How can I tell if a female guppy is ready to breed?

[hihello405]

I just got 3 females guppies today; 2 blacks and 1 orange. The 2 black always play with each other, but the orange just hide. It’s seems like the orange one is stressful or scare. But the 2 black guppies are happy and playing with each other. What happen to the orange one? I had the same experience with a goldfish too, it just hides all day long and wouldn’t get alone with the other ones and 2 days later, it just died. There were no fishes in the tank; these are the first 3 female guppies I added to my tank.

Alright back to the topic, the salesman told me usually the bigger one is ready to breed. Is that right? How can I really tell if a female guppy is ready to breed? But the store where I got my fishes, they actually separate the males and females; therefore there would be no chance for the female to get pregnant.

I know my English isn’t that brilliant, sorry. Thank You!!!

[sumoschro]

i guess "the big one" is correct, but to be more specific if their bellies are bulging then they are most likely ready to breed.

[750t]

Store bought guppies are not as healthy as they used to be. Your probally not doing anything wrong. I purchased 15 to 20 from 3 different stores they all died. But I was luckey enough to get some fry before the deaths. Just go with a ratio o f 1 male to 2 or 3 females and they will breed. I think the male controls the breeding cycle. Because if you have a male in your tank, the females will ALWAYS be pregnant.
If you want fry try to stick with one colour or you will end up with multi coloured guppies.