I am fairly new to fish keeping as ive only had a 15 gallon aquarium of goldfish and pictus for a year now (dont worry BOTH types of fish are being moved into an indoor pond once they get bigger) my boyfriend though has owned and kept fish his entire life and is teaching me. but i decided i wanted to try caring for and breeding guppies for me,my sister,nephew and boyfriend. as i am getting ready to move my 2 orandas and 3 catfish into the new pond i will have an empty 15 gallon tank. i also set up a 10 gallon as a baby tank (which is being cycled as we speak) and i also have a 3 gallon for when the fry are very small as well as a net breeder. i purchased 4 pairs of guppys (4 females 4 males) the small 3 gallon has no filter and i used water from my 15 gallon to fill it up with. i do have small snails as ihave heard that you can use them to act as mini filters helping to eat up the old food and a bubble stone going.
some questions i have are
when should i be able to tell when to move the female into the breeder net?(i have one pregant female already and one i am unsure about)
one of my females has doubled in roundness since bringing her home but she only has a very small "gravid" spot in her tummy could she be over eating or is she just really fat early on in pregnancy or is she close to haveing them?
also i read in a book that baby guppies need "still" water when they are really small otherwise they will die becuase they wont be able to eat. i have a small air stone in the 3 gallon but it does move the water around quit a bit i noticed when i sprinkled some test flakes in. should i remove it?
and how do i do a water change when the fry are very small?