I bought what I thought were 3 male Fancy Tail guppies. I guess one was a female, because this morning when I went to feed my fish, (s)he was sorta bloated looking. I'm new to fish, & I really don't want to have to deal with pregnant fish. What should I do?
2007-08-28 03:39:01 · 7 answers · asked by Katieeee 2 in Pets ➔ Fish
Could it possibly be dropsy? I can't see anything in it's stomach...and the eyes look darker than normal. If my fish has dropsy, what should I do?
2007-08-28 04:18:09 · update #1
Bloated looking could be due to overfeeding or disease. Just look under the stomach and if you can find a short sharp piece of flesh, then it's a male. You could compare with the other 2 males that you have.
If it's female and pregnant, what you can do is to add some floating plants so that the newly hatch guppy fries have a chance of surviving by hiding.
If it's dropsy, you will see the scale open up. You could buy dropsy medicine and seperate the fish out for treatment but the chance of recovering is low.
2007-08-28 04:07:38 · answer #1 · answered by Vick 2 · 0⤊ 0⤋
The good news is that you do not have to do anything. The guppies will take care of themselves. The bad news is that guppies are like rabbits. You can go from two to fifty in a very short period of time.
So be prepared to give them away, or get a bigger aquarium. One other alternative, that I discovered by accident, is aquarium frogs. Most fish stores sell these small frogs that live in the water full time. They hang out on the bottom of the tank, for the most part, and they are fun to watch. They also eat guppies. So you get population control. There are fish that are carnivorous as well.
2007-08-28 10:47:40 · answer #2 · answered by Scrog Rack 2 · 0⤊ 0⤋
you don't have to do anything but watch.
it does sound like it's pregnant.
you just wait, it will lay a huge number of eggs on something like a leaf if you have one in there. the fish will be very protective over the eggs and so should the dad cos the other fish tend to try to eat them. as soon as the eggs are layed till they hatch the mother and farther will be quite vicious.
when they hatch they will hang around eachother and the parents and they will grow. in till they are a certain size the fish will stop trying to eat them cos they will be too big.
this happened to my two angel fish. but i had ALOT of other fish in the tank and none of them survived out of the hundrends of eggs that there was..
and they've been pregnant about 3 times.
hope i helped! sorry for the long answer.
2007-08-28 11:32:34 · answer #3 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 0⤋
If she gives birth in the tank all the fish, including her..will eat them. If you want to keep that babies they have a little "tank" that you place inside the bigger tank to protect them.
2007-08-28 10:48:10 · answer #4 · answered by janni 3 · 0⤊ 0⤋
hey relax, you don't need to do much!
you don't need to do anything to her, its okay as long as there are shelters and food provided for her.
but if you wanna take care of the fries too (which are also easy) you can separate the female into another vegetated tank, where she'll deliver safely in there.
good luck
2007-08-28 11:25:13 · answer #5 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 0⤋
gravid spot and a bigger belly are the best signs
the following link should help you to determine if you have a female guppy and if it is pregnant
http://fishlesscycling.com/articles/how_to_sex_your_fish.html
http://fishlesscycling.com/articles/breeding_tropical_fish.html
And if she's pregnant you have no plants in your tank, the fry will be eaten
hope that helps
good luck
EB
2007-08-28 11:22:05 · answer #6 · answered by Kribensis lover 7 · 0⤊ 1⤋
put her in a separate bowl or tank so when he lay the males will not eat the eggs
2007-08-28 11:28:45 · answer #7 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 0⤋