Pregnant Guppy Journal

[mayurkirti]

I adopted a female guppy about a week ago who is pregnant right now. I am not sure how long she has been pregnant for, but it looks like she is ready to drop fry any time now.

Are following levels ok for the fry?

Ammonia: 0
Nitrite: 0
Nitrate: 40
pH: 7.4+
Temperature: 75F
Some aquarium salt in the tank

I have sand substrate in the tank with very few plants and little space to hide. There are also 3 males and 8 two months old fry in the tank. I have a breeding trap in too. I definitely need to separate the new born fry in the tank to avoid them getting eaten. When exactly should I put the female in the breeding trap? I tried keeping her in it this morning and she looked completely stressed.

Please let me know if you guys have any thoughts.

Thanks!

Edit: Did a 50% water change to bring down nitrate

 

[Ben.M]

Yes you definatly need to get the nitrAte down by doing water changes, you dont want it any higher than 40ppm so the lower the better, ph is fine and so is the temperature. One thing i will say is please please dont keep 3 male guppies with one female she will get constantly harrassed causing a lot of stress which may cause her to abort her fry which will kill them and could kill the female, there should be a minimum of 2 females to every one male.
It is hard to tell when a female is about to drop but read some of the topics at the top of the "Common livebearers" page for help but do not put her in unless your 100% sure she is going to drop or this is gonna cause more un-neaded stress on her.

 

[OldMan47]

A much better choice than the salt would be a 50% water change. You need to get the nitrates lower and salt won't do that. Unless you have certain diseases in the tank, leave the salt on the dining room table where it belongs.

 

[mayurkirti]

Yes you definatly need to get the nitrAte down by doing water changes, you dont want it any higher than 40ppm so the lower the better, ph is fine and so is the temperature. One thing i will say is please please dont keep 3 male guppies with one female she will get constantly harrassed causing a lot of stress which may cause her to abort her fry which will kill them and could kill the female, there should be a minimum of 2 females to every one male.
It is hard to tell when a female is about to drop but read some of the topics at the top of the "Common livebearers" page for help but do not put her in unless your 100% sure she is going to drop or this is gonna cause more un-neaded stress on her.

I know what you saying about having 3 males and only one female. This is just a temporary setup. The female will be moved to a different tank after she drops the fry. I dont plan to keep on breeding the guppies. Males are keeping it calm right now since the female is already pregnant.

A much better choice than the salt would be a 50% water change. You need to get the nitrates lower and salt won't do that. Unless you have certain diseases in the tank, leave the salt on the dining room table where it belongs.

Dont guppies prefer some salt in water? I thought thats what I had read somewhere.

 

[OldMan47]

You will read it on the tags at Petsmart on almost every fish tag that they have posted, so I would not be surprised if you have seen it. I have even seen it on tags for fish that are known to be sensitive to salt and that we actually think twice about treating for disease with salt. I suppose it helps them sell lots of high profit margin salt but it does not mean that they need or even should have it.

 

[mayurkirti]

Here are the pictures of my pregnant guppy. I dont see any other signs of her dropping the fry soon. She acts totally normal. Feeding as usual, socializing well, not hiding in the plants, no heavy breathing etc. Who wants to take a guess when she will give birth?

 

[helterskelter]

She's quite large and should expect fry in 5-7 days i would suspect. with your current fish i would let het drop in the tank with the other fish, and then catch the fry to put into the trap.

Check the tank at first light every day and your find the fry either among the plants or hiding on the surface near to the corners.

 

[OldMan47]

I would have said about a week but HelterSkelter beat me to it so I will guess slightly longer rather than shorter.

 

[Ben.M]

I would say 5 days but helterskelter and Oldman are more experienced with livebearers than me

 

[OldMan47]

We are all just guessing Ben. I have no history on this female and they all look a bit different right before they drop fry.

 

[Ben.M]

When my guppies had their fry it was always at night so i never got to see the signs that they were gonna do it so im just guessing 5 days due to the size, she is looking pretty big

 

[Platygirl11]

Wow! That is huge! Maybe in 5 days? Don't quote me on that, though. Good luck with her!

 

[mayurkirti]

5 to 7 days sounds like a consensus. I am hoping that the fry will survive. I want this to be my first and last batch though. I have no intention of filling my tank with guppies, no matter how much I like them.

 

[mayurkirti]

I am seeing my otherwise very active guppy just sit on the sand since last evening. She very excitedly tried to eat the food this morning but spat it out immediately. close? may be tonight? I hope she gives birth this weekend so that I have enough time to babysit her new born.

 

[Platygirl11]

Trust me when I say it most definitely will not be your last batch. She'll keep having babies for six months, and If you have males she will likely never stop.

Whoa whoa whoa, I missed a line. 3 males? To just one female??? The ratio is 3 females per one male, so unless you plan on finding space for 8 more guppies (which it sounds like you won't) you'll have to re-home the males. Perhaps get a few females from the babies if at all possible, and separate them immediately from the males. (Ans of course keep them separate.) Good luck!