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I have a few questions about my pregnant guppies?
I have six female guppies, all are pregnant I also have 3 male guppies, they haven't been bothering the females much (just the occasional nudge) but I really don't want them to eat the fry so I have decided to make a breeding box, this is my first time with pregnant guppies so I have NO idea when to separate the females.
Also when do I put the fry back? I am going to feed them egg yoke for the first few days, is this wise?
All the females have a very dark and prominent gravid spot all are bigger but only 3 are sort of squared off, one has been hiding a lot recently and spitting out her food she still moves around a lot though, sometime strangely, really quick or backwards and forwards, she isn't as huge as I've seen others on Google images, does this mean she has a while to go?
1 Answer
- HamburgerRenatusLv 58 years agoFavorite Answer
A healthy female will give birth about 28 days after she is inseminated (or 28 days after her last birth). Your females are definitely exhibiting signs that labor is near. Some females don't get very big. I've had several that came pregnant from the store that I never even knew were pregnant until they began dropping fry. If they only have a small drop, they may not show at all. If they are swimming backwards and refusing food, they are probably nearly ready to drop.
Be aware that the mothers will eat the fry just as much as the males. A remedy for this is to keep the tank dark during the birth so she can't see them.
You can add the fry back when they are bigger than the biggest fish's mouth, but their small size may still make them a target for aggression from bigger males, especially when your male fry begin to color. If there are plenty of hiding places in the tank, they may be ok. I would keep them separate for at least a month, maybe as much as two months.
You might also consider letting some of them back into the tank immediately. Six females dropping means you are about to have a LOT of fry. Even if they are all first-timers and have small drops, you're still looking at 30-60 fry. That is a lot of fish to find room or homes for when they are mature.
Finally, you can't raise fry in a breeder box. You should invest in another tank if you're planning on keeping the fry separate, and you should use it for a birthing tank for your females. Breeder boxes are pretty inhumane, especially considering you have 6 fish about to drop and it can take up to three days to complete the drop.