What is wrong w/ my guppy...this is my first time having one? (W/ VIDEO AND PICTURES)

Question

One of my guppy is really fat and there is a dark spot on it that changes color(sometimes dark/light). How long do you think it has been like that(the fat guppy). I don't know which one is a male or female. The little guppy keeps chasing the big one. Could you please help me....this is like my first time. And how can I reduce the ammonia problem in my tank. I would really appreciated it if you help. Thanks!!!

Video:

http://s296.photobucket.com/albums/mm161/tulip_sa/?action=view&current=MOV00365.flv

Pictures:

http://s296.photobucket.com/albums/mm161/tulip_sa/?action=view¤t=MOV00365.flv

http://i296.photobucket.com/albums/mm161/tulip_sa/DSC00364.jpg

http://i296.photobucket.com/albums/mm161/tulip_sa/DSC00361.jpg

http://i296.photobucket.com/albums/mm161/tulip_sa/DSC00360.jpg

http://i296.photobucket.com/albums/mm161/tulip_sa/DSC00359.jpg

http://i296.photobucket.com/albums/mm161/tulip_sa/DSC00356.jpg

http://i296.photobucket.com/albums/mm161/tulip_sa/DSC00355.jpg

http://i296.photobucket.com/albums/mm161/tulip_sa/DSC00354.jpg

Answer 1

You can easily distinguish between male and female guppies, the males are brightly coloured with large tails, and the females are less colourful and  have smaller tails.

By looking at your video it seems you don't have a lot of guppies in your tank, guppies should be kept in larger groups, but as you are new to fish keeping you should only have a small amount of fish in your tank at a time when first introducing them into a new tank.

Guppies will chase eachother, its natural for them to do that especially if there are males and females together in a tank.

It looks as if the larger guppy is a female and is pregnant, the dark spot is the baby fry, this is where the baby fry will come out when birth is taking place.

If the female guppy is pregnant, to be safe I would get an incubator tank which you can find in pet / fish stores (clip onto side of the tank) and keep the female guppy in there.

(Guppies are live bearers, so they will give birth to live young.)

When the guppy has had the babies remove the adult female guppy and put her into the larger space of the tank outside the incubator (As the adults can eat their own young)

DO NOT REMOVE THE BABIES FROM THE TANK THEY ARE CURRENTLY IN!

The babies must stay in the same tank they were born in! Otherwise if they are moved into another tank they will die. This happened to a friend of mine.

If the babies happen to escape from the incubator tank, make sure there are plenty of places where they can hide, such as; caves, weeds, heavy planting (recommended).

I hope this has been of use to you. Good luck!

Answer 2

Well, the little guppy is the daddy and the big guppy is the mama! Expect lots of the boy chasing the girl... (male guppies are perpetually horny lol) The female will give birth to live young, anywhere from 30-100 the average is around 40. You'll need to seperate the parents from the babies, or else the babies will be lunch! As far as the ammonia problem goes, you need to do a 25% water change once a week to refresh the water. Also, if you get a live plant or two, that helps tremendously. Plant neutralize ammonia very well. I don't recommend using ammonia neutralizing chemicals. Why put another chemical in your tank when a simple water change will do the trick? (You'll also save money$$)

Answer 3

Congradulations! You have a pregnant female guppy. You have a pair of a male and female guppy. Her "dark spot" is called a gravid spot. It gets darker as she gets farther along in her pregnancy. It is said to be the eyes of the fry in her belly. The gestation period is around 28 days until she will give birth. Guppies are livebearers which means they don't ley eggs but give live birth. The male chases the female around, well because he is a male! It is best if the female is placed into another tank away from the male when giving birth and up to at least 3 days afterwards for her to recouperate. If you want to keep the fry (baby fish) you will have to seperate them from the parents since they will eat the fry. I have successfully grown up baby guppies on crushed up tropical fish food flakes (probably what you feed the adults). Other people feed baby brine shrimp, but I have never tried this. But guppies reproduce up to once a month and can have up to 100 babies in one batch (the most I have had is around 30). So if you keep the fry you will most likely be overstocked after the first batch. But if you still want to keep the babies some local petstores will take them off your hands and sell them to other customers. Well you could expect babies within the next 2-3 weeks I would guess, so good luck!

Answer 4

The larger fish, unless they're of radically different ages, is likely the female: Female guppies are larger than the males. The dark spot you see is the 'gravid spot': it's normal.

The ammonia problem can be remedied by establishing a functional nitrogen cycle: once it is operating (takes 2-4 weeks) you should have little problem with ammonia. In the meantime, use of an ammonia detox product will hold the gap.

You should have cycled the tank first, then added the fish.