This post is a reflection of my experience with my pregnant guppy. I took photos of the progression of her pregnancy to document the the growth of her belly and other changes that I saw. Hopefully these photos will help others to determine how far along their pregnant guppy is and when she might be due. It is important to remember that guppies can be pregnant for a range of time, usually lasting around one month (22 to 31 days gestation).
I brought my female fancy guppy, Bridget, home on June 21, 2014. As far as I could tell she was already pregnant. She had that black gravid spot towards the middle of her body. I brought her home because my male guppy, Butters, didn’t get along well with other male guppies. He was a bully. Someone online suggested I get him a girlfriend and I figured - why not? He seemed unhappy to me and I wanted my fish to be happy. I knew I would end up with a breeding pair... but I didn’t get them because I wanted them to breed. So basically I had to look online for a crash course in information on how to deal with breeding, pregnancy and how to figure out when she was due.
One of the most difficult parts of the journey was going to a bunch of different forums to try to get information from the experts, relying on Google images and YouTube videos to try to figure out where things are. And from the start, people would tell me that she looked like she had another week. So every day from day 7 on, I wondered - is today the day she’s going to give birth?
If you get your fish from the store, then, usually, the fish is still relatively young. And the first drop usually only has 3-4 babies. This makes it difficult for people to tell you how long she’ll take to have her babies. It means a lot of wait-and-see.
The Breeder Box
The breeder box at first seemed like an awesome idea to me. She’d be in a small container, any fry would be most likely to fall to the bottom and be safe, she’d have filtered and heated water - it seemed like a dream. Then came the nightmare... people telling me how their fish had died in breeder boxes, how they are scary things, how fish get stressed and abort their pregnancies, etc.
It was difficult for me to see Bridget constantly being pestered and annoyed by Butters. I felt bad for her. He was constantly chasing her around. He looked like he was going to nip her but didn’t. I figured she had to be stressed out.
I think in the future what I will do when he starts bugging her too much is that I will move him to another tank altogether. One where just he can hang out until after she gives birth. I have a .5 gallon that might work and I might just splurge and get another small tank just for him.
Bloating or Labor?
I could tell that Bridget was having trouble pooping. She shook her body in ways that lined up with symptoms of labor. But she wasn’t in labor. She was bloated. I got her freshly canned sweet peas, no salt, the can got rinsed under water a few times, and I gave her 1-2 sweet peas a day. She likes it so much that I am still giving her sweet peas every day.
I learned that there are some common symptoms of labor and I’ll share them with you but my advice would be, if you’re not sure if your fish is in labor or bloated... get some sweet peas like I did and give a couple to your girl each day. Just squish the sweet pea and only give your girl the inner part of the pea. They don’t eat the shell.
Common symptoms of labor:
- The fish looks like it is swimming in place
- Shaking/shivering
- Rubbing themselves up against things like leaves, decorations, tank walls, etc.
- Doing quick little flips with their bodies
- Looking like they are having contractions as their body quickly tightens up and then loosens up
My Experience
I can tell you from my experience though that Bridget displayed all of those symptoms many, many, many times and none of them were indicators of her actually being in labor. Each and every time it was just her being bloated/constipated.
When she finally did go into labor she was just looking bored and hungry and in fact went after a couple of fish flakes. I’d read over & over again that fish don’t eat when they go into labor... well, Bridget did!
Two days before she went into labor she was swimming on the top of the water riding the current. She looked like she was in a wave pool because of the filtered water moving the top of the water so much. She did hang out a lot near the filter and the heater. But I wouldn’t use those as indicators because she did that many, many days way before she went into labor.
There are a lot of experts out there and they’ll all gladly tell you indicators of labor but they can’t guarantee anything. I think the best advice I was given was to take her out of the breeder box, move Butters(the male) away from her, and to leave her be.
She didn’t eat any of her babies as far as I know. She had them all between 4am-6:30am on July 22, 2014. She was pregnant for 31 days (as far as I know) before having the babies.
In this blog, I have included some photos of her pregnancy as it progressed. Hopefully these photos will help you to determine how far along your girl may be.
Feel free to contact me with any questions!
Miss Jules Poet
thnx for sharing
Congratulations!!
Bravo!
Thank you!
: )
Wow that was amazing to read an very helpful I have in my large tank 3 dwarf frogs 4 neons 1 Molly an 5 guppies 2 of which are females an both are very heavily pregnant I have a little breeding tank inside my tank but it’s already In use containing 6 baby fry from another fish I’m not sure when the fry will be big enough to release could any1 help??
Some signs:
The bottom fin starts to be pulled up
The female starts to kind of flip herself into plant leaves
She goes near the heater more often
Or she goes right into the most wavy part over the air stone
I’ve noticed that most of the females like to give birth between 3-6am. It changes up but that’s the case about 80% of the time.
The breeder box just ended up stressing out my fish so I learned not to do that. This was just what I did back then. Live and learn.
When the babies are born I scoop them into a shrimp net and immediately put them into the breeder box. I put the tiny plants - the baby plants in the tank with the babies. They have their own air stone & their own heater. I clean the baby tank (the breeder box) once a week.
Once the babies get big enough to where they could eat the newest babies - they go into a different tank - a 2 gallon tank. After that they eventually go into our bigger tank.
Free the fish
Her stomach will go flat when she is within a day or 2
By the way your post is a year from now, how’s your Bridget?
In my case, I’ve had my Dorothy last Jun 27 and started to take photos last 29Jun when I started to wonder that she might be pregnant. However I made a mistake that on Day6-7 I placed her inside a breeder box in which she became stressed. I just released her this morning.
After so, she became thin. I don’t know if it’s just the photo angle or on how I zoom in the picture. I’m afraid that she just gave birth but just ate her fry 😟.
I hope you can see my posts wherein I display my Dorothy’s progression in this website.
Guppy Fish Progression
I looked at your topic. I think Dorothy is still pregnant. She probably just had to poop. That makes them look skinnier afterwards. Enjoy the fry when they come. I personally keep the fry in a breeder box without the insert - they have their own heater, their own air line - but the box is connected to the main tank so the water is filtered that way. When they are born I scoop them out with a shrimp net and put them straight into the breeder box.
Thanks for asking about Bridget.
Bridget & Butters lived for a good while longer, but then passed away.
Their children:
Frankie & Johnny had babies too, then passed away
Their grandchildren:
Maeve & Mel are currently still having babies.
Currently I have about 30 from a pregnancy last month...I moved the fry from their small floating tank into the baby tank at 3 1/2 weeks...a 10 gal. tank just for growing fry...
I had baby
Dalmatian fry in tank...saved 4 she must have had them over night...they are harder to see than guppie fry...can’t wait to see their colors...
The stages of the guppies colors coming out .
Thanks again...
We have very very pregnant green guppy,she is now oblong,and I do think she’s been pregnant for just over a month now,she is in biorb 30 on her own,i moved everyone else into a corner tank 190 litre,shes spending a lot of time at the heater,still feeding OK and I left bubble tube and heater on.now just waiting....
I was just wondering if you would be able to help me with my guppy I have been told it’s pregnant but I’m not sure what to do
Ravindra.egra: I hope that you enjoy the guppy fry! They are precious.
James: I’m glad that the story helped you & taught you. That’s great!
You should have a tank already cycled before putting fry into it. Fry have no immunity of their own. Personally I put them in a Marina Small Hang on Breeding Box without the V insert. I put some small petite anubias in there with them.
Once they are born I scoop them out of the tank with a shrimp net and immediately put them into the Marina Small Hang on Breeding Box. For me it is my own little ‘baby tank.’ I also put an air stone in there with them.
I keep them in the Marina Small Hang on Breeding Box usually for about 3-4 months depending on how many fry there are. That way they have a better chance of fending for themselves in a bigger tank.
I’m glad this helped! You’re welcome!
The black thread like stuff that comes out as waste usually happens if the mother guppy ate some of her fry. So you probably lost some that way - but don’t worry, it happens to all of us. We just do our best to save as many as we can.
Female guppies can be aggressive with each other - especially just after or just before one of them gives birth. Sometimes they are completely fine with one another. It just depends on the fish.
If it’s been over 12 hours then she is probably done giving birth for the month.
Best of luck!
I have another female who hasn’t left the safety of a real plant for 4 days since I got her .... any ideas??
Thanks for your blog :)
Oh, in also my guppy gave birth on the 10th of January.
I’m so happy. Thank you
She has to be in the same position.......tell her to smile more.
She is not gettin paid to slack off!! :)
Seriously....This is very informative.....kudos JULES!!!
Just got 6 females ....and its very hard to determine what stage they are at because 3 of them are big female guppies (same as above) and the other 3 are all small females....different types from different stores.
I will try to use your pics as a reference......just to see which stages they are now.
cheers and GREAT JOB!!!!
butthead2001
It has helped me out so much with my pregnant guppy
I put the grass on the bottom of the 2and a half gallon tank then upon reading I took the plastic grass and it is now floating on top
I can’t wait til she gives birth
When she eats she looks boxy then it goes away
Wish me luck
But I honestly don’t know
Thank you
Debbie
Is this normal?
@MichelleChavez - She may just be resting and hiding due to anxiety from being alone. Or she may be anxious because of the changes in her body. She’s still better off alone until after she has the babies.
Just use the "Ask your question" box at the top right. Give as much information as you can and pictures can help.
Just use the "Ask your question" box at the top right. Give as much information as you can and pictures can help.
avygyaru, Gillian, ksc0322, Nanamamimi: Thank you!
WELL DONE !!
And if the other fish might eat the babies
And I have a another Mummy Guppy, she gave birth to 5 2 days ago, the belly still looks the same just as before she give birth and the spot is still there, will she still give birth? It’s been 2 days.
When do you think would be appropriate to shift them to breeder box and I have quite a few adult guppy and they seems to have eaten up 2 babies.
Sejal, there really is no need to feel stressed about your guppies being gravid. They know what to do and livebearer birth is not as traumatic as mammal labor. They will just slip out. If you want some of the fry to survive, just make sure there are lots of soft leafy plants in the tank for the fry to hide in. Otherwise most will get eaten.
Like you, I’ve read so many conflicting details that I actually ended up more confused than I was when I sought out the information in the first place! I’d kept guppies for years. It was something my Grandmother and I started together. We only had “feeders” though, and I was young, so I never really paid attention to the gestational period. I was just super excited to see babies! Now that I’m (a bit) older, I wanted to re-visit those nostalgic times with Granny and start keeping guppies again. Only this go-’round I’ve gone with Fancy Guppies and Endlers. I just wasn’t sure what to expect. I couldn’t tell if my females were pregnant, bloated, or just fat. I would have never thought of feeding them peas to “clean them out”. Anyway, this was my long-version way of saying Thank You for sharing your experience! It was very informative...the photos were great...and the story tied it all together nicely. Much appreciated!
Yesterday i bought two Singapore guppies.
In that one guppy is pregnant. Whether i need to separate her from the male guppy.
Please give me a suggestion.
We ordered these fish for our classroom and were told they’re all males. I immediately spotted two females in the tank and about a month later saw two babies swimming. I was told by a guy at PetSmart that there were only two because the others more thank likely ate them. SIGH.
Thank you
Very informative. Thank you
Awesome article.
I have put a separator in my tank ready for when I think my female is about to give birth. I just hope it works and she doesn’t eat them before I get chance to move her! Thank you for sharing:0)
I bought some guppy’s only 2 weeks ago
But I think one is pregnant
The photos are and will be so useful
How many days can they be in labor u think?how much
If you could make a post with some pictures, we could help you.
I have a couple of female guppies I’m not sure if they are just fat or pregnant
How do you get the fry into the separate container though? Isn’t it hard to catch them / find them? That would be my main worry..
Thanks !
I know that must sound dumb, but I truly don’t know. I would think so. I’ve got tanks, I’m running out of power outlets.
The adults are 4 male & 8 female and are doing great with hyperfiltration & frequent WCs. The 3 were obviously pregnant when I got them. Thanks for the great info!
You have asked your question on a very old Blog.
Please post this question on the open forum.
I am not the creator of this blog but I thought I would give my 2 cents anyway. By putting her in the breeding box you have made her feel stressed, she isn’t sure if the area is safe so she is holding in her fry till she feels safe.
Put her back to the main tank and remove any fry that pop up. Try adding lots of foliage (real or fake doesn’t matter ) to the tank for the fry to hide in till you remove them, floaters are also very helpful. You can also take drinking straws and cut them up, leaveing them floating will have the same effect as floating plants.Now I learnt this method by Cloudy (hope you don’t mind me stealing it :P)
Guys, this is a very old Blog, not meant for questions and answers, as stated by Gaz, above. Frank, if this hasn’t answered your questions, please post on the Forum by going to Post, then New Topic.
Blaina
I had a look at the stages of guppy pregnant and mine look like they are around almost day 20 pregnant maybe I am not sure but round about that.
My question is, I have a fighter fish in their which always eats the babies, I bought a breeder box for the tank and I am just wondering when I should put her in at all to have her babies?
I have no other way to protect the babies and would like to use my breeder box.
Thanks
Catherine
Happy fishkeeping😊
Thanks again. –Steven B
Deb
This will help me so much!
Thanks you for sharing!
I just started I have 3 females and 1 male!