Guppy Fry Control

[pglenn]

at the risk of possibly an off-topic posting - I am looking for some thing to add to my current tank to "control" (as in eliminate?) guppy fry.

I currently have a 29g, planted tank. In it I have about 8-12 guppy (3-4 adult, rest a few weeks old), a red-tail shark (I know, I know...impulse purchase a couple years ago), 3 adult florida flagfish and one young, and a cory cat. upto a few weeks ago I had an angelfish that eliminated ALL young in the tank but it of course out-grew the tank and off he went.

I would like something obviously on the smaller side (2-3"), not TOO aggresive as to attack the adults, but able to hold his own against the red-tail shark (who goes after ALL new inhabitants for first week or two)... I'm not looking to hear "get rid of the shark" nor "get rid of females" nor "get another tank"... please... if you wanna say any of that, PLEASE dont post here... ALL I want are constructive suggestions on a fish (or two) to add to control the fry population. I LIKE having an occasional fry grow to adult-hood (all but 2 of current guppys came that way) and believe it or not i LIKE the idea of naturalism and fry as live food for others. dont hate. just suggestions please

previous ideas from other sources are a kribensis, or other dwarf cichlid, black sjirt tetra, african dwarf frog. any and all "constructive" ideas and suggestions are welcome

Patrick

 

[Sofia]

Why dont you give them to your local lfs? You might even get store credit.

 

[pglenn]

Why dont you give them to your local lfs? You might even get store credit.

well, I am not really interested in plucking the fry out of my tank and dont have other tanks to place them in until they become "store-ready". just want something to thin them so i dont have 100's in a couple months. figure once the few survivors of each batch grow big enough i can give them away thru craigs-list, or else thru classifieds on this or another forum. just need a small predator fish to thin them out for me

 

[OldMan47]

I would personally use a platy for that fry eating duty but make sure it is a male platy. You don't want to make the fry problem any worse. I also find that a nice betta will help but the RTS may be a bit much for a betta. Bettas are too slow to get away very well.

 

[pglenn]

I would personally use a platy for that fry eating duty but make sure it is a male platy. You don't want to make the fry problem any worse. I also find that a nice betta will help but the RTS may be a bit much for a betta. Bettas are too slow to get away very well.

yeah, if the tetra fins were a "snack" the RTS would DEVOUR the beta fins as a MEAL. platy doesnt seem like an "exciting" fish but i know theres several styles, i'll look at them as an option

 

[mystus]

I would personally use a platy for that fry eating duty but make sure it is a male platy. You don't want to make the fry problem any worse. I also find that a nice betta will help but the RTS may be a bit much for a betta. Bettas are too slow to get away very well.

yeah, if the tetra fins were a "snack" the RTS would DEVOUR the beta fins as a MEAL. platy doesnt seem like an "exciting" fish but i know theres several styles, i'll look at them as an option

Would a neon tetra or other tetra do the job?

 

[Duck and Dive]

You don't have to catch them when they are small, just feed the fish as normal and the fry should get some, whsn they get to a reasonable size catch them out and sell them. The guppies should already control the fry, they will eat all of the weak fry and you will be left with the stronger ones, "survival of the fittest". Keyhole cichlids?

Mystus he wants them 2-3" but they would still work.

 

[chelbel]

German Blue Rams???

 

[craig855s]

male swordtail?

 

[kizno1]

a apisto or a upside down cat/ any small syno thats what controls my molly and platy fry

 

[Mollygirls]

I have 2 black skirt tetra's that eat any and all fry that appear in my tank.. I dont like the little buggers but hubby bought them before I bought any livebearers.. So I am stuck with them until they grow old..LOL

So my vote would be black skirt tetra's.. They follow my livebearers around when they are giving birth and eat the fry as the fish is dropping them.

 

[Bluefintuna]

Zebra Danios, I have 6 female guppies + 2 male guppies and 4 female danios + 2 male danios, the females are always producing young (both Danios and guppys), when the guppys give birth the Danios will school together and sweep around the tank scaring fry out where ever they lurk, the Danios are really good at keeping their own fry at bay by eating the eggs. In the last 6 months I've only had 5 guppy fry survive and 2 danio fry, all were easily removed and given to a friend once they were big enough to be caught without too much effort.

Zebra Danios grow to about 2" long and can look after themselves pretty well, just seeing the state of the females after a good egg laying session will give you a good idea of how violent and robust they can be.

 

[Chris206]

I've got 6 zebra danios in my tank, and as far as I can tell, I've not lost any guppy fry.

I currently have about 20 fry, from 5 females. I've let them I to the main tank, but they are thriving. I'm happy for the males to survive but I not really want anymore females.

Really interesting topic this!