Guppy babies

[Ribsy1011]

hey guys,

One of my guppys seems to be pregnant in about 20-25 days, i have 2 danios and 2 guppys (male and female) in my tank (its a new tank), would it be a good idea for when the guppy fry come out to catch some, kill them humainly and freeze them to later feed to the other fish? I know it sounds cruel but i dont want to just get rid of the fish and i definetly dont want to let them all live in a tiny tank together. Thanks

 

[Colin_T]

Hi and welcome to the forum

How big is the tank?
Has the filter cycled yet?
Is there any ammonia, nitrite or nitrate in the water and if yes, what levels are they?

Short answer no, don't kill them. The danios will probably eat some and the rest can grow up in the tank. When they are older you can trade them in at the pet shop and use the credit to get something else.

 

[Ribsy1011]

Hi and welcome to the forum

How big is the tank?
Has the filter cycled yet?
Is there any ammonia, nitrite or nitrate in the water and if yes, what levels are they?

Short answer no, don't kill them. The danios will probably eat some and the rest can grow up in the tank. When they are older you can trade them in at the pet shop and use the credit to get something else.

Hey, thanks for replying

Unfortunately im very new to all of this (only got the tank 3 days prior) i havent tested ammonia levels but do have hardy fish, i will test those soon. My tank is only 20L, so i doubt that the tank could handle that much waste so i dont think i could really keep many of them without making the other fish die or making the tank water bad.

 

[Colin_T]

Because the tank is new, (3 days) you should only feed the fish a little bit once every second day, and do a 75% water change about 4-8 hours after feeding the fish. This will help reduce the ammonia levels in the water and stop the fish dying from ammonia poisoning.

When you get test kits, get liquid test kits because they are more accurate than dry paper test strips. Check the expiry date on the test kits before you buy them. Keep test kits cool and dry to maximise their life.

Once you have test kits, monitor the ammonia and nitrite levels and do a 75% water change any time you have an ammonia or nitrite reading above 0.

 

[Ribsy1011]

Because the tank is new, (3 days) you should only feed the fish a little bit once every second day, and do a 75% water change about 4-8 hours after feeding the fish. This will help reduce the ammonia levels in the water and stop the fish dying from ammonia poisoning.

When you get test kits, get liquid test kits because they are more accurate than dry paper test strips. Check the expiry date on the test kits before you buy them. Keep test kits cool and dry to maximise their life.

Once you have test kits, monitor the ammonia and nitrite levels and do a 75% water change any time you have an ammonia or nitrite reading above 0.

Alright thanks for that! Also since its a new tank how often should i change the filter? And when the mumma guppy has the fry what would recommend?

 

[Colin_T]

Don't clean the filter until it is at least 6 weeks old otherwise you can damage the bacteria that are trying to grow on it.

If you have a power filter with sponges in, then after the tank has been run for 6 weeks, you can wash the filter materials in a bucket of tank water and then put them back in the tank. Then wash the filter case under tap water. Clean the motor and impellor and then put it all back together.

Personally I would leave the baby guppies but that is me. If you get a large plastic storage container you can put the babies into that. I don't like killing fish (done it way too many times) unless they are sick or deformed. So I am going to bow out of this part and let others tell you to kill them.

 

[Essjay]

Also since its a new tank how often should i change the filter?

Don't change the filter. Ignore any instructions that tell you to do that. The media in the filter is where the bacteria live and if you change the media (cartridge, sponge, whatever) you'll throw away all the bacteria and will have to re-cycle the tank all over again.

Just wash the media in water you remove during a water change, but not for at least 6 weeks so you don't damage the newly growing bacteria colonies.

 

[seangee]

How many plants in the tank? Without somewhere to hide most of the fry will get eaten anyway.