Guppies are a testament to the evolutionary needs of their genetic structure, proven many times throughout the species and its extended branches... May it be from their huge drops of fry, the amount of drops per year, the color, and fin developments. Even some that are blind to light and developed membranes over their eyes so that they can see in the dark, from generations of breeding in complete darkness...

But in this case we will say that a female is not a female until developing a gravid spot, excluding strains that make the Gravid spot almost impossible to see.

The Female Guppy by this time will already have become harassed by males and could become impregnated as soon as the gravid spot develops, depending on how far along their sexual reproductive organs have developed. In small tests that I have done I have noticed that it approximately takes a 4 month gestation period before the first drop (but have had earlier on occasion.) The female stores the male's sperm for use further along the line, even being found in fry drops 7 months later.

With recent tests that I have done, the female is able to have these fry drops one of two ways. Either, A... once a month dropping anywhere from supposed recordings of anywhere from 5-200 in rare cases. Or B... making small drops over the course of the month, as the babies develop far enough along to become dropped fry. In my studies in a large environment, B happens quite a lot. That when Guppy numbers are high, then the female will only drop a few between 5 days apart right up to 2 weeks apart from each other.

And in different birthings, the fry will come out at different sizes. One batch may come out the size of 1-week-old fry sometimes. I think this might be the case because of room permitted. That the Female holds onto them until which time where she can no longer contain them. Thus the square looking pregnant female only days away from drop.

Basically I just wanted to give a little help to those who actively participate in the birthings of the female and to point out things to look for if wanting to save as many fry as possible. The part before this is just to offer a little understanding of the female....

The Gravid Spot...

This will last quite a bit of the pregnancy . At first this is how you know you have a female, but it can also be used to tell if your female has become pregnant and when she will drop.

When a female is fresh off a pregnancy and about to drop her gravid spot will show.

At first it is only her reproductive organ, the one that the eggs and whatnot sit in.

But once pregnant, the female's gravid spot with her belly will begin to grow until her gravid spot rises above onto her back, and is somewhat covered from sight. But it hasn't moved, but filled up, with eggs...

Now these eggs should have a nice pink to them, as should her stomach, where the gravid spot once was.

This is basically where you should start to think about what to do to save your fry. Should you buy some place to hide and go the Darwinism way? Or should you get a Breeder Box or Net to save as many as you can.

Over this next week your female should really start to fill out. But to no set law size. Their size really depends on a few things. How much they ate, and how many fry she is getting ready to drop, are two of the could be reasons for size.

If she is going to have a big drop, or is just a big girl, then she will become almost square in the stomach. But don't let their size only judge when the drop may happen.

Watch the pink spot, it will become slowly darker, as if her gravid spot is moving back down. But under deep magnification you can see that there are actually little black dots in all that pink. What you are seeing is the development of the baby fry's eyes. (Say that five times really fast.)

Now you should expect the delivery very soon. Other tell-tale traces can be the female hiding out, looking for a place away from the group to drop her fry and give them the best chance at survival - another genetically imprinted trait.

So here is the life of the breeder female:

Step 1... Develop gravid spot
Step 2... Gravid spot moves and size increases
Step 3... Gravid spot is replaced with pinkness
................Size continues to grow.
Step 4... Gravid spot seemingly reappears
................ Belly seems to have squared out
................ Guppy is hiding away
Step 5... wait for it....
Step 6... Collect fry...
................ Female is as skinny as I want her to be
................ Female is back to square 1...

What if her gravid spot doesn't return????

Then you are like me and have a biweekly dropper... and she is still pink because she is still developing more eggs. Watch for small dots to reappear..... :)

As I'm sure I'm missing lots of stuff, like exact references for the scientific data, I know to the best of my abilities to be true..

Plus I would be happy if maybe someone else could add their 2 cents in and maybe rewrite it. As I am not that smart and I tend to drift. It's hard try to shrink down all the info on guppy genetics and the how and whys of evolution of Guppy breeding without getting away from the original topic of just what to look for.