# large die off in new fry



## mousey (Jan 18, 2005)

So if you all recall I was having trouble getting my female guppy to be pregnant. She finally gave birth to over 50 fry- a mix of large pink ones and small grey ones.
The majority of the grey fry died- there are about 17 pink ones left. 
1 has a deformed spine and 2 look as if they have herniated stomachs.
That is quite a die off for the amount born I think. not used to odds like this! I used to have a 100 % fry grow to maturity so I don;t know what happened here. I had a lot of problems last fall with platy fry dying off( had an unknown outbreak of flukes then) for several batches.
I am doing nothing different than I used to so is it something in the water or is it something in the fish?.
Fry are born in their own 10 gallon tank.


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## Revolution1221 (Apr 20, 2010)

sometimes it can be the fish itself typically when a livebearer gives birth for the first couple times in its life a lot of the babies will die or even have still births if the fish has never been breed before but typically they dont have that many babies in the first go but i think that is more dependent on age and size. another think could be sickness it affects babies a lot harder than adults. the herniated stomachs you mentioned is probably just a yolk sack... is it yellow? IMO when fry are born slitely premature and still have a yolk sack they do not survive as well. I once had a molly that gave birth the night i brought her home to completely undeveloped eggs, eggs that were starting to develop, still born babies curled up in balls, babies that opened from there ball when i poked them, babies with yolk sacks, and fully formed babies that ate fresh food the day they were born some of the yolk sack ones died off but all the others survived. what are you feeding them? in a larger tank it can be harder for them to find adequate food i feel its better to keep them in a smaller space for the first week or two so they learn where the food comes from then release them into the larger tank.


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## mousey (Jan 18, 2005)

Actually the fry are 3 weeks old now so I would not expect to see egg sacks. All the fry were mature when born ie no egg sacks- just wildly different sizes between the pinks and the greys.
given that mom did not want to be bred I am surprised that I finally got fry but it also took a lot out of her. She now has a curved in her spine that she didn't have before and she is only 7 months old. We will see if she drops again.
One of her great aunts never ever had fry despite me adding males to her tank and her own mother only ever had the one litter. it may be some kind of genetic infertility thing altho it is hard to believe that about guppies!


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## emc7 (Jul 23, 2005)

nutrition? She could've given the calcium from her own bones to the fry. I've read curved spines can be a sign of a deficiency. Is your water reasonable hard? If you have soft water, you could try adding some "cichlid salts" or put some limestone rocks in the tank or filter. 

Genetic infertility is possible, especially if she has other species in her lineage. Small and gray sounds normal for guppy fry. Could a non-guppy have fathered the pink ones?


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## Revolution1221 (Apr 20, 2010)

oh being that old is a different story i took it as if they died in the first few days i guess what the stomach thing is is just them being full with food which is a good thing young fry are basically supposed to look like they are about to explode so that could be what u are seeing. other than that how frequent of water changes are u doing and how often?


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## mousey (Jan 18, 2005)

we have very hard water here with about 190 tds but perhaps you are right about the calcium issue with carrying 50 odd fry. A remarkable number for a first timer I thought.
I know guppies can do up to a couple hundred at a time but I have never had much more than 30. i prefer less and bigger fry if possible.
Anyway we will see what batch 2 turns out to be like if she has any more.
thanks.


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