Hey all,

about two weeks ago a purchased a yellow looking guppy from a fish shop.. I've been watching her and she has a large round tummy and i think i may be able to see the fry eyes.. but since I'm no expert i could be seeing stuff as i would be very exited to have guppy fry..

today all the guppies started swimming around at very fast speeds and chasing each other.. i thought that perhaps the guppy was going to give birth.. think is she hasn't actually gotten any bigger or shown any sign that i have found while researching.. also i have been watching for her tummy to 'square off' but there are no signs at all..

also because of her color the gravid spot isn't black.. it seems to be a red/pink color?? is she pregnant or am i just imagining it???

thanks heaps =]

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Dreams are FREE

Some gravid spots go a pinky color, personally ive never seen the squaring off mine just dropped fry without no signs of doing so. Mine acted the same as normal and done everything as normal and the gravid spot stayed the same black throughout. Its not always as clear with some guppies as others.

If she is pregnant it takes around 21-28 days before she drops fry from the point of getting pregnant. So it may just be a waiting game to see if she does drop fry or not. Theres not a great deal of advice that can be given its more a waiting game with livebearers

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supose that means i have to start working in my patients.. i also had another guppy (same colour and also looking large) but she seems to have lost her whole tummy.. ive been home all day and havnt noticed any fry in the tank.. so does this mean she ate them all without me noticing?

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It may have just been a bloated stomach lol. But female guppies are prone to eating their fry. If you provide enough hiding spots like plants (you can get really cheap fake fern plants) then the fry hide in them so less likely to get eaten. Mine hid in there and i now have around 16 guppy fry surviving after nearly two weeks since they were dropped. Its just luck with fry if you leave them to be free swimming around the tank with the adults.

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"Just Keep Swimming Just Keep Swimming Swimming Swimming"

Ive been told that a guppy float will help, but personally im not very keen on them simple because it stresses the poor guppy.. and who would want to be locked up in a little area.. im still getting a few things ready in the tank for the guppy fry, trying to find some java moss to float on the surface.. also working on creating a fry tank.. just trying to work out what the best size (in L) would be.. never knew that having a fish tank could be so difficult haha.. im enjoying it tho.. guppies have amazing colors and i cant wait to get some fry =D

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Dreams are FREE

Raising guppy fry can be very easy, ive not fed them anything different to the adults, i just crushed food up to smaller sizes (didnt go buying anything special if it wasnt needed, and they are thriving so it must be good lol)

Yeah the floating isolation/breeding tanks cause more stress than needed and can even cause premature birth of fry. Plants are great for fry anything fern like especially as it creates a sense of security for the fry and other smaller fish (fake supa fern is great as it looks as if it were real and fish love it).

In terms of a small fry tank you could use something like a 25litre or 30litre to start of with. Obviously as time goes on you'll want to upgrade anyway so your current one can be used for growing out the fry.

They are great looking fish and very playful and social with pretty much any community fish, the only downsize is there constant spawning habits lol. You get to much fish than you can handle, but if you have a store that will buy them of you for store credit or even friends who would want some then it turns into a nice sort of hobby lol.

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"Just Keep Swimming Just Keep Swimming Swimming Swimming"

You can get the nylon pot scrubbers from the grocery store and unravel them, they're cheap, colorful and easy to clean (suppose you could boil them if you wanted to) and completely unraveled they float and provide spaces for your fry to hide in where the adults can't reach (although some adults are really persistent and sneaky) You can also anchor some to the ground. Fry tend to split into two groups, one group instinctively looks for cover high, the other looks for low cover, 'cause often they only have seconds to find a hiding place. It isn't just the mom eating them, the rest of the tank will eat them too, so if you can put the mom in isolation it really will help. I like the 2 gallon pickle jars, just put a sponge filter in there and some java moss (what I use instead of the pot scrubbers) and leave her in a quiet spot. Moms in solitude and quiet (not a high traffic area where she perceives a lot of motion past her tank) are less likely to eat their own fry. Some strains are less likely to eat than others, although you never know until she drops which one a given girl will be. If you can see eyes, that's often a clue the time is soon. Since the first girl dropped with no survivors it is unlikely the tank mates will leave this batch alone either, I'd think about setting up a drop tank for her. Either that, or I really like the penn plax aqua nursery. I know you don't think she'd like to be cooped up, but really, they chase and harass dropping females, snatching the babies right out from under her. How would you like to give birth, in a quiet nook, or being chased by a pack of wolves?

I also have a yellow female guppy, when her gravid spot is "pink" she is not preggo, but when she is its black. Mine don't "square off" their chest area get very large, almost like a tear drop shape, the widest part as the chest. They will also hide in the vegetation in the corner, usually near the heater and breathe heavily and really won't move for a whole day. There is usually another female with her, Im not sure if its protecting her from the males or if she is there to eat the fry LOL.

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Tank: 29g:guppies, balloon mollies, swordtail, 2 mollies
Hex: opaline gourami
10g 1F. betta

Two of my red tailed female guppies actually do "square off" when they are about to drop. Usually tho they start squaring 4 days or so before they give birth. All mine have given birth during night when all the males are sleeping and not chasing them around constantly.

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50 Bowfront, 2 Acei, 2 Yellow Labs, 1 Orange, 1 Albino, 2 Blue African Cichlids
30 Gal, 3 Fantail Goldfish, 1 Black Ryukin, 1 Common Pleco
20 Gal, Mollies, Platies, Cories, Algae Eaters
15 Gal, Swordtails, Balloon Mollies, Rasboras
10 Gal, 2 Knight Gobies
10 Gal, 2 Bolivian Rams
1.5 Gal, Male Betta

YAY i get home from the airport and i find three little fry swimming around my tank.. so ive put the mum in a breeding float and fingers crossed for some more little fry =]

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