Pregnant Guppy Advice

[Lyra0727]

I know I'm just being paranoid but it is my first breeding guppies. I asked a few questions a while back but now, my guppy is about to pop! But the problem is the males are pestering her 24/7 and no matter where she goes they gang up on her I was going to put her in a differen 10 gallon tank so that she would have lots of room and wouldnt be stressed but I didnt realize how far along she was and havent even set up the tank yet.

Is there anyway I can seperate the males from her? I have lots of hidding places for her but no matter what they follow so it's hard for her to get away. Or maybe a way to make it safer to put her in the new 10 gallon tonight? or maybe put the males in the 10 gallon? Anything that wont risk me harming my fish.. and possibly loseing them.. (have to be very cautious this week considering i lost a couple fish last week and one isnt eating now)

 

[alexbinge]

You can get a breeding trap from most local pet shops of your local fish shop they only cost about 5 pounds and they work just fine. You might have been told about stressing the fish out but i have never had a propblem with that.

 

[Lyra0727]

I cant keep her in the breeding trap every day until she drops though. That's the problem that I am having I dont know exactly when shes going to and the males are constantly bothering her.

 

[OldMan47]

Just set up that drop tank, get it circulating water with a filter, get the temperature right and move your female. It can all be done in less than a day if you use a decent dechlorinator. To start the new filter processing ammonia, you can try my trick of cleaning a mature filter in the new tank to give that new filter a jump start with the right bacteria. That way the new filter will keep up with the fry population as it grows and you should not need many huge water changes to keep things in line.

 

[Lyra0727]

Ok thank you, I just got it going and the filter is running. Although I think the tank I just set up has a leak so I'm going to have to replace it.. But I should be able to do it without having to worry about the cycle if I just put the same water in the new tank with the same filter right?

 

[XFiSh_CichildX]

how many females do you have ?? you should maybe get a few more females for the males to chase after

 

[Lyra0727]

I had 5 females to 2 males. Thats when it was doing good but 2 females got sick and died a week ago.. which messed up the balance and I dont want to get more until I know I got the tank properly working again without any fungus issues.

But even if that was the case the males werent paying any attention at all to any of the other females. I believe its only because my guppy will be dropping soon. Were on her 4th week as we speak. So it should be anytime between now and the end of next week from what ive read.

It takes 4-5 weeks right? Or was that wrong information I've read?

 

[XFiSh_CichildX]

i actaully have a preg guppy atm about to drop aswell i would say its around 4weeks wen they drop i will post pic later of her if i wnt me to.if its any time soon she should drop get a breeder trap and stick her in it she wil be alright or if u have spare tank

 

[Lyra0727]

i actaully have a preg guppy atm about to drop aswell i would say its around 4weeks wen they drop i will post pic later of her if i wnt me to.if its any time soon she should drop get a breeder trap and stick her in it she wil be alright or if u have spare tank

I didnt want to use a breeder trap because I cant keep her in there all the time. I dont know when she is going to drop. I only know that she has been pregnant for 4 weeks. This is the 4th week.. She's still eating like a pig and is very social so I dont think I would need to put her in one tonight even if I was using a breeder trap. So Maybe she can hold out until I get the tank ready.

The water cycle is already going though. The only problem is that the tank leaks a bit. Thats what I get for using a tank I had when I was 5 haha. Either today or this weekend I will be able to get a new one then just transfer the water into the new tank without messing up the cycle (I hope!)

 

[XFiSh_CichildX]

i actaully have a preg guppy atm about to drop aswell i would say its around 4weeks wen they drop i will post pic later of her if i wnt me to.if its any time soon she should drop get a breeder trap and stick her in it she wil be alright or if u have spare tank

I didnt want to use a breeder trap because I cant keep her in there all the time. I dont know when she is going to drop. I only know that she has been pregnant for 4 weeks. This is the 4th week.. She's still eating like a pig and is very social so I dont think I would need to put her in one tonight even if I was using a breeder trap. So Maybe she can hold out until I get the tank ready.

The water cycle is already going though. The only problem is that the tank leaks a bit. Thats what I get for using a tank I had when I was 5 haha. Either today or this weekend I will be able to get a new one then just transfer the water into the new tank without messing up the cycle (I hope!)

yea that would be great i have never moved any of my preg ones i have kepted them in my same tank none of the fry has ever got eating and i had molly platy and guppies in my 30gal i had about 10 of each then all the fry soo

 

[Lyra0727]

i actaully have a preg guppy atm about to drop aswell i would say its around 4weeks wen they drop i will post pic later of her if i wnt me to.if its any time soon she should drop get a breeder trap and stick her in it she wil be alright or if u have spare tank

I didnt want to use a breeder trap because I cant keep her in there all the time. I dont know when she is going to drop. I only know that she has been pregnant for 4 weeks. This is the 4th week.. She's still eating like a pig and is very social so I dont think I would need to put her in one tonight even if I was using a breeder trap. So Maybe she can hold out until I get the tank ready.

The water cycle is already going though. The only problem is that the tank leaks a bit. Thats what I get for using a tank I had when I was 5 haha. Either today or this weekend I will be able to get a new one then just transfer the water into the new tank without messing up the cycle (I hope!)

yea that would be great i have never moved any of my preg ones i have kepted them in my same tank none of the fry has ever got eating and i had molly platy and guppies in my 30gal i had about 10 of each then all the fry soo

How big is your guppy that is about to drop? I have 3 guppies all pregnant but at different stages.. I think? I know the one that will be dropping soon but the other two not sure. One is a bit small but just started showing blacks dots in her gravid patch. Then my second one where she is huge and has a orange gravid patch.. They make it very hard to keep track of whos dropping when!

The only one I can keep track of is my yellow with orange tail guppy (named sunset) and thats because Ive had her for about a little over a month.

 

[OldMan47]

If you have lots of good cover and keep your adults well fed, a fair number of the fry will survive. I breed lots of different livebearers that way, including guppies and mollies.

The assumption about moving over water is all wrong. Water contains nothing for your fish or its fry. What you really need is a mature filter. No tank ever starts out with a mature filter but you can give a new filter a big leg up by introducing some of the bacteria from a mature filter. That is why I suggested using the new tank as a cleaning bucket. Some of the bacteria from your filter will come loose and end up in that new filter to start reproducing. The only reason to ever move water is to be sure you get a good temperature and mineral content match. If you have any fish showing distress, such as the dead females might have before you lost them, a good first move to improve the fish is to change out huge amounts of the tank's water. I often will change over 90% of a tank's water when I see a fish in distress. The fish always look better right after I do it.

 

[Lyra0727]

Well the filter was the one I used in the tank I kept her in. I just switched it to the new tank when I got my new filter that I was actually going to use as a backup.. So I did the right thing?

I took the plants from my old tank and let them float at the top of the new tank for when she does drop. I was actually starting to think that maybe I should just put all 3 females in the new tank until I can replace the females I lost. Or would that be a bad idea? It's a 10 gallon that would only have 3 fish until she drops.. but the babies couldnt possibly dirty the tank that much either. Could they?

 

[OldMan47]

If you moved your filter from the old tank to a new one, the new tank is ready for fish. Now the problem becomes the old tank. It has lost the mature filter that was supporting it. Does it still have a mature filter running on it? If not, you need to closely monitor the water quality in that tank since it will need your help keeping the water quality good.

 

[Lyra0727]

I have been watching it I test it every day too and if I ever seen a big spike on anything I would do a 25% water change just to get it a bit lower. Of course every time I do a water change I use the clorine remover and I add a little bit of extra good bacteria for the guppies.

Just curious but I have a 2 and 1/2 month old guppy in my tank.. What age would the males start to go after her? I'm sure right now they arent because I have 2 older guppies in there at the moment but I'm about to move one other into my fry tank with my other pregnant guppy. (I dont think shes ready yet but just incase.. I think she just over fed on bloodworms but it cant hurt to me safe)