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Guppy Issues
By felix from the :-) department, Section Diaries Posted on Wed Aug 29, 2007 at 01:28:51 PM PST Tags: (all tags)

My female fancy guppy gave birth to 3 fish tonight. Unfortunately, 2 of the 3 were eaten by larger adult guppies in the aquarium. I managed to quickly save one of the babies, and it is the lone survivor. (the lone baby is now in a 'fry tank' just for baby guppies...

Hello,

I just found this website via Google, and I have a quick/important guppy question. I'm sorry if this is in the incorrect area.

My question is why did the female only have 3 babies? I have had guppies before, and they had MANY babies. This is the first time I've had this situation. The female is still full of baby fish, but I am unsure why she won't give birth.

Any ideas?

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Guppy Issues | 12 comments (12 topical, editorial, 0 hidden)

Re: Guppy Issues (none / 0) (#8)
by felix on Thu Apr 27, 2006 at 07:34:59 PM PST

Would a heater help the birthing process? The fry/birthing tank is at room temperature (72 degrees)

Re: Guppy Issues (none / 0) (#9)
by miskairal on Fri Apr 28, 2006 at 01:14:24 AM PST

That squared look is a good sign. Not sure about the heater but if you do add one only walk the temperature up a degree or two each day.

Does she look stressed at being alone? Is she swimming around frantically?
--
Repeat after me,
I will read the Immediate Help
[ Parent ]

Re: Guppy Issues (none / 0) (#10)
by felix on Fri Apr 28, 2006 at 01:28:34 PM PST

"Does she look stressed at being alone? Is she swimming around frantically?"

Yes, very much!

[ Parent ]

Re: Guppy Issues (none / 0) (#11)
by miskairal on Fri Apr 28, 2006 at 03:22:40 PM PST

Can you put another guppy back in with her?
--
Repeat after me,
I will read the Immediate Help
[ Parent ]

Re: Guppy Issues (none / 0) (#12)
by felix on Fri Apr 28, 2006 at 04:33:21 PM PST

I just added another pregnent female back to the tank. The other female is much more calm than she was about 3 hours ago.

Update on Fry: If you have read this page, and my other diary entry, you know I managed to save 2 baby guppies last Tuesday night and last Sunday night. Unfortunately, one has died! :( :( :( I believe shock killed the baby fish. The fish was about 5 days old.

I am anxious for the guppies to have more fry, but the way things have been going, I'm not getting my hopes to high. :(

[ Parent ]

Re: Guppy Issues (none / 0) (#7)
by felix on Thu Apr 27, 2006 at 07:19:53 PM PST

Update: No babies yesterday or today, but I can see the mother guppy in question is still VERY VERY pregnent. Her gravid spot seems to be a bit darker today, and it is more rectangular or square-looking. Also, I observed that seems to swim up and down by the sides of the aquarium.
I hope she has a drop tonight or tommorow, I am running out of patience with her, considering I gave her the full 5 gallon aquarium, and removed the others.

A hypothesis I have come up with:

1) Maybe because I removed all the other guppies, does she feel alone/stressed?

2) Would a heater help with birthing/speed up the process? I have a standard one. The fry/mother are in room-temperature water.

------------------------------------------------
The female guppy in question is in a 5-gallon aquarium with room-temperature (~72 degrees) treated tap water. The filtration has a standard carbon filter with a Bio-Weel. It does have rocks I got at Wal-Mrt, No gravel is in the aquarium.
------------------------------------------------
All comments are very helpful/welcome.

Thanks,

Felix :) :)

Re: Guppy Issues (none / 0) (#3)
by Nancy4Fishes on Tue Apr 25, 2006 at 02:11:51 PM PST

um, well, did you chase the fry with the net while the mother was in birth? how long did you wait from the last baby to get the fry?

does this "fry tank" float/hang in the aquarium? is it plastic? please tell us more about it.

Re: Guppy Issues (none / 0) (#1)
by New Guppy Momma on Tue Apr 25, 2006 at 07:33:50 AM PST

I don't really know the answer to this but it sounds like one of mine. One question. Is this her first drop. If so that may explain it. Anyway Mine still looks ready to drop fry. She had 40+ last Tuesday. She may just be a fat fish. Mine is a pig. Even grabs food away from other's in the tank. I'm thinking of putting her in a smaller tank I have and being able to control her intake. She needs to go on a diet. I can't feed them less as there are tiny fry in with them. If you really want more fry I can send you some. I have over 50. Both my breeders dropped fry in the last week. They are 2 days apart in due dates.
Now that you know when she dropped Next time you can gently move her to her own little tank at 3 weeks. Other than that I guess I'm not much help. I've only been keeping fish a couple of months.
Sorry I'm chattering so much. I do that. But some of these peoples on here will know more than I. Thanks to them I actually have fish left. They would have died off long ago without the help of a few Experts on here.
Before all else fails....do a 25% water change ;)

Welcome to Guppylog felix! This (the diaries) (none / 0) (#2)
by unclescott on Tue Apr 25, 2006 at 09:13:04 AM PST

is the perfect place for a question like this. :)

My only experience with livebearers dropping over several days was with platies. But several people on Guppylog have noticed a similar thing, with guppies dropping over a couple of days.

Since you have had experience with guppies before, we can assume that this isn't the first drop from a young fish. I would put my money on more dropping. Just give her a little more TLC and leave her alone (or take everybody else out of the tank - which easy for me to say!)

Is it possible that she already had dropped some fry which were consumed by tankmates?

I'm intrigued by New Guppy Momma's hypothesis that maybe your guppy is just a little, ah, full figured. The third and unpleasent possibility is of some illness, but for now I wouldn't even name names.

In the meantime, just watch her. Got a little live or freshly rinsed frozen food? If you fed the tank well, that would also fill up her tank mates and make them much less of a threat to her fry. And maybe she would be full enough to squeeze the fry out. ;)

All the best!
uncle scott

[ Parent ]

Re: Welcome to Guppylog felix! This (the diaries) (none / 0) (#4)
by felix on Tue Apr 25, 2006 at 07:14:12 PM PST

Thanks for all of your welcomes, I like this website!! :)

To answer some of the questions asked....

The guppy in question is a light colored yellowish guppy. This is not her first drop, and I don't think she really is a 'fat fish', or a pig. She was normal sized a few weeks ago, and now her stomach area is HUGE. She actually had another baby tonight, and I dipped the net into the tank and put it into the fry tank. Is this why she may not be dropping, because I am interfering, getting the babies out?

Thanks for all of your replies!!! :) :)

[ Parent ]

Re: Welcome to Guppylog felix! This (the diaries) (none / 0) (#5)
by miskairal on Wed Apr 26, 2006 at 01:48:03 AM PST

It shouldn't be stressing her unless you had to do a lot of chasing to catch the fry. Often you can catch them by sitting calmly with the net for 5-10 minutes and the sliding it slowly underneath them.

There seems to be more and more problems mentioned here lately that relate to birthing difficulties in the guppies. The fact that it has taken her so long to have this fry might mean they are a bit big for her to push out. Do they seem large to you?
--
Repeat after me,
I will read the Immediate Help
[ Parent ]

Is your tap water a tad soft? That is to say, (none / 0) (#6)
by unclescott on Wed Apr 26, 2006 at 08:24:55 AM PST

is it relatively low in minerals? (Not is it softened with a basement water soften, which actually dramatically increases the total mineral content and TDS.) If you have a package of Epsom Salts around, add a table spoon to ten gallons. That has been recommended, perhaps as an osmotic balancer. I suppose sodium chloride could be added, but magnesium sulfate or at least the magnesium (along with calcium) is more natural company for a guppy

LOL! I wondered about one of these "low sodium" table salt substitutes. If it JUST had a calcium and a magnesium compound, that would work. But I checked ours and if it has corn filler and artificial flavoring, that would be a disaster!

And who would want an aquarium which smells like popcorn butter? ;)

ATB!
unc

[ Parent ]

Guppy Issues | 12 comments (12 topical, 0 editorial, 0 hidden)

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