Guppy Fish Gestation Period – care – breed– give birth– pregnant – How Often do Guppies Have Babies? 2020

Guppy Fish Gestation Period – care – breed– give birth– pregnant – How Often do Guppies Have Babies? 2020

Guppy Fish Gestation Period – How Often do Guppies Have Babies?

In this new post, I will cover an important subject regarding guppy breeding

the gestation period. Among other things

you’ll learn if you can speed up guppy gestation period and how many babies do guppies have at a time.

Let’s start with finding out how long the gestation period really is for guppies.

In most cases, the gestation period for guppies will last anywhere from 25 days up to 35

depending on the water parameters, the female’s health and the food supply. On average

22 to 26 days will be normal for most guppy fish.

If the female is healthy, it shouldn’t take longer than 26 days

especially if you provide healthy food on a regular basis

and you keep the water parameters in check during the breeding process.

If the female senses danger or is stressed out multiple times during the process

the pregnancy will last longer. Excessive stress can result in spontaneous abortion too.

Now that you know how long it takes for guppies to breed

let’s see if you can speed up the gestation period:

Can You Speed Up Gestation in Guppies?

Shortly, the answer is yes, you can speed up the gestation period for guppies

How though? Here are two of the ideas you can try out:

Gradually increase the temperature in the tank

Feed them protein rich foods

Any of the methods mentioned above will speed up the gestation in guppies

Let’s see what do you need to do in more detail:

First of all, gradually increasing the water temperature is done multiple days in a row. Each day

you set the water heater on a higher temperature

but do it slowly. By this

I mean that you only increase the temperature each day by 1 or at most 2 degrees

Otherwise, the pregnancy could go away.

The second method consists in feeding your guppies with high protein foods

Such food items could be bloodworms and brine shrimp. To make the most out of these foods

it’s best if you use live shrimp and worms, but frozen ones will work too if that is all you have.

By applying these 2 methods, you can decrease the gestation period by even 6 or 7 days

This is not a rule though, so don’t expect a sure decrease of this amount.

How to Tell if a Guppy is Pregnant?

To apply the steps I mentioned above

you first need to know if your guppy is pregnant or not. How can you tell if that’s the case?

Firstly, you need to look for physical symptoms

like a big belly bulge. This does not always show pregnancy

because it could just be bloating. However

if the belly bulging’s getting bigger over time, your guppy is most likely pregnant.

Another way to tell your guppy is getting pregnant

is to watch its behavior. Usually

the male will chase down the female when mating to the point of exhaustion

Then the female will stop, and let the male start mating with her. If you notice this behavior

the female will most likely get pregnant soon.

Some other symptoms that could show pregnancy are these:

Shaking and constant shivering in the aquarium

If the female is rubbing herself to the tank

like the wall of it and inside decorations or plants

If the female refuses to eat regularly

These symptoms by themselves won’t necessarily show pregnancy

but if you notice them all together

plus a bulging belly, your guppy is definitely pregnant.

Another sign that could occur

however it’s not the most common

is for your guppy to swim in the same place regularly

Just like before, if this symptom shows itself together with others

your guppy might be pregnant.

How Many Babies do Guppies Have at a Time?

Usually, guppies will give birth to live fry

How many though

A guppy female can give birth to anywhere from 2 to 200 fry at a time

This process will take up to 6 hours to finish. However, if the female is stressed out

it can last for 12 hours at maximum.

Does this mean that all 200 fry will live? No

not necessarily. That is because guppies have cannibalistic tendencies

When the female gives birth to all the fry, she could start eating them

if you don’t remove her at once.

Why Pregnant Guppy Not Giving Birth?

Sometimes a pregnant guppy won’t give birth. What could be the cause for this

There are multiple reasons for this to happen:

A first cause can be the water temperature

If the temperature is too low, your guppy won’t give birth in time

That is why many people will increase the water temperature gradually like I described above

Make sure to at least keep the temperature at the same level.

Another cause for late birth could be stress

If your guppy feels stressed out

it won’t give birth in time. The cause for stress could be other fish that live in the tank

If they don’t leave the female alone in the breeding period

she’ll get stressed out and even abort the pregnancy.

Conclusion

As you can see from above

guppy gestation period will last for almost a month if everything goes as planned. However

there are certain things you need to take care of, to ensure a proper gestation period.

For instance, the water temperature should be kept in check

and you also need to keep a quiet habitat for your female guppy

so she’ll give birth normally.

If you notice any of the signs I mentioned above

it’s quite possible your guppy is pregnant

If that’s the case, prepare a separate breeding tank

to ensure a higher survival rate for the fry. This way

the whole breeding period will go down in a proper manner.

Guppy Fish Gestation Period – 

Guppy Fish care 

– 

Guppy Fish breed

– 

Guppy Fish give birth

– 

Guppy Fish pregnant 

– How Often do Guppies Have Babies?