larry's fish pregnant?
- Thread starter FiSh bOi
- Start date
Female egg-layers like barbs, tetras and danios are known to get gravid, or filled up with eggs, prior to breeding. They do this with or without the presence of a male. It usually makes the fish look very bloated. Sometimes the eggs are released without fertilization, like a chicken, or are reabsorbed into the body. Unless fetilized by a male, these eggs will not hatch.
Livebearers such as mollies, swordtails, platies, and guppies, actually give birth to free swimming young. They have internal fertilization the same way humans do, but with the livebearers it is possible for the female to become pregnate multiple times on just one fertilization from a male because she stores the sperm inside herself. So sometimes these fish will have what people percieve as "miracle" babies when no male is present in the tank. It just means the female had been mated with a male prior to you purchasing it.
In most egg-laying species, you should not be able to see anything inside the female. Even with gold barbs, their scales are too opaque to see the eggs building up inside the female. Adult gold barbs are actually a bit different looking from the juviniles you see in the store, the adults look a little more plumper and stockier, which could be misinterpreted as pregnate.
In some livebearers it is possible to see the young develop inside the mother, especially in the light yellow, orange, and red color varieities. Usually you will see dark specks that are the developing embryo's eyes, or you might see what look like intestines in a later stage gestation.
If you are 100% positive what you have is a barb, then I would release it back into the main population of the tank and forget about babies.
If you are not sure whether what you have is a barb or perhaps a platy that looks like a barb, then keep it in the breeder net. Most livebearers will give birth within 30 days or so from being fertilized.
~~Colesea
Livebearers such as mollies, swordtails, platies, and guppies, actually give birth to free swimming young. They have internal fertilization the same way humans do, but with the livebearers it is possible for the female to become pregnate multiple times on just one fertilization from a male because she stores the sperm inside herself. So sometimes these fish will have what people percieve as "miracle" babies when no male is present in the tank. It just means the female had been mated with a male prior to you purchasing it.
In most egg-laying species, you should not be able to see anything inside the female. Even with gold barbs, their scales are too opaque to see the eggs building up inside the female. Adult gold barbs are actually a bit different looking from the juviniles you see in the store, the adults look a little more plumper and stockier, which could be misinterpreted as pregnate.
In some livebearers it is possible to see the young develop inside the mother, especially in the light yellow, orange, and red color varieities. Usually you will see dark specks that are the developing embryo's eyes, or you might see what look like intestines in a later stage gestation.
If you are 100% positive what you have is a barb, then I would release it back into the main population of the tank and forget about babies.
If you are not sure whether what you have is a barb or perhaps a platy that looks like a barb, then keep it in the breeder net. Most livebearers will give birth within 30 days or so from being fertilized.
~~Colesea