Guppies are hardy, colorful, and active, making them popular aquarium fish. They also reproduce rapidly, filling a fish aquarium quickly. Overcrowding your fish tank could stress them and get everyone sick. When buying guppies, aquarists should learn how they breed. To help you with that, here are answers to a few most common questions aquarists may ask about breeding guppies.
How Many Babies Do Guppies Have?
A female guppy can have up to 200 babies simultaneously, depending on the conditions. If they are in a stressful state, they may not be able to have as many fries. This process usually takes up to 6 hours, but if the female guppy is stressed, it can take up to 12 hours to finish.
There are also times when your guppy won’t give birth on time or won’t give birth at all. This is because your guppy is either very sick or very stressed out. There could also be other aggressive fish in your tank that won’t leave your guppies alone while they are giving birth.
If your guppies have successfully given birth, it’s important to remember that they will eat their fry. This is because they don’t have the instincts to care for their babies that parents do. After giving birth, your female guppies may go after the baby guppies to get the energy and fat they lost.
When To Separate Pregnant Guppies?
Right before they give birth, female guppies must be separated from other fish. They usually give birth between 3 and 4 weeks into their pregnancy, but you can’t always tell exactly when. So watch for these signs that your pregnant guppy will show they are about to give birth and must be separated from the main tank.
1. Black Gravid Spot
When the female guppy is about to give birth, you may notice that the gravid spot near her anal vent gets bigger and darker. At the end of the pregnancy, this spot will turn black, and she will look very bloated. This is usually a good sign that you separate her from the main tank.
2. More Angular Shaped Abdomen
One way to tell that your pregnant guppy is about to give birth is that its stomach will be more angular. It’s easy to tell because it may start to get a boxy shape, which could look strange. She will also have an arched back, which helps you know it’s time to move her to a different fish tank.
3. Your Guppy Starts To Hide
If your female guppy fish starts hiding between plants, rocks, decorations, or in the corner of your fish tank, this is another sign that she is about to give birth. This is not how guppies usually act, so it is simple to spot. If your female guppy continues to act like this, it’s time to transfer her to a separate fish tank
4. Aggressive Behavior
Pregnant female guppies may get pretty aggressive towards other fish, especially males. Even when she is pregnant, male guppies will often try to mate with her. If your female guppy starts to act this way, you can move her to a different fish tank.
5. Loss Of Appetite
If your pregnant guppy isn’t eating, she’s probably in the last stages of her pregnancy and getting ready to give birth, which is normal behavior. This is even more reason to move her to a different fish tank.
How Often Do Guppies Have Babies?
Female guppies give birth roughly every 30 days throughout their two to three-year life span. Once a female guppy has had 20 litters, she is generally too old to have more fry and will likely go through a stage similar to menopause, which is the limit for fish, just like it is for humans. When they reach this stage, they can no longer have babies.
Guppies are very productive livebearers and start having babies when they are between 2 and 3 months old. These fish grow up quickly, which also means they reproduce quickly. If your fish tank becomes overcrowded from your female guppy producing too much, these female guppies will give birth to only two dozen fry or lower.
Guppies are one of the most common tropical fish, so most people tend to buy them. If you want to purchase guppies with males and females, you should be ready for the tank to get packed. Their ability to have many offspring quickly gave them the name “millionfish.”
Can You Put 2 Pregnant Guppies Together?
There is no threat in letting two pregnant guppies together in the same captivity. The problem will only occur once these two pregnant guppies give birth since parent guppies are a threat to newly born fry because they feed on their babies. They lack parental instinct, so they do not protect their young and would even eat them to replenish their energy.
After they give birth, you may need to provide them with at least a day to regain their strength and energy. You should also provide food for your mother guppies to help them get better. You can return them to their main fish tank when they feel better.
Before you put baby guppies in with other guppies, you should feed them and let them grow for at least two weeks. Ensure that your community fish tank has no big fish that could eat a two-week-old guppy. Also, give your baby guppies some plants that grow in water to hide in.
When To Put Guppies In A Breeder Box
When a pregnant guppy has been pregnant for about 3 weeks, it’s best to remove it from the main fish tank and put it in a breeding box. This is because when a female guppy gets pregnant, male guppy fish will chase and bother her. This could be a problem when your female is about to give birth because she might not give birth or only have a few guppies.
Another reason to keep your pregnant guppy separated is to keep the fry safe after they are born. Even though guppies usually give birth within 3 to 4 weeks of pregnancy, you can’t always tell when they will do it. If a pregnant guppy gives birth in a main tank filled with other guppies and fish, they are at risk of being eaten.
After the female guppy gives birth, you should put her back in her main aquarium because she will probably eat her babies for more energy. On the other hand, you should let the baby guppies grow for about a week or two. After that, you can put them in your main fish tank because they will be too big to fit in the mouths of the adults.
FAQ
Here are some frequently asked questions people have about how many babies guppies typically have.
Do Guppies Have All Their Babies at Once?
A guppy only gives birth to one guppy at a time. Since guppies can have up to 200 guppies, it could take her two to six hours to give birth to all of her babies.
How Fast Do Baby Guppies Grow?
In about 6 months, guppies can grow 4 to 6 cm long. That means they can grow about 0.3 inches per month, which is pretty slow for a fish. But remember that it takes guppies about three months to start having babies, so even though they look small, they will start having babies in your tank.
Do Baby Guppies Need Plants?
If adult guppies need plants to mimic their natural habitat in the tank, make it more interesting and give them oxygen, then baby guppies need these plants too. Baby guppies do best with moss plants or plants with many leaves because this kind of plant gives the fry a place to hide and avoid being eaten by other fish until they are big enough to move around the tank on their own.
Do Guppies Breed Easily?
Guppies are easy to breed and do so quickly like there’s no tomorrow. Guppies can have up to 20 litters with more than 200 babies each. Because of this, the tank often gets overcrowded easily, which can often be a problem for a beginner aquarist.
Do Guppies Breed with Their Siblings?
Guppies can breed with their siblings. This is called inbreeding, and it’s not good if the problem becomes too big to handle. This unsupervised breeding can lead to deformities and genetic flaws that will cause the guppies to have unhealthy fry.
How Many Baby Guppies Survive?
The chances that guppy fry will live depend on their tank conditions. Baby guppies in an aquarium have a 10% to 20% chance of making it to adulthood. But because guppies can reproduce quickly, this is enough for their species to stay alive.
Recap
As a fish keeper, you should always know how many fish are in your tank and how many there will be when they breed. If you want to keep guppies, you should know that they can have a lot of babies quickly and that they can breed a lot. Baby guppies are tasty snacks for other fish, including their parents.
This is why the mother guppy needs to give birth in a breeding box and then be moved back to her main fish tank. Usually, they will show signs and act strangely to let you know that it’s time to separate them. If you know how guppies reproduce and give birth and how to care for both the pregnant guppy and the baby fry, you’ll always have guppies to keep.