Pregnant Guppy 46Th Day ?!

[Guppy-keeper]

My female guppy is pregnant for 46 days and hasn't give birth yet. Is it a problem there? I keep a constant temperature, optiamal for pregnancy (26 degrees celcius). Can you give me an advice?

 

[SchottayB]

Sure it's not just fat?

 

[KittyKat]

Make sure she's in a relaxing and comfortable environment, stressful environments can cause problems or result in miscarriage.

 

[OldMan47]

Welcome to the forum Guppy-Keeper.
You do not have a female guppy that has been carrying that long. At the high temperature you are running, it will drop fry at 28 days or slightly less if it is carrying. If you are judging that the fish is carrying fry based on the "gravid spot" you can be excused for being misled. A female that has mated sometime in the last few months may be carrying some fry but the actual start date is unknown. When I allow a single female pet shop molly to drop multiple batches of fry, she drops at 6 week intervals even though gestation for a molly is also about a month. That just means that it took a couple of weeks from one drop until the next started to develop in that female. Since many of my fish never show a gravid spot due to their skin color, I have moved away from trying to judge a fish based on that color. I am now far more accurate than I once was because I am no longer misled by color and I rely entirely on size and shape for my females.
Basic advice: Don't try to speed up the gestation period by running at high temperatures. A temperature of around 22C to 24C would be a healthier environment for your guppies and would only add a couple of days to the typical month of a guppy gestation.

 

[Guppy-keeper]

Welcome to the forum Guppy-Keeper.
You do not have a female guppy that has been carrying that long. At the high temperature you are running, it will drop fry at 28 days or slightly less if it is carrying. If you are judging that the fish is carrying fry based on the "gravid spot" you can be excused for being misled. A female that has mated sometime in the last few months may be carrying some fry but the actual start date is unknown. When I allow a single female pet shop molly to drop multiple batches of fry, she drops at 6 week intervals even though gestation for a molly is also about a month. That just means that it took a couple of weeks from one drop until the next started to develop in that female. Since many of my fish never show a gravid spot due to their skin color, I have moved away from trying to judge a fish based on that color. I am now far more accurate than I once was because I am no longer misled by color and I rely entirely on size and shape for my females.
Basic advice: Don't try to speed up the gestation period by running at high temperatures. A temperature of around 22C to 24C would be a healthier environment for your guppies and would only add a couple of days to the typical month of a guppy gestation.

i'm not sure about the first day of pregnancy. I started counting days since i bought her (thinking that she is pregnant in case she was in the same tank with other males in the pet store) on 12th august. And i'm still waiting. I read that during the pregnancy high temperatures are best for a healthy pregnacy. She is always hidding behind plants and laying at the botom of the tank , im waiting everyday to give birth, but she still keeps her babies inside.

 

[OldMan47]

Cool water holds far more oxygen and is better for fish that tolerate it well. Faster development is the key to farming fish and higher temperature does encourage faster development as long as you don't go too high. There is also some spotty evidence that is frequently refuted that temperature can affect the male / female ratio of the fry. Since gender is determined genetically, the mechanism involved is thought to be either better fertilization of one sex or the other or more frequently it is cited as being a result of better fry survival of one sex or the other before the drop.

People breeding show quality guppies will hold temperatures lower at all times to get better fish development. An adult show fish is the result of genetics, feeding quality and environment where temperature is one thing they find easy to optimize.

 

[Guppy-keeper]

Cool water holds far more oxygen and is better for fish that tolerate it well. Faster development is the key to farming fish and higher temperature does encourage faster development as long as you don't go too high. There is also some spotty evidence that is frequently refuted that temperature can affect the male / female ratio of the fry. Since gender is determined genetically, the mechanism involved is thought to be either better fertilization of one sex or the other or more frequently it is cited as being a result of better fry survival of one sex or the other before the drop.

People breeding show quality guppies will hold temperatures lower at all times to get better fish development. An adult show fish is the result of genetics, feeding quality and environment where temperature is one thing they find easy to optimize.

for example wich is the ideal temperature? and what about other symptoms that i described ?

 

[OldMan47]

According to the units converter, a temperature of 22C would be about ideal for a guppy. I think of it as 72F.

 

[Guppy-keeper]

According to the units converter, a temperature of 22C would be about ideal for a guppy. I think of it as 72F.

Ok thank you. Please reply me about the pregnancy symptoms that i wrote before .

 

[ripil]

oops i been keeping my temp at 80 fahrenheit/26 celsius. the guppies keep getting fat the gravid spot keeps appearing and disappearing. i've given up on trying to workout when the fry are coming from it. i have four female swordtails (not that they have swordtails of course) and i get new fry every 10 days or so. the dutch guppies seem to never drop fry got 5 of them and they have only had 6 fry in 3 months. so i think i'll drop the temp a bit.

 

[Guppy-keeper]

oops i been keeping my temp at 80 fahrenheit/26 celsius. the guppies keep getting fat the gravid spot keeps appearing and disappearing. i've given up on trying to workout when the fry are coming from it. i have four female swordtails (not that they have swordtails of course) and i get new fry every 10 days or so. the dutch guppies seem to never drop fry got 5 of them and they have only had 6 fry in 3 months. so i think i'll drop the temp a bit.

Do swordtails live with guppies? Do they have the same temperature requestments and other factors as guppies?

 

[OldMan47]

Swordtails and guppies can both thrive at the lower temperatures. Keeping them together presents other problems for fry survival. Domestic swordtails are very fast swimming predators. Most adult pet shop swordtails can swim backward faster than typical fish can swim forward. If you have a guppy drop in a tank that contains swordtails, what chance do you figure the guppy fry have? To my way of thinking, they are doomed regardless of the cover provided. Some wild species of swordtail like the nezzies and monties do not seem to molest their own fry much, I do great letting them drop in an adult tank. I have also seen a healthy adult male pet shop type swordtail swim the full length of a 55 gallon tank, 4 feet long, in under a second. He would have no incentive to leave a guppy fry alone so I would not expect him to do so. Fish do not think or react much like us. All actions are easier understood if you take the approach of evaluating the chance of a specific fish's genes surviving his actions. If some action favors a fish's genetic survival, chances are that is what they will do. If it favors another fish or a fish of another species, well you get the idea. Do not expect the very easy going molly that is swimming with her fry to ignore a meal of guppy fry for example.

 

[Guppy-keeper]

Swordtails and guppies can both thrive at the lower temperatures. Keeping them together presents other problems for fry survival. Domestic swordtails are very fast swimming predators. Most adult pet shop swordtails can swim backward faster than typical fish can swim forward. If you have a guppy drop in a tank that contains swordtails, what chance do you figure the guppy fry have? To my way of thinking, they are doomed regardless of the cover provided. Some wild species of swordtail like the nezzies and monties do not seem to molest their own fry much, I do great letting them drop in an adult tank. I have also seen a healthy adult male pet shop type swordtail swim the full length of a 55 gallon tank, 4 feet long, in under a second. He would have no incentive to leave a guppy fry alone so I would not expect him to do so. Fish do not think or react much like us. All actions are easier understood if you take the approach of evaluating the chance of a specific fish's genes surviving his actions. If some action favors a fish's genetic survival, chances are that is what they will do. If it favors another fish or a fish of another species, well you get the idea. Do not expect the very easy going molly that is swimming with her fry to ignore a meal of guppy fry for example.

Thank you very much! Can any fry be alive in a low planted aquarium ?

 

[ripil]

i've seen a swordtail transport from one side to the other side of my fish tank. i'd of said swim but i'd of have to have seen him in the middle at some point. the swordtails seem to be able to swim backwards in a circle even when trying to mate. i always keep the fry in a big breeding trap. the swordtails never bother the guppies. they used to be a bit scared of the golden gourami but their not in the same tank anymore. i did check the few books of got and they said the swordtails would be fine at 24 celsius/76 fahrenheit. the swordtails and guppies are living happily together in my tank.

 

[OldMan47]

A lightly planted tank is not a great place for livebearer fry to mix with adults. I use mostly java moss as my cover and have a huge clump in tanks where I want fry to do well. In a 10 gallon guppy tank, that clump uses up about half of the total volume leaving the other half for the adults to swim around in. That tank produces huge volumes of surviving guppy fry. In tanks that are lightly planted or have little cover, I never expect to see a surviving fry but once in a great while one shows up anyway.