Guppy birth questions

[Nippy]

One of my females is currently giving birth. Is there anything special I need to do? I moved her to a quiet breeder box in another tank so no one will bother her. Do I continue to feed her(she didn't want to eat last night)? Does it matter if the light is on or off? How long does it take for her to finish and how many days after do I keep her separated from the males? One site I visited said 2 days. Anyone know of a site that describes the female's labor? The sites I visited said nothing about the actual labor like how to tell if she's having an okay one, if she's in distress, how long it takes, etc. Any insight or info would be greatly appreciated.

[goldfries]

don't make it hard for yourself when it's all so easy.

here's what i do.

put 1 male and a few females, make the tank densely planted. feed regularly.

after 2 months, check the tank again and you'll see some baby fish in there.

of course during the 2 months, regular water cleaning routines are to be carried out.

[ascension101vr2]

Congrats,

I just had a guppy give birth to 30 fry. Basically as soon as she is done having the fry remove her from the fry tank. She will begin to eat them. Make sure to feed both the fry and mom; they will both be hungry.

If you leave the lights off during the birth it is less stressful for the mom but the fry will need light after they are born.

I ( like goldfries) just put all of my guppies male, female, and fry in one big thank that is fairly planted. The females can hide from the males fairly well, and my fry seem to do ok.

[Roland]

I agree with goldfries, its so much easier with minimum casualties.

Also, if a breeder box is too small and the female feels confined and stressed, the my abort ar even die. The first way is much more 'natural'!

[goldfries]

it's fun to see guppies breed.

i'll always use my favourite males (about 2) and nicest females i have (about 7 - 10) and let them have fun for a month or 2.

sometimes i seperate the fry, sometimes not.

[Orbitorly]

Breeding nets are cool, put the fry in there and when they get a suitable size let them go.

[nicolemparker]

i have a femal guppy and she had only 10 guppy but still looks pregnant and she was trying to eat them already what should i do is she still preg or not?

[Onikun]

yeah i agree with the first response as well. Get lots of hornwort. my guppies must have at least had 20 batches of fry but i've yet to actually see one give birth. I seem to always miss it.

[Lazersniper]

I don't think there's an 'official' way to tell if they're haveing a 'healthy'' laber or not. My personal exp. with breeder nets or anything like that has been 100% failure (according to my standards). The babies were born but the mother always ended up dying due to the stress. Guppies really decide how many fry they want to release. I've seen them release only 2 fry, or up to 30+ it just depends on what she feels like. So, to answer your question on length, it is all dependant on the guppy.

As for feeding her, only put in a little amount of food or none at all. Most of my females never ate during birth. If you feed too much and they end up not feeding, it will just add ammonia to the water which will be bad for the fry. Once you start seeing a few fry it may be helpful to turn the light back on as the fry are attracted to the light and will help them find food.

[LiLangeL181]

what you do with the mom and the babies depends on weather or not you have a spare tank or are they in a community space.

If you have a spare tank (my spare is 2 gal) then put mommy fish in there with some plants. java moss is easy and inexpensive. Let mommy swim around untill she feels safe enough to drop her fry, and after she has stopped (you dont think shes dropped in a while) put her back in the main tank. try to reduce stress during moves by using a cup or bowel instead of a net, that way she never has to leave the water. once you think the fry are big enough to not be eaten you can put them in the main tank as well.

If you have a large community tank than all you can do is plant it fairly heavily so that the fry have a place to hide.

as far as feeding goes, if shes hungry, feed her, if not then add just a little food (she will eat something eventually) so as not to add too much ammonia. when feeding the babies you can either use hikiri fry food or crush the regular fish food up very finely.

for light I dont change the regular schedule. mommy fish is already used to it, so I dont feel the need to change it up.

I hope this helps a lot! feel free to ask more questions if you need to :)

[hurricanejedi]

I had some guppies when I was younger. She had several births where there were anywhere from 50-100 fry. I think I only raised about 5 to adult hood but I wasn't trying to hard.