# Question abt guppies breeding



## Niki7 (Aug 16, 2010)

Hi all,

I just got myself 3 new guppies, one male and two female albino reds. I wasn't sure if the two gals were pregnant, but it almost looks like one is. However, since they are albinos, there is no dark gravid spot, right? cause the eyes would all be red like the parents? So now one looks like she is getting fatter but I have no idea if I will even be able to see fry swimming around if they are born...and how will I know if she is or isn't pregnant? (I want to put her into a separate tank til she has them but don't want to stress her out by moving her if she isn't ready)

I also have a beautiful blue mosaic female who has had a very large gravid spot for a really long time, probably at least a month and a half. She doesn't appear to be getting any bigger. There was some stress in the tank with new additions and her favorite guppy sister passing away from old age or birth problems (not sure which). So could she be holding back giving birth? All my parameters are perfect so I don't think that's the problem. Or maybe she isn't pregnant at all?

One last question...it's been awhile since I played with guppy fry, so how long should the fry be in isolation from bigger fish, and how old will they need to be to be a good size? The fry (yes just one little baby that I found when cleaning my tank!) I have is about 2 weeks old and still not very big. I would be afraid of putting him in with my "piranha" danios till he was a little bigger anyway.

I have pics of all the guppies (except the fry) on my pic album if that helps!
thanks!
Niki


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## jrman83 (Jul 9, 2010)

Can you post a pic of the albinos? I don't think I've ever seen one. Not sure, but the gravid spot should at least be a pink color, since the color mainly comes from the eyes. My Koi Swordtail's gravid spot was that color.

On your other Guppy, some of my Guppies have had a gravid spot since the day I got them...months later and no fry. I don't think it means because you can see that spot that the fish is pregnant, necessarily. It will be indicated more by their size and the spot, I think. Some are harder to tell than others.


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## Amie (Sep 15, 2010)

IMO, ignore the gravid spot altogether. Some fish have it others don't depending on color and some have false gravid spots. Concentrate on the size of the guppy. Females who are not pregnant are pretty slim so it will be quite easy to figure out when she is pregnant. When she looks like 'My Gosh the poor fish looks like she is going to burst' then she is close. Might take a little getting used to but won't take long.


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## Niki7 (Aug 16, 2010)

Thanks for the replies! Well this is very interesting. The female I thought was pregnant now has a few dark spots in her previously all pink gravid spot. And she is clearly getting much bigger than her sister. Now I know that when I got these there were no other guppy species in their tank, only male and female albino reds, and my trusted fish breeder guy told me they were always separated from other guppies and were an excellent line. So either albinos produce mixed babies, (like kittens can come out different colors from the same mom) or another male snuck in there and got busy. Not sure what to think but I am definitely thinking she is pregnant. If she is then the couple dark eyes will sure make things easier to know if she drops without me knowing.

Ben if you click on my photos, you'll see one pic with two pinkish guppies in it. Those are the albino reds. There is one of the male also along with my mosaic. Seems silly really to call them albinos when their tails are colored, but that's what they call them! Anyway the lower of the two is the one I think is pregnant. You can see her gravid spot is pink and she is rounder than her sister. I took those pics last week.

Amie thanks for the tips. I had guppies about 2 years ago but they all bred like mad and I didn't really have to do anything with them other than separate them into a fry tank after they were born. So this albino/gravid spot stuff is great.

Niki


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## Kirby1 (Nov 17, 2010)

If your guppies are pregnant you will know for sure when they are a few days from giving birth. They will be really fat.


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