how long do fish stay pregnant live breeding

How Long Do Fish Stay Pregnant 28 Days On Average

You have been keeping fish for some time now. Things are going great the tanks you have are amazing. How long do fish stay pregnant keeps popping into your head maybe you’ve been thinking about breeding some fish or does one of your females look a bit well fat? (If your fish is bloated but not pregnant check this article.)

How Long Do Fish Stay Pregnant

How long do fish stay pregnant the average is (28) days. This is for most livebearers Egg layers are not considered pregnant. Although some species of live-bearing sharks are pregnant for (3) years.

I appreciate when someone searches a query they want the full scoop. So I’m going to include details of egg-laying fish here today too. Although egg scatterers are not technically pregnant as they tend to lay unfertilized eggs.

Pregnant Fish 

Scientifically described as a livebearer. A fish has its eggs fertilized by the male while the eggs are inside the female. After which the egg hatches inside and a live birth happens.

This is only the basic description as there are 3 different distinct ways of fish having a live birth and there are a further 2 ways of having egg-laying births. Let’s start by investigating those 5 ways as well as how long do fish stay pregnant.

Some Further Reading

Low Tech Aquariums What Are They?

The Benefits Of Deeper Substrate Improving The Walstad Method

Can Fish Drown? Do You Have Enough Oxygenated Water

(5) Kinds Of Reproduction

As alluded to above there are actually 5 kinds of reproduction to consider. Starting with 3 for livebearers and 2 for egg-laying or egg-scattering fish. Some fish do indeed lay eggs. The 3 for live births are ovoviviparity then the second we have Histotrophic Viviparity and the third, we have Hemotrophic Viviparity.

After those, we have 2 for the egg-laying fish and they are Ovuliparity and Oviparity quite a mouthful I think we can agree. Let’s break them down into simpler terms.

ovoviviparity Fish

These fish mate with intercourse and internal fertilization of the egg. The egg stays inside the female and hatches inside the female. Once this has happened she gives birth. This birth is considered a live birth and the young is inside the larvae. The young feed on the larvae. 

This whole process takes around 28 days. So the pregnancy is 28 days on average.

Histotrophic Viviparity Fish

Now, these types of fish are interesting. They also have internal fertilization via intercourse. But they become embryos and develop and grow by eating the unfertilized eggs inside the female before being born via live birth.

With a similar gestation period of around 28 days.

Hemotrophic Viviparity Fish

how long do fish stay pregnant pregnant livebearer fish

These are the more conventional fish that we think of when discussing livebearers. As these fish again fertilize internally and the female feeds via the placenta until time to give birth. Via live birth of course.

The general rule of thumb for pregnancy time is around 21 days for these types of fish.

Those are the livebearers what about the egglaying fish well there are 2 ways of these pregnancies.

Ovuliparity Fish

Do Betta fish lay eggs without a male

Now, these fish are your traditional egglaying fish. They lay the eggs and the male finds them and fertilizes them. Now some of these fish will scatter the eggs and let them fall where they will. others will lay eggs on shrubs leaves and other flora. Still, others will hide the eggs and of course, we have nest builders and bubble nest builders.

In all those species of fish, the premise is the same they lay eggs unfertilized then the male finds and fertilizes them. 

Typical egglaying fish will carry eggs for between 7 and 14 days before laying them after fertilizing the eggs will hatch between 1 and 4 days on average.

Fun Fact Did you know a whopping 90 % of all bony fish are egglaying fish? Bony fish are fish that have shared fins scales and nostrils.  

Here are a few articles on Nostrils and Scales that these types of fish have.

Oviparity Fish

I don’t think many people outside the hobby know about these checky fish. They actually fertilize the eggs while they are still inside the female. Once this is done the female then lays the eggs. Still an egglayer but with possibly a higher fertilization rate.

Same as with most egg layers females will carry eggs between 7 and 14 days before laying them and they will hatch between 1 and 4 days later.

Related Educational Articles

Can Female Betta Fish Lay Eggs Without A Male? Yes

What Do Neon Tetra Eat? 27 Foods for healthy Fish

The Benefits Of Indian Almond Leaves & Leaf Litter For Neon Tetras

How Long Fish Remain Pregnant

So there you have it 5 ways fish carry and give birth or lay eggs. Here’s another fun fact there are around 33,000 species of fish. I for one am mad about fish tropical fish to be exact. Now even though I love fish. I can’t write about 33 thousand species and all the fish within those species so I’m picking 2.

Yes, 2 One from the livebearing fish and one from the egglaying fish. I’ve decided purely on my favorites the Guppy and the Neon tetra let’s have a look.

Livebearer Guppy Pregnancy 

pregnant guppy fish

We are starting with guppies. These fish are obviously livebearing fish they fall under Hemotrophic fish as they inseminate inside and the egg changes rapidly into an embryo and grows from there all while inside the female.

The first thing to point out is that these fish are very fertile. Prolific is another word that’s used. They are also known as the million fish as they breed a lot of fish. After mating the whole gestation is only 21 days give or take. 

The female will get big pretty quickly. After a few days, you may even start to see the eyes of the little fry peering out from the stretched translucent belly of the mother. Now although it’s possible for a guppy female to give birth to over 100 fry at a time it’s rare.

It’s more likely to be around 30 fry. Fun Fact time Guppy females are able to get pregnant within hours of giving birth. They are also able to store sperm/milt for up to a year. Also, the female guppy can give birth up to 8 times from that one encounter.

Guppy Gestation How they Give Birth

As stated above they take 21 days from beginning to birth. You will see when they’re ready to give birth as the gravid spot will be bigger around her backend. And she will swim slowly looking for a good spot to deliver the babies.

Egglaying Neon Teta Pregnancy

pregnant neon tetra fish

Now we know neon tetra are egglayers so not really a pregnancy but let’s run with it anyway. These fish are not hard to breed its just they like certain water parameters and temperatures that may not be typical to your home tank. Neon Tetra Breeding How Do They Reproduce? Here is some extra homework for you.

They rarely mate in the main tank you will need to put them in a breeding tank on their own. Feed them really well and fatten them up for a few days. The female will now have produced eggs that simple.

Once introduced to each other they will wait till the next morning. Then the female will release around 60 eggs as long as there’s some cover java moss or moss balls or some form of flora. The eggs will look like little white balls. They will turn yellowish when fertilized. This is when you have to be vigilant. The male will fertilize those 60 eggs after you need to get the parents out as soon as really.

Why do you ask well Fun Fact the parents will eat the eggs given half a chance so it’s imperative you move them back to the main tank asap.

Neon Tetra Gestation How They Give Birth

They will only take a couple of days to produce eggs and a day to spawn and fertilize those eggs. After which the eggs will only take 1 day to hatch. These fish are fast lightning fast.

There you have it folks How Long Do Fish Stay Pregnant (5) Great Ways From (33,000) Species Of Fish. Now neon tetra is pretty fast at around 7 days total time and some sharks are super slow at a whopping 3 years.

On the whole, the average across the world of fish is around 28 days. 

How Long Do Fish Stay Pregnant Conclusion

Wow, that was a fun post to write. I realize it’s a lot to take in and w could never get 33000 species of fish involved in one article. When we sit back and admire our fish it becomes more amazing how nature works.

How amazing that most fish no matter how they do things seem to have a similar gestation period. They all remain pregnant for around 28 days. With the odd caveat. I hope you enjoyed the read and find time to stick around to read some more great articles on the site.

I’d like to leave you with a few articles from the do fish series enjoy.

Do Fish Series 

Do Fish Hibernate What Is Torpor

Do Fish Feel Pain How We Know A Fish Is In Pain

Do Fish Sleep Can We Tell If Fish Are Sleeping

Do Fish Cough?

Do Fish Tanks Need A Lid?

 

 

 

7 thoughts on “How Long Do Fish Stay Pregnant 28 Days On Average”

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