Extremely frustrated...

[HZSK]

...also stressed, but that's really my issue and probably doesn't have anything to do with my fish.
Last week, I bought two female guppies(cuz they were sold in pairs and there were no males left) who came from a tank with males in it. They're pretty small compared to others I've seen and they both have a gravid spot.
Every time I look in on them I get mixed results--either I think they're pregnant(males, same tank, c'mon people I've had guppies before!) or not.
Sometimes their gravid spots look pretty dark and sometimes they don't so I don't know what to think. Tonight, I went back up into my room and looked in on them. Well, the one that I always thought was larger around the belly has a red gravid spot. I really, really don't understand what's happening here and I couldn't find any info about it and I have looked EVERYWHERE!!!! This has happened before and I tried to find info on it then, too but nothing turned up. Ever since it's been a mystery and now it's happened again! ARGH!!!!!

[exodon]

are you just being impatient?
are your water conditions ok ? have you checked?
are their others in the tank?
is the change of diet making them hold out?
the change in environment ?
they are females right?

exodon

[GuppyGuy]

the gravid spot lightens at night and in the day time darkens when the light is on. If you look early in the morning when you first turn on the lights you can see if there are any fry in her gravid spot.

[HZSK]

1. I'm always impatient, but when it comes to this sorta thing I've learned to bite my tongue, sometimes literally , and worry about something else
2. water conditions are normal(ammonia/nitrite at 0; pH at 7.5) I've checked
3. Yes, two mollies and one CAE
4. what change? I guess that should be obvious, though, but I do feed them bloodworms sometimes, most of the time just flakes
5. possibly, but they seem pretty used to it by now
6. trust me, they're female
7. I've heard that about their gravid spots but I've watched them since I first brought them home and, although it's what had me confused about wether or not they were pregnant before, neither one ever had her gravid spot turn red. Right now, its about 7:40 pm and I didn't check her gravid spot this morning but it's still red and she looks empty. When this last occured, the female was in a breeding trap and the filter had mysteriously stopped. Well, after a lot of fuss over this, all the fish were stressed out and i had to leave for church without fixing the filter. When i came back, the female's gravid spot was red and I couldn't see anything inside her so I let her out of the breeding trap, thinking that she had aborted her fry. I guess that means this female aborted hers as well but the only time she showed any signs of stress was after her gravid spot turned red. Maybe the other fish were harassing her?

[tetra girl]

as you said the females are still quite small so maybe they are not ready to give birth and thats why they keep aborting.
1. another question is are they inbreed? i know they come from a fishshop but you never can be too careful with those guys.
2. Do you have somewhere for they females to hide in case they are getting harrased?
3. Have you tried lowering the pH a bit. The guppies i have are in pH 6.4 are breed like crazy with no problems
4. and of course whats your GH? I keep mine at about 5 degrees

[HZSK]

Well, now that I've checked earlier in the day, she looks normal so I guess she hasn't aborted--maybe. I have a few plants and a large "rock" decoration that one of my former guppies used to hide in when she didn't want to tolerate her companions so they can escape harassment whenever they want. About the inbreeding thing: I have absolutely no idea and I doubt the store will know either. As for the pH, well, I tried lowering before with pH Down and it didn't do a thing so I went out and got pH 7.5 but I could try lowering it even more. My GH is 6-11 'cause the chart doesn't give an exact number.

[tetra girl]

one of the major ways to check if a guppy is imbreed is to look at the spine. Imbreed guppies will almost never have a smooth back - it usually has what looks like a hump in the middle of the spine. evrything else sounds good though.

maybe try lowering the pH to about 7.0 but only if thats compatiable with your other fish and of course change it over a few days so its not too much of a shock. if you dont want to spend more $ on product use peat. its much cheaper and natural. I usually boil some in a pot with water until its black - then wait for it to cool and filter through a sieve. that way youy can keep the peat for another time and save on mess in your tank.

i seriously recommed feeding the female some brineshrimp and bloodworms as this aids in the devolpment of the fry just like it does with developing eggs in egg layers. It doesnt matter if its frozen or live but of course live will have more nutrients in it.

good luck

[HZSK]

It looks as if both the females have those humps.

Well, anyway, the plump(as in more plump) female still looks pregnant and, while I was watching her and the others, I noticed a little something darting around one of my plants--lol, only ever found that one but it doesn't look like mommy is finished just yet.

Besides, I still have the other one to worry about.

[tetra girl]

Yay!!! at least you can stop worrying about your females not giving birth! Congrats.

the babies that come from imbreed females are usually okay. you have a higher mortality rate for still born babies and the female usually doesnt live that long. then again i had one female that was imbreed that produced about 100 babies before one of her pregnancies killed her so good luck and many more babies!

[myfishnorton]

Congrats on the babies, i hope your fish live long and are healthy!