baby "feeder guppies"

[fish_keeper2]

i was at one of my lfs the other day and saw that they had "feeder guppies". there were non left so i could see what they look like but there were some babies so i picked up some(9 for a dollar)....first of all what exactly is a feeder guppie, and as far as my baby ones i picked up ive been feeding cruched flakes 2 times a day. how old will they be untill they are large enough to not get eaten?(i sacrificed one to see if they were large enough and i was wrong ) ) and how much older untill i they have coloring? also what can i do to ensure that they stay healthy and grow up....ive never had much luck with fry before. they are in a breeding net with some live and fake branches of plants.

 

[blitztidus]

Only the males will get colors. the babies will have to be over an inch which is also the size they start to breed. Feeder guppies are mainly inbred just for FEEDING. I breed them to feed some of my fish in my bigger tank. The males will soon be getting colors and the females might be getting pregnant. It will take a while to be NON-FEEDER size though and your breeder net will probably not be enough room for the guppies left. I would use them for what they are meant for and keep some or get a different tank to let them mess around in.

 

[fish_keeper2]

i wil be putting them in my 10 gal once i get a 29 gal for the fish in there currently....the fry are about around 2-3 weeks old right now....on a guess.....they are real small right now so im gonna leave them in breeder net untill they are larger....so feeder guppies are just regular fancy guppies that have been imbred correct? and what about raising the fry......i want to make sure they grow up and have happy lives.

 

[blitztidus]

they can stay in the net for about another month or a little longer and the way you are feeding them is just fine. That is about it to them. just make sure you change about 30% of the water every week. Feeders are just a whole bunch of different types of guppies that have been inbred constantly. There is a lot more than just fancy guppies.

 

[fish_keeper2]

oh ok......thanks for helping.....oh i cant wait to see what colors they become....how long will that be? a couple more months?

 

[Annastasia]

Feeder Guppies are actually a LOT less inbred then Fancy Guppies. You don't need fancy fish to feed to your other fish. And all the fancy designs is where you get into serious inbreeding. So Feeders are generally pretty hardy, seeing as they aren't that different from their wild ancestors...not big tails or fancy designs. With feeder Guppies, you need to make sure you quarantine them before they go with any other fish, because they can sometimes have a disease from being stashed in together.

Not just males will have coloring...females sometimes get tail patterns too. The coloring will usually have started showing up by 6 months, usually earlier unless they don't have many markings. They can breed as early as 3 months, though, regardless of size. As long as you have a male with a gonopodium...they can breed at 3 months. Some males take longer to develop, though, so it depends.

As for feeding the fry, if you can, feed at least 3 times day. Try to suppliment in some Freeze dried food, like Bloodworms, Tubifex Worms...whatever. Also, Live Baby Brine Shrimp works well.

 

[blitztidus]

It is hard to say. the faster they grow the earlier you will notice. sometimes they get colors early. others get them later. females will not get any to little coloring at all.

 

[fish_keeper2]

oh boy. thats gonna be a long 6 months or so.....im cant wait. the foods i have are flakes, granuals, algea wafers, frozen blood worms, and freeze dried blood worms. is that enough a verity....ill try for 3 times a day but schools comming up soon so the best i could do is around 7 am, 4:30 pm, and then sometime before i go to bed...is that ok...when they grow up will anything bad happen if they breed with each other

 

[blitztidus]

sometimes yes sometimes no.

 

[Annastasia]

It may not be as long as 6 months...I just said they usually have color by 6 months.

That's a good variety. However, I doubt they will eat algae wafers. Or granules at their small size. Make sure the freeze-dried bloodworm is small enough for them too! And once you start feeding those kinds of foods, I'd do water changes at least twice a week. Fry need good water quality to grow fast, and be healthy. The times you mentioned are fine for feeding too.

Yes, it's not good to inbreed brothers and sisters, because the fry will be weaker and can have deformities. The first few generations won't have anything too bad, but once you get past that you can run into problems. It's best to keep them apart, if you can.

 

[blitztidus]

SO continuing with what annastasia said, get more guppies probably from a different store if you wish to breed them.

 

[fish_keeper2]

so as an example once im able to tell my fry apart from male and female seperate them. then get 2 different tanks one for the females and one for the males. then go to a different lfs and get some more guppies(enough for the 2-3 f per male ratio) and put them in thier respective tanks...new males with the females and new females with the males. and then from there let them do thier own thing...correct?


btw my fry will eat algea wafers....i broke off a small piece and made it sink as the small pieces tend to float and they just pecked at it all day untill it was gone.

thanks so much for all your help you two

 

[Annastasia]

Well, you could do that if you really want to breed them again...but remember, each female can have up to 100 fry per month. And she'll have them every month she is in with the male. Sometimes if you leave the fry in the tank, some will get eaten, but you can't count on this as some Guppies won't eat fry. Just as long as you have this whole fry thing planned out...your idea sounds fine, as long as you have a big enough tank to do the correct ratio.

And yeah, most Livebearers will pick on an algae wafer...but you can't really let them live on that.

 

[Alix]

my guppys ate algea wafers. tried feeding algea wafers to my otos an my guppys munched on it till it was alll gone.

 

[blitztidus]

That happens to me sometimes too.