Pregnant or fat?

[Chris45]

Not sure if my two guppies are actually pregant or just getting fat. I put them in a breeder box just in case bc if they do give birth I think the gourami's might have eaten them, or even the mothers themselves!

What do you think?

(they don't look thrilled about being in there)

Edited May 15, 2021 by Chris45

[Fish Folk]

2 hours ago, Chris45 said:

Not sure if my two guppies are actually pregant or just getting fat. I put them in a breeder box just in case bc if they do give birth I think the gourami's might have eaten them, or even the mothers themselves!

What do you think?

(they don't look thrilled about being in there)

Those net breeders aren’t too bad. If you add a bunch of moss and floating plants, they’ll be happier. I’d _guess_ they’re pregnant. Do you have a male guppy? Or recently purchase these? 

[lefty o]

they look pregnant, the 2nd one further along than the first.

[Chris45]

On 5/16/2021 at 4:57 AM, Fish Folk said:

Those net breeders aren’t too bad. If you add a bunch of moss and floating plants, they’ll be happier. I’d _guess_ they’re pregnant. Do you have a male guppy? Or recently purchase these? 

Yes - had one male prior to buying the girls

On 5/16/2021 at 6:15 AM, lefty o said:

they look pregnant, the 2nd one further along than the first.

It's been almost another two weeks since then and they are still fat and pregnant. Surely they must be ready to pop? I read somewhere that sometimes if stressed, they hold them in and they die - is that true? There are not really a lot of places in the tank for fry to hide from the dwarf gouramis, so maybe the mothers to be are stressed?

[lefty o]

if stressed, they can fail to give birth to the fry. if it were me, i would take them out of the breeding net, and let them relax. 

[Goosedub]

Female guppies are almost always pregnant. If you want to preserve the fry, just go to the petco half off sale and get a 10 gal. Put in a cycled spong filter and an air stone and throw in a bunch of real or fake plants, then pull the moms when the guppies give birth. Otherwise, ya the gourami will likely eat them

[Colu]

I would say both pregnant and fat

[Scott C]

pregnant, the dark/translucent spot lower rear part of her body/belly is eggs. as others have said, decent water quality+male guppy+female guppy = babies. They very well could eat the babies once they come out or she could drop them too early if stressed. Either way if you want to keep the baby fry ad some cover in the breeder box, it will help calm mom and give the fry cover to hide. once they drop get mom out to increase the chances of survival.

[Guppysnail]

Pregnant. They not only hold fry when stressed or not enough food they can and will reabsorb the fry. Pretty girls! I bought one female guppy because she was the only girl left in a tank at a pet store with tons of males. She was visibly quite pregnant and being harassed. All other girls sold I felt bad for her. She went into qt until she gave birth.....47 days later!

[Chris45]

On 6/19/2021 at 12:23 AM, Guppysnail said:

Pregnant. They not only hold fry when stressed or not enough food they can and will reabsorb the fry. Pretty girls! I bought one female guppy because she was the only girl left in a tank at a pet store with tons of males. She was visibly quite pregnant and being harassed. All other girls sold I felt bad for her. She went into qt until she gave birth.....47 days later!

Thanks - I have some happy and sad news. After many days, one of the mums to be has produced 2 babies that seem to be thriving in the separate tank. I think they are between 1 and 2 weeks old. However for an unknown reason, one of the mums was found dead at the bottom of the tank last night. I tested parameters and they were 25 ppm ammonia or less, 0 nitrite and 20ppm nitrate. Temp 25c, Not chasing pH, which i think is around 7.6.

Not sure why she died and sure was sad to see her there not moving at the bottom of the tank.

[Guppysnail]

Pregnancy is one of the most traumatic and resource taxing things a female can go through.  I lost a girl after 3 fry and 2 days I looked closely and there was a fry “stuck” for lack of better term just barely visible. There are such a myriad of reasons this may have occurred.  If she was actually maybe pregnant when you got her shipping stress transport stress may have done harm. Maybe she had something internal wrong. I don’t believe .25 ammonia would have been THE cause but may have contributed to her stress. Guppies are very sensitive to ammonia in my experience. 

The great news is these 2 babies were born in your tank. If they thrive and are girls they will bear healthy litters. In my experience I keep them separated and virgin for at least 4 months as young they are putting all their resources to growing. After they are grown they can store and devote more resources to developing fry. 

Ps...if you use prime with api liquid test it will always show just above 0 but not quite .25 ammonia. It is they way the reagents react with prime

[Chris45]

On 6/19/2021 at 2:31 AM, Guppysnail said:

Pregnancy is one of the most traumatic and resource taxing things a female can go through.  I lost a girl after 3 fry and 2 days I looked closely and there was a fry “stuck” for lack of better term just barely visible. There are such a myriad of reasons this may have occurred.  If she was actually maybe pregnant when you got her shipping stress transport stress may have done harm. Maybe she had something internal wrong. I don’t believe .25 ammonia would have been THE cause but may have contributed to her stress. Guppies are very sensitive to ammonia in my experience. 

The great news is these 2 babies were born in your tank. If they thrive and are girls they will bear healthy litters. In my experience I keep them separated and virgin for at least 4 months as young they are putting all their resources to growing. After they are grown they can store and devote more resources to developing fry. 

Ps...if you use prime with api liquid test it will always show just above 0 but not quite .25 ammonia. It is they way the reagents react with prime

I use Prime with water changes. API liquid? Do you mean biostarter?

[Guppysnail]

On 6/18/2021 at 1:30 PM, Chris45 said:

I use Prime with water changes. API liquid? Do you mean biostarter?

No api liquid ammonia test kit.

[Georgiapeach88]

@Guppysnailive always wondered this. My 3 tanks seems to be almost cycled if cycled with nitrate readings..minus always getting a just below .25 ammonia reading and using prime.. I thought I was the only one

[Guppysnail]

@Georgiapeach88Not just you. The only time I worry is in newer tanks because I’m always fearful it actually is ammonia so until it starts testing out solid 0 consistent I actually use the seachem test. When I’m confident that it’s ok I go back to api and just know I always have that not quite 0 yellow but not quite greenish .25. Seachem also makes ammonia alert monitor you hang in the tank good for 6 months. I tested them twice while growing plants and algae to establish a safe fish environment...one of my few non rush uh oh I need a tank now ROFL. they worked well so I keep them in my tanks. Just as a backup. I’ll never totally trust them though it’s just my liquid test preference 

Edited June 19, 2021 by Guppysnail

[Georgiapeach88]

Wow glad it’s not just me. I’m even having issues with ph test strips vs api liquid master kit. Everything with ph always reads 6s vs7s and off by two color shades it’s nuts. So I never know what my numbers are 

[Guppysnail]

On 6/18/2021 at 11:05 PM, Georgiapeach88 said:

Wow glad it’s not just me. I’m even having issues with ph test strips vs api liquid master kit. Everything with ph always reads 6s vs7s and off by two color shades it’s nuts. So I never know what my numbers are 

Seachem makes a ph monitor to hang. It’s acurate for me but someone here just told me they are most acurate at 78 degrees and the further out you are the less I don’t know how accurate their info is but a quick phone call or email and seachem answers my questions and walks me through everything I need to know. I keep my tanks at 77 so who knows. I test liquid every so often and they are always right on the money for me. 

[Georgiapeach88]

Yeah it’s always be so odd to get the diff readings. And vary frustrating. All my tanks at 77-78o so that’s cool idea didn’t know that existed 

[Guppysnail]

On 6/18/2021 at 11:11 PM, Georgiapeach88 said:

Yeah it’s always be so odd to get the diff readings. And vary frustrating. All my tanks at 77-78o so that’s cool idea didn’t know that existed 

Yep I like them because they are always there and have always been accurate for me a quick glance at my tank and I know. I get them on amazon in bulk. I get frustrated with ph test because I’m between the regular and high so I never really know. The monitor colors are right there and sooooo easy to distinguish 

[Chris45]

I bought those alert monitors as well but found them to be useless in my tank. I threw them out

[Guppysnail]

I

On 6/19/2021 at 1:27 AM, Chris45 said:

I bought those alert monitors as well but found them to be useless in my tank. I threw them out

I think it is hit or miss based on temp and products you use in your tanks.  I don’t rely on them but it makes me less nervous to have them and way less frustrated with the ph thing.