Expert: Chris Robbins - 2/1/2004

Question
Hello! I have had fish for nearly a year now. I started with three fish, a tiger barb, a red-black tetra, and a neon tetra in a one gallon aquarium. For christmas I got a ten gallon aquarium, and put my three original fish in it as well as another neon, a black-skirt tetra, a mini-version of the red-black tetra, and a female guppy. They were all happy for two weeks in their nice tank with a ph of 7.6, and a power filter that hangs on the outside of my tank. Then my guppy seemed to gain a lot of weight and these two spots on the bottom of her abdomen got a lot darker. I found out she was pregnant and have isolated her in my old one gallon aquarium. She seems to be doing okay, but I really need some more information. How long will it take until she has her babies? What should I do with both her and her babies during and after their birth. What should I feed them? Should I keep the fry in my one gallon tank or mix them in with the other fish in the ten gallon? How many babies will she have? What can I do with them all? I need answers to these questions and many others. Please try to answer as many as you can and include any good sites that I could learn more from, if possible. Thank-you so much for your time and help!!!!!

Answer
Hi Terri;

Guppies are pregnant for 4 to 8 weeks. Put lots of hiding places for the babies in the smaller tank. Live plants are the best, but plastic is okay. The mother will eat the babies after they are born. No loving maternal instincts in these fish! Leave the babies in the smaller tank until they get big enough not to be eaten by the other fish. (Tiger barbs are very aggressive, so you may have to wait quite awhile).

Guppies can have 20 to 40 babies. The older the mother is, the more babies she has. If you don't have room for all the babies, donate them to the local fish store.

Followups welcome.

At Your Service;
Chris Robbins