The Twilight Zone...

[NinjaSmurf]

Okay, let me breath for a moment. First of all, I had two males and four females in the tank (30Gallon). One guppy is now residing in the fry tank and the others are still in the big tank. Now, I've had all of them for over a month now, and most of them I've had for two and I know that all the females were pregnant when I got them. However, they never seem to get fat and I never see any fry in the tank. It's like they are all on strike or something (except the males, the horny little....). I feed them well, the tank isn't overstocked, good filtration, they even get fresh shrimp to munch on now and then for crying out loud. Is it something I'm doing wrong or am I just paranoid and stressed, or are they stressed? I just don't understand, and now some of the females are starting to go after the males, which explains why their tails seem to have little nips taken out of them. I'm pretty much at my wits end people, so I'm taking any and all advice at this point.

 

[lizzy]

Hi there, Im far from being an expert on fish breeding, but for what its worth
i can pass on the little info ive found out from various scources.
You dont say if your tank has lots of plants and or hiding places for any possible fry( as im sure you know guppies are cannabalistic and will eat the babies), so it could be that your guppies have given birth without you noticing if your sure they were pregnant.
ive heard that regular water changes , say 2 or 3 times a week can improve breeding , and also raising the tempreture very slightly.
also you could try this seperate the males from the females for a while, then
reintroduce them.
hope this info helps. good luck.

 

[NinjaSmurf]

Well, I don't have a lot of plants in there yet because I need a different light set up, but I did have a small 2gallon tank that I was putting the females in so they'd drop the fry. I didn't want to move any of them into that tank though until they were getting close to dropping them. The thing is, they never got fat. They seem to stay eternally slender. I have the temp up to about 76-78 degrees. I tried taking all the females out and putting them in the five gallon but two of them just stayed at the top and the only large pregnant one started picking on all of them so I had to take everyone but her out. My tank is pretty understocked so the water has been pretty good, and I've done a couple of water changes, including one where I took out about seventy percent of the water (my pictus had ick, they never got it) I just don't know what's wrong.

 

[tstenback]

The males may not be fertile or may be harassing the females so much that the females are very stressed and will not allow the males to accomplish their goal. Clean water is essential and it should be changed about 20% per week. If the males are fertile you will have fry just let nature take its course. What are your parameters?

 

[lizzy]

fish do get stressed if you move them often and sometimes this will cause females
to abort there babies and /or reabsorb them so to speak, so maybe it could also prevent them from breeding at all, just a thought but maybe you should leave them to it for a bit and they may calm down and do it all on there own.

 

[balloon molly]

okay from what i know it tzkes about 4-6 weeks(if you didnt knoiw if you did i am sorry )but wait for a feew more weeks and then if she doesnt give birth by 12 weeeks then she was not "hit"does she have her gravid spot

 

[guppymonkey]

You definately need a lot of plants in any tank that you want to breed guppies in. Otherwise they may be giving birth and eating all of them! If you want to breed guppies successfully try having two females and one male in a tank with lots of plants. Do weekly water changes and try feeding them frozen or freeze-dried blood worms every few days. I use that system with my guppies and they are popping out fry every thirty days (exactly 30 days which is kind of weird).

 

[Hitman]

However, they never seem to get fat and I never see any fry in the tank

Guppiemonkey. according to what Ninjasmurf wrote, the problem is not that the mother eats all of her fry after birth; the problem is that she is not getting pregnant.
Dense plantation is necessary for the fry to survive in the main tank; it's not necessary for the guppies eh...hmmm .. to do their "job".

Ninjasmurf, they're guppies, give them some time and in a while you'll have guppies and water in your tank

 

[NinjaSmurf]

Trying to settle down and wait, but it's hard! They all had gravid spots on them when I bought them and I did notice that the females are chunking out more, but that may have something to do with me feeding them a little more.... I would put more plants in but I only have a few fake ones that I need in the fry tank and I have to get fluorescent lights for my tanks, I only have incadescent and they don't do much. I had some plants in there before but they all died. (think autumn in Vermont, only in a thirty gallon ) Not to mention the neat plants around here cost a huge amount, I could easily buy a new hood and everything for the amount it would take to buy maybe three of the neat natural looking fakes. As to stress, I don't see what they're problem is, I have two for every male (even though they both like the one a LOT!) and they have the tank almost entirely to themselves. The pictus doesn't bother them because I keep him well fed on his pellets and he's busy getting chased by the corys for part of the day. I guess I'll just wait and try not to pull my hair out..... Thanks for all the help though

 

[sadfishowner]

I just wanted to add my 2 cents....With my guppy female, she will hide in the plants i have to have her fry...and there will be 3 or 4 other guppys waiting in the shadows...and as the fry r being born they will follow her around and pick the off as they come out...i have saved to out of all of them...due to the fact that my gups are spoiled rotten...and could careless that i have a net in the tank...So i wish u luck, I hope u have babies soon...their so cute.

 

[aloaring]

Well if they have had fry I would have thought your pictus and your corys would have eaten them as well as the guppies themselves !

 

[SnowyzMom]

Ninjasmurf, it does sound puzzling. I know that the only reason the fry in my 25 gallon are still with us is due to java moss and live plants they can easily hide in and they stay there all the time, about 1/3 of the tank area. The tetras won't hesitate to ambush them if they can do it, I saw it in SnowyAngel's tank, they'd hide below the fry hiding area and if one ventured out, zip, that was it, gone.

There are two albino fry in my tank though that DON'T hide...they are always on the bottom of the tank among all the ottos, corys and guppies but they seem to know they blend right in with the light gravel and can't be seen! Smart fish! I recall one female guppy of my daughter's having a brood that didn't open up and swim away and the other fish in the tank ate them immediately. Sometimes some female guppies get abit bossy too. They feel they rule the tank! Is it a fishy pecking order? Could be.

I am wondering how often you feed the females since when I was pregnant (I grant you not with 25-40 young at once! ) I needed food more often than usual. Erm, don't feed them pickles or icecream, no matter WHAT they crave! I was wondering if the females could reabsorb the babies if not fed enough to develop them further? Maybe somebody else would know. It just seems logical that they might need feeding more often when preggers. But all that being said, guppy fry are like cheetos for other fish including their parents...extremely tasty! Hope you can get more plants soon so they can hide in them. I hear marbles also work good, a nice pile of them on the tank floor.

Good luck!!!
SnowyZMom B)

 

[NinjaSmurf]

Thanks Snowyzmom Once I get all the driftwood and all my plants in there they should be estatic. I think the one female is getting mad at the males because they seem to have a bit of tail missing lately, I didn't notice at first because they move so quick and it was a tiny bit at a time. As to feeding them is three or four times a day too much, or not enough? Sometimes I go a little overboard and get up to six times, but never more than they can eat, and I give them flakes with some dried shrimp with the occasional fresh shrimp. They also like to pick apart the algae tablets for the corys and the carnivore tablets for the pictus, so they probably overeat maybe.... I'm bad, but I love my fishies!!!