I have had two females and one male guppie. The females look very pregnant and have looked that way for at least two months. They bear the black spot and are very pregnant. The problem is they dont seem to release their young. Can they die from this? I did notice the one has given birth because she is no longer pregnant nor does she show the black spot, but there are no babies in our 30 gallon tank. Any answers any body could provide. Please dont tell me my PH is the problem.....thats seems to be the problem in any case.( As per my pet shop)

It sounds like one of them had babies, and they got eaten before you noticed them. Guppies shouldn't hold their babies in for more than a month or so. It could be that it's not babies causing the enlargement of the fish but perhaps an internal infection. If their gravid spot is really dark though, it probably is babies. What is your tank pH? Guppies like a pH near 8. What is the tank temperature? Do you have live or fake plants? Adding some will provide places for the babies to hide and may get females to release their young if they're scared (no place to hide). Stressed females often miscarry instead of holding onto the young. I've not heard of a guppy female never releasing the babies whereas with egg-laying fish, they can sometimes retain the eggs and become egg bound. Good luck!

I have been keeping tropical fish for over 30 years. My guppies have often produced but the other fish have always eaten the babies. You need to look at what other fish you have. You surely just don't have 3 guppies in the tank. As Robyn says unless you have plenty of foilage for the babies to hide in they will get eaten.