will move some cycled filter media over I just don't want to waste it and have the acidic water kill them!

Tank 1 (35 gallon)
Ammonia- under 0.25
Nitrites- 0
Nitrates- between ~3 it looks like! yay!
pH- 6.4-6.6

Tank 2 (29 gallon)
Ammonia- under 0.25
Nitrites- 0
Nitrates- at least 10! happiest girl going to do a pwc today and siphon the bottom a bit as I rarely do this tank!
pH- 6.8-7.0 woo

Tank 3 (10 gallon)
Ammonia- under 0.25
Nitrites- 0
Nitrates- 0
pH- 6.0 still not budging, even with the added coral and I lowered the water for my aeration.


OMG so yesterday I was moving the fish and a few things around along with cleaning the gravel in a PWC. I went to pick up a castle ornament thing to move it over because I thought my bolivian ram's would appreciate it, and up floats a dead gourami that I COMPLETELY forgot about I screamed, and I don't usually scream. My boyfriend said he thought I had electrocuted myself or something. I was still shaken up right after, my hands were shaking.

RIP
That is the first fish to ever die in that tank, it's always been so perfect!
No idea why he died, he never showed any symptoms or anything, was always active.



OH and on a pregnancy note:
My platy dropped her fry August 7, and my guppy on August 12th.
They both look very pregnant now! On september 4 it will be 4 weeks after the platy gave birth I will try to take some pictures today!
The only other pregnant tankmats are 4 female guppies that look pregnant, but not too far along. One looks further than everyone, she is about the same size as my guppy so I should probably expect fry within 2-3 weeks!

Edit:
Platy, 3 weeks and 2 days after her first drop:

One of my platy I've had for a long long time, she's finally pregnant by the looks of it! Probably under a week pregnant though, still a long long time to go!

You can really see my pregnant guppy here. It's been 2 weeks and 4 days since her first drop, she's already really big! I expect a huge drop in about 2 weeks!

Here is a boy guppy who is about 8 months old that I took from my mother's tank! He was getting bullied by one of the males here. In this tank he has 6 females to himself, and he goes crazy and chases them around all day! His nipped tail is recovering nicely Above him is a female I purchased a few days ago who I thought was pregnant! She looks like she has about a week or two to go.

My bolivan rams! They're loving their new spacious 35 gallon! It's 3 feet wide and they have so much more room

Where's waldo? lol

 

[slimeneo]

So cute!! Ahhh, I really want another tank now......

 

[Billsfan905]

So cute!! Ahhh, I really want another tank now......

It's so addicting eh! Get another one! Join the crazy fish lady club lol.

I'm at home right now 4 hours away from my university and I left all my fish in my tanks for 3 days with no food Hope they are ok!
I also left 2 fry in there with a 3 day feeder, really hoping they make it!

HAPPIER NOTE: bringing all the fry back from my mom's tank! They've grown and are so cute. More pics when I get back to school tomorrow late at night!
Fingers crossed all fish make it!

I also bought an angel fish here and 2 platy and a molly- going to transfer them in my 5 gallon fish tank plugged into the car so they have a filter. It's a 4+ hour drive Fingers crossed they make it!

 

[slimeneo]

I'm only 16 and my parents won't let me buy another one.. maybe I will ask for one for Christmas. But I've already spent so much money on my 10 gal tank.... who knows how much I will have to spend on a bigger tank! Although I might have to get a new tank.. I recently got 2 more platies and I think 1 of them is pregnant. No idea when she'll drop though (hopefully not soon...)

Hope all your fish make it! Keep us updated

 

[Billsfan905]

Oo maybe trade your tank in for a bigger one?

JUST GOT BACK TO OTTAWA- great news!

1. My rams have paired off! I wasn't even sure if they were male and female!
2. My platy gave birth- it's been exactly 4 weeks to this day... I only found 7 babies and she's very skinny which makes me believe she probably dropped yesterday
3. No fish passed away
4. One of my platy looks like she's ready to burst. I can actually see the babies in her gravid spot- like they're whole head and eyes. Crazy I can see at least 10 she's probably FULL of fry.
5. Transferred all the fry successfully and theyre all in their baby net! I'll take pics tomorrow night

YAY happy happy news

 

[slimeneo]

Haha yaaay! I would love to see fry pictures :3 you're going to be overrun with babies!

 

[Billsfan905]

I will definitely post pictures later tonight ! I 7 different "litters" of fry lol!
Someone else in my other tank dropped fry while I was gone too.. I rescued 6.. one looked black they are so tiny they look like platy fry!
It had to have been her:

I honestly thought she was like a week pregnant, but she's skinny now and there were 6 orange and one black-ish darkish fry in there, that's the only platy or molly who looked even a tad pregnant! CRAZY

I think I'm going to try to get my rams to breed

 

[slimeneo]

Haha wow! My platy looks larger than your platy did.. ahhhh she better not drop any time soon, I'm so not prepared for fry yet! I'm still treating my other platy for internal parasites. I will have to break the news to my parents that we're going to be overrun with fry soon ~_~......

my platy has sort of the same colors as yours! Well one of them anyway... my LFS calls them "bumblebee platy"

 

[lolobunnz]

Where are the pics of the 7 different litters of fry?! I have been waiting for like 3 days!