i have one fat female guppy left after i swapped my other guppies recently.

there are no obvoius disease symptoms with her but i am worried all the same. the main reason i'm worried about her is that she is obviously pregnant but hasnt given birth for atleast 2 months, maybe more. she has given birth a few times since i got her about 5 or 6 months ago. i havent kept notes but i recon she and other female guppies tended to give birth atleast once a month. the remaining one shows behaviour that indicates to me that she is ready to give birth in that she hangs about the plants and quieter corners of the tank a lot with her tail down and head up, like other females i have seen when they are ready to or are giving birth. the trouble is this has been happening for about a month or so and she hasnt dropped any babies yet apart from 2 single babies about 4-6 weeks ago, which i find odd as i've never seen a guppy give birth to just 2 babies in one go, usualy its between 20-30.

i did suspect dropsey at one point but i dont think this is the problem. she is very fat but her scales dont protrude as they do when a fish has dropsey. i treated her with an anti bac med for dropsey just incase. this didnt seem to make any difference tho.

there is one thing that i can see with her that worries me a bit and makes me think she may just be getting old and perhaps near the end of her life. the thing i noticed is that she seems to have an unnatural bend in her spine. just after her fat body where the tail meets the body, the tail seems to bend off to the left slightly. from experience i have noticed that old females that have given birth a lot sometimes develope a bend like this, although in the past the bend tended to go down the way rather than to the side, making the fish look a little like a boomerang when viewed from the side on.

apart from hanging about the plants and quieter corners a bit and the bend in her body/tail she seems well. she still eats ok and will swim about the tank ok when she feels like it. apart from treating with anti back med, i have reduced her food intake slightly although neither of these things seem to have helped any so far.

any comments or advice based on others experience or things they have read would be welcome.

She may be fretting at the sudden loss of company? Are the other Fry still with her? Do you know how old She is? (8 months?) Once Guppies get beyond twelve months, they're nearing the end.

I wouldn't have a clue as to the precise reasons a Female Guppy decides to do this, but she is able to alter her reproduction rate, and only produce single off-spring instead of large groupings. One indication may be the previous two Fry you saw, were they larger than normal? She is able to store sperm for several months, and have the eggs develop unfertilized. This may be why She's retained her size.

From what you've mentioned, I wouldn't worry about ill health, unless something obvious and recognisable shows up.

loss of company did cross my mind but i dissmissed it as i have always found guppies to be pretty hardy and ok on their own. i have been thinking of putting her back in the community tank as there is a male guppy in this tank. although i think 1 male to 1 female can stress the female as the male tends to chase her constantly. saying that the tank is pretty full of plants now so she could hide if she wanted to.

i cant remember how long i've had her, it must be atleast 6 months and she was adult when i bought her so it may be that she is just getting a bit old. i just looked up lifespan and most sites say about 12 months. some say upto 2 yrs but also say that higher temp (+24c) and over feeding can reduce their lifespan. mine are kept at a higher temp (26c) and probably do get a lot to eat which i find unavoidable when they are kept in the community tank.

i think i'll maybe keep her in the 10g tank, with the remianing fry, for a few more days with a reduced diet and then try her back in the community tank and see how she goes.

We transferred a group of Guppies, leaving two very gravid females behind. One of those died over night. So I moved the other as well. Coincidence, or Rod Serlings Twilight Zone?...

Our larger plain Females have almost reached 18 months on several occasions. Larger Males, 12 to 14 months. Most others barely make the 12 month mark. Body size seems to have some effect, other than that - who knows?

Guppies obviously have a very high metabolism. You only need watch them for 5 minutes to grasp that fact. I've forgotten how many have looked ok one day, and have been flushed the next (two this week in fact!). Some may be listless for a day or so, but generally they tend to 'burn out' pretty quick.

But you've bred for trade, so you should know all this...