Feeding My Guppy Fry

[GuppyGoddess]

Hi everyone,

I brought home a single guppy from the pet store that is very small, still considered "fry," and I put it in with two full-grown male guppies. The issue is I'm feeding the baby 3-4X per day with baby brine shrimp and as a result, my other guppies are getting a hold of some of that and also some is sinking to the gravel. I'm concerned about water quality issues with all that extra food. Would it be best to suck the extra food up with a turkey baster *or* just not feed my grown up guppies other food since they both will be eating some of the brine and they have a tendency to eat a lot of algae? There are also pygmy cories in there. . .will they eat up some of the brine shrimp?

I tried to scoop the baby out but he's just too small and my tank is crammed full of live plants and I'd have to yank them all out to get the baby out. Once he is a bit bigger, and I can catch him, I plan to move him to a breeder for a month or so. . .

My current guppy tank is too small for one and when I tried to stick him inside my 10-gallon, my female betta went wild. I don't want to stress her out with "live" food.

 

[kelly528]

The BBS shouldn't become a problem... I squirt 'em in by the bucketful into my 10g... the good thing is that they can swim, and therefore stay suspended in the water for a few hours (long enough for the guppies to have a good go at them). My guppies seem to feed opportunistically on them whenever they find freshly dead ones (the freshwater is what kills them) snagged on plants. Not sure how many pygmies you have, but I find that my 7 seem to take care of the leftover shrimp quite nicely. I don't think a single drop of brine shrimp goes wasted when I hatch it lol! Just monitor your ammonia to make sure there aren't too many rotting. The plants will help too.

EDIT: Read your post again. I would just feed everyone a good dollop of BBS and do away with flake food. Your fry should also be big enough to eat frozen daphnia and crushed flake as well if he is anywhere near 3/4" long.

 

[GuppyGoddess]

The BBS shouldn't become a problem... I squirt 'em in by the bucketful into my 10g... the good thing is that they can swim, and therefore stay suspended in the water for a few hours (long enough for the guppies to have a good go at them). My guppies seem to feed opportunistically on them whenever they find freshly dead ones (the freshwater is what kills them) snagged on plants. Not sure how many pygmies you have, but I find that my 7 seem to take care of the leftover shrimp quite nicely. I don't think a single drop of brine shrimp goes wasted when I hatch it lol! Just monitor your ammonia to make sure there aren't too many rotting. The plants will help too.

EDIT: Read your post again. I would just feed everyone a good dollop of BBS and do away with flake food. Your fry should also be big enough to eat frozen daphnia and crushed flake as well if he is anywhere near 3/4" long.

Thanks for your help. The fry is about 1/2 inch (at the most). I'll try some finely crushed up flakes. My tank gravel needs to be syphoned and I'm nervous about sucking up the baby! lol

Right now I only have three pygmy cories. Hopefully they eat some of the shrimp. (I did have four pygmies, but one died and I've decided not to get anymore until one of my other tank cycles and I can have a higher quanity of six pygmies. . .then I'll turn the tank with the baby guppy back into a guppy only tank. The pygmies and guppies get along VERY well. . .they're a great combo. . .it's just that my tank is too small for the full quantity the fish need to thrive.)