6 Ways to Tell if your Guppies are Pregnant

Guppy is one of the most interesting fish you can keep at home in your aquarium That’s why it is considered as one of the best freshwater fish to put in your fish tank.

Guppy is one of the fish species that does internal fertilization. The male guppies are just in charge of fertilizing the eggs. So, if you have some male and female guppies, then you will be likely to have some pregnant females.

As guppies’ parents, you should know the signs or the ways to tell if your guppies are pregnant. You can tell that they are pregnant by observing their actions and appearances as well. So, these are the 6 ways to tell if your guppies are pregnant.

Observing Its Physical Symptoms

Physical symptoms are the easiest things you can notice from a pregnant guppy. Just like women, a pregnant guppy will have its body getting larger as it is being inflated. But, you also need to keep in mind that this can also be a sign of bloating.

Floating fish in an aquarium is not a common thing, it might indicate something serious. See the reasons why your fish is floating in the fish tank. However, if you keep observing your guppy’s belly for several weeks and it is getting bigger as time continues, then your guppy is probably pregnant.

When its belly is getting very large and having boxy appearance, then it might be the time for it to deliver its babies.

Watching the Gravid Spot

Gravid spot is a spot near the butt of the guppy. You need to watch for this spot as it will take several weeks to appear darker. When the gravid spot is darken, then you can tell that your guppy is pregnant. In the beginning, it might appear orange or dark, but as the time goes by, it will be darker.

Once your guppy is very close to its delivery time, you can even notice it by looking at the little dots in the gravid spot. The little dots are the baby guppy’s eyes.

Monitoring Body Contractions

Body contraction is another sign telling you that your guppies are in labor. The contraction will be like the tightening of the muscles on the surface of their body and then it will become looser. This process of tightening and relaxing the muscles might take several times during the labor.

Watching When a Guppy is Mating

Besides observing physical conditions or symptoms, you can also observe some of the behavioral symptoms or changes. One of which is the mating process. You might not notice this process as it might be done very quickly.

However, if you notice that the male keeps chasing the females until she’s exhausted and sneaks up on her. Then, the male will erect his anal fin and inject sperm into the female’s underbelly. It can even be done by the male bumping the female and swimming away.

Watching for Other Symptoms

Some other symptoms can also be experienced by other pregnant guppies. You can observe these other additional symptoms that indicate pregnancy among guppies, such as rubbing itself against things in the tank (wall, leaves and decorations), shaking or shivering or loss of appetite.

Noticing that Your Guppy is Swimming in the Same Spot

This is considered as one of the most common behavioral symptoms of a pregnant guppy. Your guppy seems that it is swimming, but actually it remains in the same spot. However, some pregnant guppies are even hiding from view or even show up some aggressive behaviors, such as fin nipping.

What to do When My Guppies are Pregnant?

Pregnant guppies will need extra care from their owners. Here are some things or tips you can do to treat your pregnant guppies.

Reduce stress – don’t create any stress as it might lead to miscarry. You can see various reasons why your fish get stressed and how to overcome it.
Get a special box for breeding – this will be effective to make sure that the mother guppy and its fry are in the safe condition. However you should also be careful as for some pregnant guppies, breeding box can bring stress. So, don’t keep the pregnant guppies inside the breeding box for too long.
Feed them with balanced-nutrient diet – you can feed a variety of food during the duration of their pregnancy. You can feed them tiny fish food pellets, algae disks, bloodworms or brine shrimp. As an example, these are the nutritional food you can feed your betta fishes.
Bring it back to the tank – once the babies are mature in the breeding box, you can return them to the main tank. It can take around 4 months for the babies to return to the main tank. Just make sure that the tank is not overcrowded.
Regular cleaning is a must – cleaning the tank regularly will minimize the presence of bacteria in the tank that can cause the fish to die. Don’t be tricked by the clear water, as even in the clear water, some bacteria will still grow inside. You can also put aquarium salt that is famous to be able to kill parasites inside the aquarium. Make sure you also provide these essentials things for your fish tank.