Okay, so if you remember I got a very pregnant female...not totally "about to pop", but deffinatly not normal. I can see the spot where the babies are, I remember that much. But I can not seem to figure out just how long I should wait before preparing for the babies! Also, since the idoit at the petstore gave me two males, I went to a store that only sells fish and got 4 more females, two of which also have a little "baby spot" but are not yet rounded. I assume by next month I'll be overflowing with baby fish as I like to let the first litter live before letting the next litters fend for themselves. (luckily the store said they'd be willing to buy back any good-looking males, or good-sized females.) So is there a way to tell? Or should I buy the breeder box now, and put her in it when she gets that "about to pop" look??
2007-02-02 07:59:20 · 6 answers · asked by EYoungmom88 3 in Pets ➔ Fish
I have been breeding guppies for years. Guppies are easy to breed. Despite what others are telling you. No matter how many rocks, plants, or decorations you have the babies will still get eatin. I recommend setting up a seprate area for them. You can use a small fish bowl if you wish. Just put a desk lamp over them to keep them warm. I would put pregnant females into a breeding net , let them have the babies, leave the female and babies in the breeding net if it is divided into section for 24 hours, after 24 hours move the female in with the other fish so she can get pregnant again. She will hold up to 3 batches of sperm. After the female is out use a net and scoop out the fry and put them in a seprate container. Feed them often either liquid food or ground up fish flakes. I attached a few websites for you to look at. Feel free to email me or message me with any questions. Also you will know when they are about to give birth because there body will square off. Also just so you know the mothers will eat the baby fry. The 3rd link has step by step directions check it out.
Generally, the gestation period for guppies is 28-42 days with the number of fry being 20-100 (but these numbers can be larger or smaller depending on the individual fish plus a host of other factors).
2007-02-02 10:06:21 · answer #1 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 0⤋
It is very difficult to answer this question not knowing what types of fish you have because one cannot determine what type of release the fish has (bubble-nest, egg-laying, egg-scattering, mouth-brooding, live-bearing, etc...). But I'm assuming that, because you mention that you can see a "baby spot", you have a live-bearing fish of some kind.
From breeding to release, there is typically about a 3 - 4 weeks of time, so that should at least help a little if you know when your fish spawned. When the females get close to releasing their fry, live-bearers characteristically show multiple black spots on the stomach. At this point, I would put the female(s) in a breeder and just wait it out. Also keep in mind, if you are planning on putting your fish in a different tank (as recommended in another post), there is a good chance your female will give birth prematurely - the stress of the transfer causes this, and the number of your living fry will be significantly decreased.
If you have a black molly it would obviously be very difficult for you to see the black spots on the mothers stomach, so I would just wait until she looks very large before putting her in the Breeder. Do keep in mind that it is better to put the female in the breeder early than to put her in too late! A week or so in a breeder will not hurt your fish, so don't be worried about that.
A final thought is this: Live-bearers (Mollys especially) mature very slowly, and it could be a solid 6 months before you can even tell the gender differences between the fry - let alone know if you have a good-looing fish or not. It will probably take around 1 year of good water changes and proper feeding before your fish will reach full size. I just wanted to make sure you knew you would have them for a while before getting them back in the hands of the pet store.
Good luck on your endeavour!
2007-02-02 08:56:05 · answer #2 · answered by letsgojets15 2 · 1⤊ 0⤋
As I recall you have guppies. Those take about 28 days from the time the males get to the females until the babies are borne, so you aren't very far off. Get ready now so they won't surprize you. The best thing to do is have a 10 gallon or so to put the babies in but if you can't do that a breeder box can work ok.
Best of luck with them!
2007-02-02 09:31:30 · answer #3 · answered by magicman116 7 · 0⤊ 1⤋
buy a breeder box now or a 1 gallon fish tank. One of my fish got pregnant we had no clue when the babies would come.After a while we saw little tiny things swimming around. the parents some times eat the babies on accident when they try to eat thank god we already had a 1 gallon fish tank .you don't need a filter though just a bubbler and the tank should stay clean.
2007-02-02 08:11:53 · answer #4 · answered by Kate Q 1 · 1⤊ 0⤋
The big prob here is that if you move the female into a breeding trap so close to delivery, she may well abort her young due to the stress of being confined.
2007-02-05 08:05:07 · answer #5 · answered by ispooky2 2 · 0⤊ 0⤋
eggs or live birth? maybe when her water breaks LOL
2007-02-02 08:02:19 · answer #6 · answered by brokerman74067 4 · 1⤊ 0⤋