Do Guppies Lay Eggs? (Explaining the Phenomenon)

If you’re new to keeping guppies, you’ll almost surely ask yourself this question. Perhaps you’ve noticed what looks to be an egg forming on the surface of your guppy and aren’t sure what’s going on.

Guppy fish have a high reproductive rate. It’s critical to understand how they breed before introducing them to your aquarium. Only then will you have a better idea of how to keep their population under control.

As a result, in this post, you’ll learn everything you need to know about guppies producing eggs, as well as a lot more.

Do Guppy Fish Lay Eggs?

Instead of laying eggs, guppies are live bearers. This basically means that their eggs are preserved inside their bodies. Guppy fry is only able to leave their bodies once they have hatched. During their pregnancy, guppy fish retain their eggs inside their bodies. The guppy fry is dropped directly from the mother guppies’ bodies.

In as little as six hours, guppy fish may produce anywhere from 10 to 120 guppy offspring. This indicates that they can store up to 120 eggs in their bodies. This is a far higher number than some of the other fish species that may be kept in your aquarium. Guppies may reproduce fast and have a big population because of this.

What are the Reasons for Guppy Fish Laying Eggs?

It’s pretty uncommon for folks to find that their guppy is laying eggs. You are not insane. Your guppy may lay eggs from time to time, but these eggs will never hatch.

Some of the most common causes for your guppy laying eggs are listed below.

Their Fry was Never Properly Formed

Your guppy may occasionally give birth to fries that haven’t fully grown and are still in their eggs. This is extremely comparable to a woman’s miscarriage.

Unfortunately, the fries will very certainly never be strong enough to survive if this happens. If you detect this happening, you may notice movement inside the eggs if the eggs are large enough.

They’re Never-Formed Eggs

It’s also possible that these are eggs that never developed. This can happen when guppies are agitated, but there are a few things you can do to lessen their chances.

First and foremost, ensure that the water conditions are ideal for your guppies. This entails a balanced pH, a comfortable temperature, and low ammonia levels.

Second, make sure your tank is big enough for them and that they don’t have any aggressive tank mates in it. Nothing will make your guppies more stressed than being constantly harassed or having no place to go.

They Hadn’t Been Fertilized

You may discover eggs that haven’t been fertilized when your guppy discharges her fry, or even sooner. If this occurs, you should remove them from the tank and discard them.

The Fries Have Curled Up

Some people have also reported that the fry is occasionally placed while still curled up, then uncurl and swims around like regular fry.

Guppies Reproduce In a Variety of Ways

we’ll now go through some of the other aspects of the guppy fish’s reproductive mechanism.

Guppy fish, as previously indicated, are live bearers. When released into the water, each guppy fry is barely 0.25 inches long. As a result, it’s rather little. Guppy fry can take up to 6 months to grow to a size of 1.5 inches. The 1.5-inch measurement does not include their tails, which might be longer.

In just a few hours, a single female may produce up to 120 guppy fry. As a result, if you can’t keep the population under control, it can quickly spiral out of control and overwhelm the entire tank.

Guppies have a high rate of reproduction. At the age of three months, they can attain sexual maturity.

Although adult guppies will devour their fry, the fry will be able to survive if the tank has enough living plants and hiding spots.

If you don’t want to breed your guppies, the easiest approach to keep the population under control is to keep just the males in your tank. This eliminates the possibility of reproduction.

Many individuals believe that introducing solely females will have the same effect. This is far from the case. When you buy them from the store, the majority of the females are likely to be pregnant.

The Advantages and Disadvantages of Live Bearing

You might be wondering why guppies are known as livebearers, right now. After all, rather than giving birth to live fry, many fish lay eggs. so,  What are the advantages and disadvantages of live-bearing?

Pros

• They’re Safe While They’re Developing

Giving birth to a live fry has another significant advantage: the mother may protect her fry while they are developing inside of her. Guppies may safeguard their fry until they are large enough to have a decent chance of survival, rather than merely letting them hatch and hoping for the best.

• The Mother has the ability to be More Mobile

Guppies aren’t confined to a single site since they take their fry with them. They can swim to another spot if there are predators in the region or if something changes in their surroundings.

In contrast to fish that deposit eggs. Regardless of where they deposit their eggs, they will remain there until they hatch.

Another advantage is that a female guppy can travel to a location where there are no other guppies. This implies her fry will have fewer competitors and have a better chance of growing to maturity.

One of the reasons populations have expanded in regions where they’ve been introduced is because of this.

Live bearing Has Its Drawbacks

While there are several advantages to live-bearing, there are also some drawbacks. Here are a few of the drawbacks.

Cons

• There aren’t as many Fries

A livebearer will seldom give birth to as many fries as an egg-laying fish. A female guppie’s body can only bear so many offspring at a time, but a fish’s body can generate many more when it lays eggs.

Giving birth to fry that is substantially better developed, on the other hand, is thought to result in a much-reduced death rate. As a result, everything balances out.

2. The Mother is in Danger

The mother’s safety is jeopardized while she is pregnant till she gives birth. She’ll be sluggish and have a harder time escaping predators. Furthermore, she will be in an exceedingly vulnerable posture throughout labor and delivery.

Finally, the stress of delivery and pregnancy is significant, and it will have a long-term impact on the body of your guppy. One of the reasons girls do not live as long as males are because of this.

3. They’re Unable to Look After Their Fries

Finally, guppies do not care about their fry. In fact, unlike egg layers, after their fry has hatched, they have no difficulty consuming them if they have the chance. As you may be aware, some egg layers go to great lengths to protect their fry.

Some fish species, for example, hold their young in their mouths to keep them secure.

You can read about the Guppy Pregnancy article: Pregnant Guppies

How often do Guppies Breed?

Guppies have a unique reproductive method when compared to other fish species. Sperm may be kept in the female guppy’s body for a lifetime after a single contact. This guarantees that she will be able to conceive again and again.

This is one of the key reasons why your tank can get pregnant even if only female guppy fish are in it. As a result, the population will increase at a rapid rate. This is why, if you don’t want your tank to get overcrowded, you should only keep male guppies.

It’s not unusual to have a 30-day pregnancy cycle. The female can conceive again once the guppy fry has been dropped. She won’t need a man’s aid this time to get pregnant. This is because the sperm from the prior contact is stored for a long time. She can use the sperm to start a family. As a result, pregnancy might happen as often as once a month.

How many Babies do Guppies Have?

Because guppies don’t produce eggs, they won’t have as many fries in a batch as other fish. A guppy usually has between 30-200 fries at a time. If you’re worried about them overfilling your tank, be assured that the other occupants, including the mother, will eat them.

Guppy Fry Information

Guppy fry is frequently dumped in large numbers. A single mother may give birth to up to 120 guppy babies. When they are born, they are only 0.25 inches long. Other fishes, including their parents, frequently feast on them. There are a few things you can do to help safeguard your guppy fry.

The best options are to use the breeding box or to introduce a large number of plants into your aquarium. Both of these will aid in keeping guppy fry apart from the rest of the aquarium ecology. As a consequence, they’ll be able to thrive without fear of being devoured.

Separate aquariums can also be used to raise guppy fry, although this needs more room and aquarium equipment.

Aquarium Fish Species that Produce Live Food

The guppy fish isn’t the only type of livebearer. There are a number of them:

• Molly
• Swordtail
• Platy
• Endless
• and a lot more

There are around 200 distinct species of livebearers. However, not all of them reproduce at the same rate.

The majority of livebearers can live in both freshwater and brackish water. They are quite adaptable. Only a few of them are completely marine. The typical lifespan of a livebearer ranges from two to seven years. The majority of them may also be used in an aquarium setting. Their native habitat conditions may be easily replicated, allowing them to breed and develop in an aquarium.

In cold water, several of these species flourish. You will not need to use a heater to keep them warm. Guppies, on the other hand, require a heater because they are tropical fish that prefer warm water.

The Bottom Line On Do Guppies Lay Eggs?

So, by now, you’ve all figured out the answer to “do guppies lay eggs.” Because they are livebearers, the answer must be yes. As a result of one encounter with a male guppy fish, the female guppy can get pregnant and give birth every 30 days. Even in an aquarium, their number may rapidly develop and get out of hand.