I was wondering if anyone knew, but I have a tank of the fancy tail guppies and I've noticed that the females (I have about 6 or 7 females) have these black clusters in their bellies... Does anyone know if that means they are pregnant. I know some fish have babies and others lay eggs but I wasn't sure which ones did what. If those black clusters in their bellies mean their pregnant I'm going to have ALOT of baby guppies...
Pregnant Guppies
- Thread starter JTross
- Start date
thakidistight
Wanker
aps45819 said:
You should have told JPC about this!
SamSpade
Well-Known Member
JTross said:
As Dave Barry once observed - "she may be your mom, but she's still a fish". Lots of fish eat their own young just as easily as they eat any other young. They have no emotional attachment - they have no emotions at all.
I used to have this tank with crayfish - and the mom had baby crayfish. Dozens of them. Well, then maybe forty of them. Well, maybe twenty of them - well, maybe ten. Every time they molted - shed their shells, which is very often when they are young - either their mom would eat them or their siblings would. Eventually, they stopped eating each other by the time they were fully grown, but by that time there were only about five left.
Still, guppies multiply so fast it's not unusual to have a tank simply teeming with them. I had a buddy with a ten gallon tank and he must have had close to a hundred in there.
SamSpade said:
Oh wow! I have been looking around in the tank but I haven't seen anything. But there is one in the tank and she looks like she's just going to blow up... Maybe a few will survive. I think it would be pretty fascinating to actually see her have them, lol until they get eaten... Guess its just a part of nature huh?!
A pet store should have a device that might help, if you don't want to risk losing all of the babies. We had a small 'tank within a tank' sort of thing that you put the mom-to-be in. It hangs on to the edge of the tank, but has slots on the bottom. Ideally, when she delivers, the babies slip through the slots so she can't get to them. If you have more than one adult in the tank, you may have to put several in this smaller compartment. We usually had one tank as the 'maternity ward.' When a mommy Guppy was ready to deliver, we would move her to that tank, within the smaller compartment. After she delivered, she could go back into the big tank. The babies were moved in with the others after a few weeks, when they too big for the others to easily gobble in one bite.
It is quite interesting to watch, but I remember crying when I found out that the mommy would not deliver the babies again after eating them.
Good luck.
It is quite interesting to watch, but I remember crying when I found out that the mommy would not deliver the babies again after eating them.
Good luck.
suzeQ said:
Hmmm, I might have to check into that. I would like to see a few survive. Is there any obvious details that I could pay attention to kind of tell when she was going to deliver. I mean she is realllyyyy fat, and I've noticed the cluster has gotten much bigger... I wish I could see her deliver, I just think it would be interesting to watch. Any suggestions?
Right.
unixpirate
Pitty Party
FancyBelle
I'm 2 old 2 die young!
If you get any babies, I'll take someJTross said:I'm going to have to make a trip to the pet shop. Thanks for the info! I appreciate it!
unixpirate
Pitty Party
JTross said:I'm going to have to make a trip to the pet shop. Thanks for the info! I appreciate it!
I've got some hanging nets/baskets that you put your expecting mommies in you can have. They hang on the inside of the tank submerged in the water of course.