# how to stop guppy eating her babies?



## cossie

ok, so tomorrow i am heading to my LFS to add a female guppy to my breesding/hospital tank. i am going to buy it already pregnant but i heard they eat there babies after giving birth.

providing dhe gives birth when im out or at school then how can i prevent her eating her babies.

aslo how many babies will she give birth to roughly.

as its a hospital tank i have an x-ray tetra in it with what we think is a wart but it is no problem to the fish and will not spread so i will put him/her into the main tank again tomorrow. Is this ok?


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## AvocadoPuffDude

Even in *MY* tank, full of highly predatory fish, especially the eels and clown loaches, I have baby guppy and platy babies survive. The key is lots of hidey places, usually that means a lot of dense floating plants, but you can buy "mats" of thick plastic grass, which you can weigh down to put on the bottom (in a corner works great) or let float. The only thing about letting the mat (or floating plants) float around is you want them to be stationary, not rolling around with a strong current so they're all over the place. You may want to lightly tie them into a corner with a bit of cotton string, or you can also buy "spawning mops" but those are more dense and designed for egg layers.
The number of babies will depend on the size and age of the mama guppy. Obviously, a smaller younger female will birth fewer than an older larger mama. I'd estimate 15-20 for a smaller female (and note, her babies will be generally smaller than the babies of a larger female, sometimes quite noticeably) and up to 40 for a really large healthy female in prime condition.
I hesitate to mention this, as over-feeding is a huge problem especially for beginning fish keepers, but a bit extra food - let's say keeping the mama very well fed (NOT OVER FED) will reduce her tendencies to chase down and hunt the babies until they're gone, which a more hungry ravenous fish is more prone to doing.
But my best advice is LOTS OF HIDEY PLACES. Where a baby could go and get lost and the bigger fish can't follow. Java moss is GREAT STUFF if you can buy some of that you are GREATLY increasing your chance of saving the babies.
Depending on how well of a job you do, keep in mind, the strong will survive. In my tank, approximately 6 fish per month survive to adulthood out of 30 females of various sizes giving birth each month.
Good luck, and let us know how it goes! Also note, female guppies are almost invariably pregnant, they store the sperm and use it for future fertilizations. Unless it's been kept in pristine male-less conditions, and is a virgin, trust me, it's pregnant already. However, you do NOT want to get a guppy that appears as if she's about to pop any minute. Selecting the fattest most pregnant guppy is not in your best interest. During the birthing process, the fish are highly stressed, and moving them (getting netted, carried home in a bag, being transfered into a completely new environment) combined with the birthing process can kill the mama before she's done giving birth. I would say to select a female that is larger in size (not just belly size, but length) if you want MORE babies right away, and one that has a dark gravid spot. If the gravid spot looks clear, like there is an air bladder there, it's kind of see-through, she may be a virgin female (or some of the lighter colored guppes, such as the xanthic or yellow guppies show less darkness in the gravid spot due to the lightness of their coloring overall.)
Just select a nice, robust, healthy looking fish, one that shows no signs of disease, is not gulping air at the surface, is not shimmying or acting weird!
Happy Fishing!!!!


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## cossie

ok cheers for that. a couple more questions.

how long is a guppy pregnant for before giving birth?
is my tank good enough for the babies? however i will by floating oplants and lots of them


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## cossie

ok, today i bought a female guppy. ( i think she's pregnant, can you tell by the pics)
there wasnt much choice but as you said i bought the biggest and most healthy looking. I also bought some plants as you can see in the pictures.... Are these good plants for the babies to hide in? Also are there too many plants in the tank now.

i acclimatised the fish for 40mins then let her in but she is breathing really fast and im kinda scared she may dies because the x-ray tetra i just moved back into the main tank was breathing fast for the last 3 days but is now fine in the main tank. I though it might be the rocks i had in there that may contain something poisenous but i changed them over and he was still.

anyway sorry if that makes no sense as im going out and i had to write this really quick.

whats your thoughs?


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## iheartfish:)

She might be pregnant... But she's not very fat and her gravid spot looks like she's still a "virgin"... I don't think that's too many plants, since egeria densa emits a lot of oxygen when it's light. I wouldn't know why they're breathing heavy other than poor water quality, or lack of oxygen.
Good luck with her!


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## cossie

cheers my pump is up full and if anything including fish swims infront of it then it blows back a bit. She has a bit of black but not too much and also she is a bit fat, fattest in the tank anyway lol.

just tested for ammonia as my test kit didnt have it and i was given it, it came out yellow which is safe apparently but one thing.....The test kit end date was 2001, however the tablets were sealed and came out yellow so i hope it was as i forgot to get a new testkit today and will be at least a week till i get another.


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## cossie

ill get the pics up soon but in an attemt to slow her breathing doen i have a spare filter which is half in and half out the water to try and mix it around. i done this about an hour ago but no change yet so fingers cross.


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## cossie

okay, being as she does not seem to be pregnant which is a pain in the arse, i am adding one of my brothers guppies to my tank, the question is how long for? until they would have mates?

also she is still breathing faster than i know they should be but i really dont understand why, can any1 help?


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## AvocadoPuffDude

It takes guppies usually around 28 days - a month - for gestation of their babies. She looked gravid (pregnant) to me, not by her size of her belly, but by the dark gravid spot where the babies grow.
That can be affected by temperature, the higher it is, the faster they have the babies, and of course, colder temps mean for a longer gestation.
I do not know how much faster or slower they give birth based on temp, for instance, I can't say it's 2 days faster if it's 85 degrees over 75 degrees....I don't know that info, but I would guess the range is just a day or two, not much difference. I keep mine at around 76 degrees.
I wouldn't be too concerned over the rapid breathing unless it's accompanied by other unusual behavior. When they're fat and pregnant, sometimes they breathe fast. 
Too many plants? Bah ha ha ha, that's impossible if you ask me, but I'm a plant guy. THE MORE PLANTS AND HIDEY PLACES, the more babies survive. You may have to test that for a couple months and see how many survive. If it's not enough to your liking, add more plants.
As for the test kit, do the best you can. Know that by using 10 year old testing equipment, you get what you paid for, in that you know up front it may not be reliable. If you want reliable data, get a new test kit - but I recommend NOT getting the biggest flashiest one out there that will last you 10 years again. Buy small, the fewest tests you can get in one kit, to keep things fresh and new. Alternately, if the fish are getting sick, you may want reliable info so you can correct the problem. If they're all healthy and doing fine, you can probably skip testing, but you are putting all your fish at risk doing that kind of chancey game.
Good luck! I love to see such enthusiasm. Even after 40 years, I still get jazzed just waiting to turn the lights on every morning and can't wait to sit and enjoy watching my tank!!!


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## cossie

okay cheers, so she IS pregant? i will get better pics up soon.

a couple of other things, since i added the extra filter yeterday the temerature went up to 28 degrees which is quite high and i can get it back down, now even by turning heater down, its wierd.

Also the main reason im worried about the breathing is because when i had the x-ray tetra in there, it was fine before and after 24 hours it was breathing fast and when it went back in the main tank it was fine again. i though it ma have been something in the rocks so i now just have slate.

Your thoughts?

cheers jack


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## cossie

any1, My heater just isnt lowering the temperature


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## AvocadoPuffDude

Heaters RAISE the temperature, thus the name HEATers.
They have coolers, mostly used for saltwater as I understand it. Try floating a bag of ice if you need to cool things off right away, but be cautious of large temperature fluctuations up or down. Sometimes bad water is better than a drastic change, fish have to acclimate slowly to changes. If your heater appears stuck in the high position and is over heating your tank, better spring for a new heater pronto. Btw, I have no idea what 28 Celcius is, I'm an American and I work in Farenheit!
Again, yes, her gravid spot appears dark, I'd venture to say she's pregnant. And quit worrying so much about her breathing, worrying is like rocking in a rocking chair. It gives you something to do, but it doesn't get you anywhere.


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## cossie

ok cheers, now im only worried about the temerature as 28 celsius is 82.4 fahrenheight.

i tried turning heater off and turning 1 of the 2 pumps off and lifting th elid but the temperature just wont change.

WHY?


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## funlad3

Because the filter's impeller increased the temperature. It's fine! My SW won't go below 82. Then again, it won't go above 84, so I guess that's good!


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## cossie

ok cheers, isnt high temerature bad for guppies?


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## funlad3

82 is fine.


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## cossie

okay imin chat too


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## PostShawn

I heard for livebreeders 80-82 is actually good for starting the breeding process. I usually keep mine around 78 and then a couple weeks ago I noticed a fry and a big molly. So I rescued the fry into a hospital tank I had and I slowly turned up the heat. The heat in the adult tank (20g) is at about 81 now. I turned it up a degree each day for 2-3 days and now I leave it. It apparently worked because I have two molly fish and one was still looking big. Well today I woke up and found about 40 dry swimming around. You don't want to turn the heat up too much at once as that can delay the breeding. If your's is around 82*f then I probably wouldn't go up much from there. 

I think the key for breeding livebreeders is the heat (79-82*f) is fine and keeping them well fed. Get some quality foods and a mix of foods too. I have some small pellets, and 2 types of flakes. I have tried frozen brine shrimp but mine just don't care for it. Keeping water clean is another key. I do 25% change a week and generally keep up on your filter too. I hear it's good to do about 10-15% water changes every other day when you notice a pregnant fish. I didn't bother with that though and just kept up on my weekly water changes. Once it looks like the breeding is done I will go back to about %25 changes every other week. But just make sure the water is clean.

Good luck.


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## cossie

ok cheers m8, i will post more clearer pic, if i can tomorrow.

So you guys can DEFIANTLY confirm if shes preggo or not.


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## funlad3

Why are you up at 6:20 central time f you're from Uckfiled England? Isn't it like 1:00 am there?


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## cossie

i know lol i get bored ;-)


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## lynmccoy

I read online that the females would not be as quick to eat their fry if you fed them immediately after they finshed giving birth. I tried this after losing half of my first bunch of fry to their mom. The second time I had food ready and when she had the last baby and turned to go after them I dropped the food in. It worked! I have only bred females this year and used a different female each time. Maybe the 2nd and 3rd females just wanted the food more. But you might want to try it. I have MS and am in a wheechair so I'm home 90% of the time so I've been lucky to been able to watch them have the fry. Just watch for the last baby. That's when she will turn around and start eating so that's to feeding her.


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