Pregnant Guppies?

[karl2784]

I have 4 female guppies and 2 male.

2 of the female guppies have bellies on them. How can you tell if they're pregnant?

 

[Erised]

Female guppies that are pregnant will show a 'gravid spot'. It's a black spot towards the back of the guppy, you might want to read through this article, it also has a picture of what the gravid spot/a pregnant female looks like. Livebearers: Breeding and rearing guide

If they are indeed pregnant, good luck raising the fry =)

 

[targa66]

Being guppies, they probably are pregnant! Mine always seem to have the gravid spot. I know they are about to give birth when they get that squared off look (and they will look very swollen like they are about to pop). If you want to give the fry shelter from the other fish in your tank (who will very happily chase them and eat them), give them plenty of plants to hide in and maybe some small rocks piled up so there are crevices to hide in. Good luck!

 

[karl2784]

Argh! They probably are then. Certainly look like the picture.

How long are they pregnant for and can you tell what stage they are at? Call me stupid for asking these questions but i'm fairly new to tropical fish altho have had this tank and most fish for about a year.

ta!

 

[Erised]

Don't worry, you're not asking stupid questions at all ... besides, we'd much rather have you ask these questions than go on not knowing what you're doing.

Unfortunately, I've never been big on live bearers and I have absolutely no clue how to answer your questions. All I know is that the thread I previously linked said they can give birth every 3 to 4 weeks, so I assume it takes about that long for them to actually give birth. As for how far along she is, the picture in the thread is of a female guppy about 2 and a half weeks pregnant. However, to get more acurate answers (I might very well be wrong) I recommend you post your questions in the Live Bearer section of this forum which can be found here: Common Livebearers

 

[zarataff123]

Hey I've got 6 female gupppies 2 males and 9 fry also have 6 scissortails, we cleaned the tank yesterday and noticed this morning that one of the pregnant female guppies has a tail missing. She isn't eating and is staying at the top of the tank, I have put her in a breeding trap but is there anything else I can do for her? She can't swim very well, If anyone know's what else I can do let me know asap please, The scissortails have been fine with the guppies before I don't know how this has happened.

 

[Spooky76]

is the tail has been nipped it will grow back. Isolate her in another tank if possible and add melafix. It will grow back though, just takes a few weeks.

is she able to swim at all though ?

You shouldnt keep her in a breeding trap for too long though if you can help it.

 

[targa66]

Argh! They probably are then. Certainly look like the picture.

How long are they pregnant for and can you tell what stage they are at? Call me stupid for asking these questions but i'm fairly new to tropical fish altho have had this tank and most fish for about a year.

ta!

I think they are pregnant for about 28 days. Hard to tell what stage they are at until you've seen them yourself, but if you go to the pinned livebearer section there are pictures. They really do look ready to burst when they're about to give birth. If you want to move them to another tank to give birth, you should do so at least a few days before you expect them to drop b/c the stress of moving can cause them to abort. Mine have caught me by surprise - I moved a very pregnant female to a sep. tank and waited patiently for her to drop then realized there were at least 20 teeny tiny fry in there - they are amazingly good at hiding. Give them plenty of plants to hide in (even plants just floating on the water surface gives them some shelter). They also like hiding in the crevices in gravel/stones - just be careful that the stones won't shift and trap them if a bigger fish is trying to get at them. I made the mistake of vacuuming what I thought was an empty tank once only to find 3 fry hiding in the gravel.
Good luck!!

 

[zarataff123]

No she's better than she was this morning she couldn't swim at all this morning and was just on the top of the tank I've taken her out of the breeding trap and put her back with the others and she seems to be OK, Still a bit worried about her but I keep checking on her and she's swimming OK now ovisly not perfectly but OK. Thanks for your help