Don't know how long guppy has been pregnant, when to seperate?

Question

I noticed my female guppy beginning to look pregnant last week, but I don't know when the actual fertilization began, so I don't know exactly how far along in pregnancy she is. I don't want to move her from the tank too soon, so she doesn't have to be seperated and stressed out longer then she needs to be. Any tips on when I should put her into the breeding box? Thanks so much for your time and energy, I really appreciate it.

Thanks everyone! Even though I have only two answers so far, the second one really helps. But, I don't have any real plants and won't be able to get any, so I guess I will have to risk it.

Answer 1

Personally, I don't seperate my females from the others, because I have lots of real plants where they can hide from the other fish
The gestation period of livebearers is 28 days
If you really want to put them into a breeder, don't do it before she gets kind of a squared appearance just beneath her head, that's the time she's just right before birth

Also as soon as she is done giving birth you have to take her out right away, and feed the fry with "First Bites"

You can release your fry in the main tank after they are about 4-6 weeks old depending on the biggest mouth of your biggest fish

In my experience the fry is much healthier and also grows faster if they are born in the tank and the female is also much less stressed out


Hope that helps
Good luck


EB

Answer 2

the early you move her to the breeding tank the better, moving the female when she is about to release her babies is adding way to much stress to her.

Remember that female livebearers can store sperm so they wont need a male for a few times, also remember that female livebeareres drop their fry on a cycle. Usually around every 28-32 days.

So when she releases her fry mark it down, and wait til the next drop. Then mark it down again, and when that time comes next month, you know when you should add her to the breeding trap in order to get the max number of fry.

Answer 3

I have never separated my guppies and have never lacked fish in my tanks. If you have lots of plants, especially floating plants, they should be just fine.