Pregnant Fancy Guppy & Plenty of Questions!

I currently have a female fancy guppy who I believe will be ready to drop soon. She's a pretty good size. I have asked this question before on yahoo answers but haven't gotten such great ideas. This started yesterday when her gravid spot was fully black then later turned pink with the black spots above the pink area, then later changed back to black and so on. What could this be?

I have also transferred her to her own tank by herself because I wasn't sure whether to use the breeder box or not. I know some people are against it and some people have had success with them. I purchased a 3 way topfin breeder box the other day. But was thinking whether the fry would swim out the sides (on their bottom portion) and into the tank and be eaten.

Any ideas on what I should do? And whats going on with her gravid spot?

[proster12]

It may seem weird , but my guppies gravid spot also changes colour. I guess ur guppy may have already gave birth ? Lastly , you should just place her in the breeder box in case she is giving birth , if you are afraid the fry would swim ot of the box , provide hiding spot, like plants, etc.

[polarpuffs]

hi i've bred guppies before but i've not encountered or noticed this development. do you think it is possible that the babies are developing within the female guppy therefore the colour changes...and as they develop they also get to wriggle about in the female's womb??? perhaps the black spots represent the babies' eyes??

Hello jeffrey. I've seen female guppies who look like their ready to give birth, delay or stop the process because conditions are quite right. I'm not a fan of the breeder boxes because I believe the process of moving the pregnant female stresses her. So, that may be what you're experiencing.

Since you have her in the box, leave her there, but not more than a day, two tops. If you don't see fry in that time, put her back with the rest of your fish. If you're not floating Water Sprite in the Guppy tank, get some and start feeding the fish a little more.

When I see extremely pregnant females, which is pretty often, I start feeding the adults a little more food. It's been my experience that well fed adult Guppies seldom bother the fry.

B

[Aris]

Initially I tried using a breeder net which is white all round. My females were uncomfortable being inside and appeared quite stressed. So I gave up and just put them into specially prepared tanks that has lots of plants for fries to hide in. There might be some casualties but not much and the females are more relaxed in such surroundings. I ensure they are well fed too so they are not hungry and eat their fries. So far so good and usually I get more than 30 fries per female. The tanks have sponge air filters in them which ensures filtration and will not harm the fries.