How To Keep Pregnant Guppies And Their Babies Healthy

[00:00:00] Welcome to this episode of The Aquarist's Edge, a podcast for home aquarists just like you. Learn more about how to keep a thriving aquarium and discover ideas and tips to give your aquarium the edge. And now, over to our host, Arthur Preston. It's true to say that guppies are some of the most popular fish in the aquarium hobby. And most of us have kept guppies at some point in our journey of being a home aquarist.

[00:00:28] One of the things that makes them so popular is that they have the ability to reproduce quickly. But if you're going to be keeping guppies and breeding them for specific color trays, for fin shapes and so forth, and you want to create a healthy strain of guppies, you need to make sure that your female guppies, your pregnant guppies, are healthy and that the fish that they give birth to stay healthy. So this episode is going to be looking at recognizing pregnancy signs in our guppies,

[00:00:58] to providing the right care for both mom and the babies. So let's start with the very, very basic idea that guppies are live bearers. And this simply means that they give birth to free swimming fry instead of laying eggs. One of the most interesting things about female guppies is that they have a unique adaptation known as polyandry. This means that they mate with multiple males to increase the likelihood of producing healthier, more resilient offspring.

[00:01:26] And what they can do is that they can store sperm from different males and they can use that sperm selectively to increase genetic variation and ensure stronger offspring. It really is quite a remarkable adaptation. They can also store sperm from a single mating and use it to fertilize broods over time. So not only are they storing the sperm, but they're also able to use the sperm from various males when they want to, to fertilize their own eggs to increase genetic variation.

[00:01:56] A single female guppy can give birth up to six times from one mating, meaning that she can produce offspring for months without encountering a male again. The mating preference in guppies is also influenced by visual traits. The females tend to prefer brightly colored males with large tails. So now your female has mated and how do you know that she's pregnant? One of the easiest ways to tell if a female guppy is pregnant is to look near the anal fin on their abdomen.

[00:02:25] There is a dark area there called the gravid spot. And when the female is pregnant, that becomes very pronounced. It becomes darkened. And that is where the fry are developing. You'll notice that the guppy's belly becomes swollen and more pronounced. And you'll also notice an increased appetite, restlessness or even hiding. And as the birth approaches, you will see that that rounded shape in the guppy's body becomes a little more boxy.

[00:02:51] And you may even be able to see the tiny fry if you look closely at the gravid spot. A late stage pregnant guppy often will isolate herself from other fish. This is a natural instinct so that she can find a safe area in which to give birth. It has been said that if you notice a change in the mother's swooning patterns, such as erratic or twitching movements, this can be a sign that the birth of the babies is close.

[00:03:19] The pregnancy cycle for a guppy normally lasts between 21 and 30 days. But factors such as water temperature, stress levels and genetic lineage can influence this duration. And if conditions are optimal, a female guppy can give birth every four to six weeks without needing to mate again, due to the fact that she is storing sperm from the original mating.

[00:03:42] Some guppies will also display color shifts during pregnancy, as the females appear slightly darker due to fluctuating hormone levels. So when your female guppy is pregnant, you need to ensure that you are feeding high protein foods. So that would be protein-rich quality flakes, live food, frozen foods such as brine shrimp, daphania, bloodworms and so on. It's better to give small frequent feedings to ensure that she has enough nutrients without risking over-feeding.

[00:04:09] You could also supplement her diet with spirulina-based foods, which can help improve the overall health of the guppy and the development of her fry. So that mix of plant-based and protein-rich foods will ensure balanced diet and keep the guppy in optimal condition for giving birth. You could also, if you have access to them, use probiotics and vitamin-enrich foods, which will boost the mother's immune system and enhance the fry survival rate.

[00:04:37] It has been shown that omega-3 fatty acids play a role in brain development of the baby fish. So supplementing the mother's diet with krill or similar foods could lead to smarter and more active baby fish. In terms of the conditions of the tank, you want to make sure that your water parameters are stable and that the temperature sits between 24 and 27 degrees Celsius. For our North American friends, that's between 76 and 80 degrees Fahrenheit.

[00:05:05] Some acarists want to speed up gestation by increasing the temperature of the water. But you need to be cautious of this, as excessive heat can cause stress. You want to make sure that you're providing plenty of hiding spots with live plants, such as java moss, hornwort, or other floating plants, such as duckweed. It's good to have a well-established biological filtration system so that you can avoid ammonia spikes that could hurt the mom and the babies.

[00:05:35] The other thing to note is that pregnant guppies prefer calm waters, so avoid excessive water flow. Turn down the filter outlet if you need to. The pregnant guppies would rather rest without expending too much energy. They don't want to be fighting against water flow. You also want to reduce stress in the tank by avoiding aggressive tank mates. Too much harassment from other fish can lead to premature birth or even miscarriage.

[00:06:00] It's also been said that if you slightly dim your tank environment, this will help the pregnant females to be more relaxed. So don't keep the lights on for too many hours a day, and if you can, dim them or even turn them off. I'm sure you've seen in various pet shops or aquarium stores a number of breeding boxes available. And these are designed to separate the pregnant guppy from her tank mates and also reduce the chance of the fry being eaten.

[00:06:25] However, they can also stress the mother if she's kept inside too long due to her lack of swimming space and also oxygen circulation. And to counter this, you could, of course, put an air stone into the breeding tank. The best option, however, is if you have the space to do this, use a separate breeding tank with gentle filtration and plenty of plants. This will ensure the safety of the guppy or guppies without excessive stress.

[00:06:52] If, however, you have to use the breeding box, transfer the female guppies into it only when you see the signs of imminent birth. And then remove either her or the fry immediately after giving birth. Once born, the baby guppies need proper care to survive. Separate them, if you can, to a well-planted nursery tank and feed crushed flakes, baby brine shrimp, powdered fry food or infusoria multiple times daily.

[00:07:18] If you don't have access to specific fry food, there are some options you can make at home. One of the options is an egg yolk paste. And you do this by mashing a boiled egg yolk, mixing it with water to create a fine suspension that fry can eat. You can also use green water, which contains phytoplankton. It's an excellent first food for newly hashed fry. If you have spinach or peas at home, you can blend these, you can puree them into a nutrient-rich supplement.

[00:07:46] And you can also use microworm cultures, which are easy to maintain at home and serve as a nutritious live food source for fry. It's really important to maintain really good quality water conditions. So do about 10 to 20% water change daily for the first few weeks. So give your baby fry the best opportunity to survive and to thrive by giving them pristine water conditions.

[00:08:10] It's a better idea to use sponge filters rather than any other kind of filter because you don't want to have fry being sucked into filter intacts. At around four to six weeks, the baby guppies will start to develop colors. And they can then be introduced to the main tank as they are too large to be eaten by adult fish. You will be able to gauge this. There's no set hard and fast rule here. Look at your guppies, consider their size. And when they are of a certain size that they won't be eaten, transfer them back into your main tank.

[00:08:41] Now, selective breeding is a topic for a podcast episode all on its own. The idea of having to cull your baby guppies is a tough one for many. But it's an important part of developing certain color strains or finnage and keeping a pure strain as you need it to be. You also want to make sure that you have vibrant coloration and strong immune systems in the babies.

[00:09:05] But we're going to keep that for another detailed episode where we will focus primarily and in some detail on how to develop particular guppy strains. So, folks, it's really not difficult to have healthy pregnant guppies and healthy baby fry. Using the ideas and the suggestions and the advice given in this episode, there really is no reason why your pregnant guppies and your baby fry should not survive well,

[00:09:31] should not be able to continue building into a guppy strain that you really enjoy having in your tanks. Guppies are not difficult to breed. They will give you loads and loads of babies over time. And to be honest, if you don't want all those babies, then only have males. And a group of vibrant, fast-moving, highly colored males in a tank is actually a beautiful sight to watch. So maybe that's what you want to do if you don't want to be dealing with hundreds of guppy babies over a period of time.

[00:10:02] I encourage you to keep breeding your guppies in a way that keeps the females and the babies healthy and to have fun doing so. When you mix various guppy strains, you can come up with the most amazing color patterns and finish. It really is quite an exciting part of the hobby. But let's do it in a way that is healthy for our fish and provides the baby guppies with the best chance of survival in a healthy, well-cared-for environment. Folks, that is the end of this episode. I trust this has been helpful to you.

[00:10:31] And I do encourage you, as always, to leave a review, to like and subscribe if you are watching this on the YouTube channel. But folks, keep enjoying your hobby. Keep curious. Keep discovering. And I will see you on the next episode. Take care. Bye-bye for now. That's it for this episode of The Aquarist Sedge. Please consider subscribing to this podcast so that you don't miss further episodes.

[00:10:57] We would love it if you would also rate and review the podcast, as this helps make it visible to others. Until next time, keep learning and discovering. And keep finding your Aquarist Sedge in this captivating and fascinating hobby.