What the heck is she doing with her fish?

Question

My cousin has a bunch of fish tanks. They are always healthy looking but smometimes if they haven't delivered over 40 days she takes a needle and slices open the stomache. Why are the fry surviving? Why is she doing this isn't their a more humane way to get the mother to have her babies? Keep in mind this girl is 10 and you know how impatient little kids are when it comes to things like this. I am having the same problem with one of my guppies should I do this? If not how can I get her to stop? Other then that she like an expert on fish. I only own 2 tanks while sh ehas like 4 around her room. P.S. each tank contains a different species and she does this with her endler's livebearers and guppies.

Well she's not an expert lol but sh sure knows more then me.

She gives her fish to her friends. I'm starting to breed my fish because I have a pond in my backyard that needs filling.

magicman don't try to pretend she's crazy. She dosn't intentionally hurt them. She got this of some site or something and all the mothers she did it to lived. She puts them in their own tank to heal. She means no harm. She just wants her guppy babies!!

Answer 1

VG go get em.

Chances are if she has acces to the net, fish sites will tell you a fish can get egg or live bound. I hate these sites and fish stores that tell you this. This is a rare occurance and only happens to younger females which are really not ready to breed. They tell you to cut them open to save the fry and it is practiced quite frequently in molly breeding.

A fish that becomes egg bound or live bound will more than likely die anyway. However the 30 day rule for eggs and live fry is crap. Kind of like women 9 months is a guide line but many children have been born at 8 months 8 1/2 less and more than 9 months. Not all fish are the same. Plus, if you do not know the EXACT day of conception, there is no way to determin when.

Heck they were off by a month and a half with my Daughter! I have had only one fish that was egg bound and my daugher (much older now) actually used a blunt needle and extracted the eggs. Undeveloped and more like jelly. The fish was fine for a while but again eventually died due to complecation and hemoraging. (Not from the needle my daugher is an exotic vet).

I really wish there was a way to rate web pages that give crap for info. This is how myths about things get started. PLEASE let her know nature will take care of the fish. 40 days is nothing....especially with guppies and mollies.

I just wanted to add, FYI, my black mollie was prego for what I determined to be 52 days and as large as the carpet anemone honestly I thought she was going to bust. When she FINALLY had her little ones, she had 22 fish. I kid you not. My daugher said you can tell if they are bound by the way they swim. If they start listing to one side, they are bound.

Answer 2

The thing that constantly baffles me with all of the people online here or anywhere for that matter, is why, oh why, do people want so badly to breed their fish? Especially guppies. What can you possibly do with all of these fish? Unless you're using them for food for carnivorous fish, they are either going to die because of being cramped in such close quarters or you have to constantly get more and more and more tanks. The ability to sell them for any real profit margin can't be that great. I personally think that it is completely improper to cut open fish and force them to have their babies early. They will, naturally, have the babies when they are ready and it simply can't be good for the female to keep doing this to them. Even if they do survive, which also baffles me that they are, this has got to be so stressful to the female. This is kind of like the sayings my mom always said, "two wrongs don't make a right." Or, "if your best friend jumped off a cliff, would you?" Just because she is doing it, and what appears to be successfully, doesn't mean that it is the right thing to do. C-sections on fish should only be done if the female has already died, or will die if she can't birth naturally, and it is a last ditch effort to save the fry. If you want to breed your fish, please allow them to do it naturally. I doubt that there is anything you can say to your cousin to change her mind. She, clearly, doesn't seem to see that anything is morally wrong with what she is doing and all she sees is the physically success of her efforts. The best you can do is teach by example and let her know that you don't agree with her methods and that you choose the ethical, moral approach of natural birth will not breed your fish in that manner.

Answer 3

What she is doing is similar to doing a c-section on a human. Guppies and other live bearers reproduce every 28 days. At 40 days it would be the equivalent to a human carrying a baby for almost 13 months. If your guppies are having the same problem you might consider the same procedure. Make sure you add some aquarium salt to prevent infection.

Answer 4

Well if she is an "expert" on fish and they are surviving then it is obviously working, but i would ask your petshop or vet about it first. Before you go and stick it with a needle!!

Answer 5

If it does not happen the young die and start to rot in side the mother. That sounds less humane to me.

Answer 6

That is just so wrong. Tell her parents and a teacher at school. That's totally abnormal behavior. A child that kills or injures pets is a very serious matter. Please help her get some help.

MM