How long can a pregnant guppy be kept in a breeding net?

Both of the first two correspondents make a strong point, if you want a bunch of strong, fast growing guppy fry, the female guppy could be placed in her own 10-gallon/ 40 liter tank. Ideally that tank could be stuffed with the fast growing hornwort to shelter newborns. However well fed female guppies usually leave their fry alone. You would also see the fry grow faster with their own food & sponge filter.

Here are a few more suggestions on guppy plants:

http://answers.yahoo.com/question/index?qid=201307...

Whether in a breeding new or tank, feed the female early with flakes, later with something frozen (defrosted & gently rinsed in cool water while in a fine-meshed net. In the 10-gallon/ 40 liter you could also leave a soap-less pickle jar or glass bowl with a half dozen blackworms. Almost all female guppies will eat other live foods before fry.

More on blackworms:

http://answers.yahoo.com/question/index;_ylt=At2Sl...

If your breeding net is pretty good sized (8"/20 cm) the female guppy will probably be fine. A Java fern or a little of that inexpensive, fast-growing hornwort, so long as it doesn't crowd her, may make her feel more comfortable.

On occasion fish like the black widows (more often angelfish) will suck a fry through the net. You should still have plenty.

http://answers.yahoo.com/question/index?qid=201310...

Guppy fry can take finely crushed flake food. A livebearer/ guppy mix with meaty & veggie (green) flakes is good. There are also fine-sized livebearer foods available commercially. It is not absolutely necessary, but if you were to hatch a few brine shrimp eggs in a wide-mouthed gallon jar, aerated by a piece of hard airline tubing (1 Table spoon of salt per gallon or 15 milliliters per 4 liters water ) you could also hatch bbs (baby brine shrimp) for them. Their growth is accelerated. Don't over feed. It is wise to have a couple ramshorn snails on clean up duty. Feed the bbs within a few hours of hatching for maximum nutritional benefit.

Within 3 months they probably could go back in the tank. Watch to see that the larger tetras don't bully them. Having a larger enough school of black widows (you probably already have at least 6) keeps them busy with each other. Your tank is large enough to offer all sorts of neat possibilities for sheltering plants & you may already have them.

http://www.aquarticles.com/articles/management/Dav...

www.brineshrimpdirect.com

www.aquaticfoods.com/

http://blackworms-direct.com/

Those tetras will prevent any fry from growing up in your main tank, unless you leave the fry in the net. Your female guppy store sperm from previous mating & will release some for newly developed eggs 4 or 5 more time (on average). At about 77 degrees F she can drop fry about every 28 days.

This sounds a little cold, but if the first batch of fry don't make it, there will be more. If you find a male in a shop that you really like, you could put him with her. No guarantee that all the fry would resemble him though if he is different from her crowd.

Suggesting an extra aquarium sounds like one is being threatened by MTS (multiple tank syndrome). But skilled guppy breeders will often start a batch of fry in a 40 liter & as the 3-4 week old females show their gravid (black behind the anal fin) spot, they are removed to their own 40-liter. That way the guppy keeper can carefully select the best male & female for the next generation.

There is a space/time/ cash threat in that. My parents gave me my first 40 liter in middle school. By the time I finished full time studies at a university, I had to move 6 aquariums back home. And later there were more. ;)

You might search for local aquarium societies or guppy clubs. The UK has some great fish keepers & you would enjoy their meetings & visiting them.

An American guppy man with a couple of great books is Stan Shubel. If your libraries have an inter-library loan program, you might enjoy any of the following & more:

Baensch Aquarium Atlas Vol. 1 (7th REVISED EDITION 2007) by Hans A. Baensch and Rudiger Riehl The others in the series are great too. (They have one volume just on livebearers.)

Aquarium Care of Fancy Guppies (Animal Planet Pet Care Library) by Stan Shubel (Sep 2006)

Proper Care of Guppies (TFH) by Stan Shubel (Dec 1995)

Guppies, Mollies, and Platys (Barron's Complete Pet Owner's Manuals) by H. Hieronimus (Oct 1, 2007)

Aquarium Care of Livebearers (Animal Planet Pet Care Library) [Kindle Edition] Ted Dengler Coletti

Livebearing Fishes: A Guide to Their Aquarium Care, Biology and Classification by John Dawes (Apr 1996)

for more on livebearers see http://freshaquarium.about.com/od/books/tp/livebea...

Whatever you decide to do, hope you enjoy your guppies!

Breeding nets can be very stressful for pregnant fish, I suggest if you really do want the fry to survive get them a separate tank.