Platypus Posted November 11, 2008 Report Share Posted November 11, 2008 hello, i was just wondering if anyone could let me know about guppies, sword tail fish and platy's i have one pregnant guppy, one prego sword fish and a couple prego paltys, and they have been showing and growing for a few weeks, i seperated them for a couple weeks and the didnt lay their eggs or nothing just ate and got FAT lol so i was just wondering about the gestation period of each fish and what would be the best environment for them to have babies in Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
robin Posted November 11, 2008 Report Share Posted November 11, 2008 ditto the question!! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guppygirl Posted November 11, 2008 Report Share Posted November 11, 2008 First off- guppies, platies, swordtails are livebearers--they give birth to live babies, not eggs. If you have a male and a female of each, your female is most likely pregnant. They usually give birth every 28-34 days, depending on tank factors such as stress, temperature... They will have anywhere between 15-200 fry- guppies usually have 15+ babies, platies around the same and swords being the largest can have huge batches of fry. Even if you only have females they are most likely pregnant as males and females are usually together in the fish stores. The females can store sperm for months, so even if the male is removed or dies the female will continue to have babies. As to telling when the females are about to give birth, they tend to get the square butt look when you look at them from the side and back. Also their gravid spot the black/dark area near their butt will darken as the fry develop. Some females are notorious fry eaters- I had three half black females never did get any fry as they ate them as quick as the others had them. Other fish also like the snack of fry, so have lots of floating plants and other bushy plants such as java moss... if you want to keep fry. Or you can remove the female to a separate tank, with plastic plants or real for the babies to hide in. Careful not to stress her out with excessive net chasing as she could abort the fry. If your fish are eating and getting fat that is good, they will be well conditioned when it comes ready for them to have their babies. They may of had their babies and they became lunch, or they are still going to have them-either way you will soon have fry. Good luck. :thumbs: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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