Fry Control

[bluesword23516]

So I have guppies, and they are starting to drop large amounts of fry. They started breeding about two months ago and now the batches are pretty big. I know it may seem mean, but I do need a fish that can help control the population. I have guppies and neon tetras. I have tried selling some but they just don't sell well in my area. I would like to get a honey gourami. Will this help?

 

[Baccus]

Almost any gourami will eat guppy fry, however you may run into problems with your water chemistry since guppies generally like hard water and gourami are soft water fish. If your water chemistry is right for gouramis then one will eat a few new born fry, but it may get harassed by the guppies.
Better bet is to remove all the female guppies and only keep a collection of males, they will bicker a bit, but mostly they will be fine in a shoal of their own.

 

[bluesword23516]

I love the females though. I prefer them over the males. I have thought about splitting them up and putting males in a different tank. I don't want to lose the line I have though, I want to develop a new strain. 

 

[Alasse]

Separate them, wait for the females to be empty, then do planned mating. You will know exactly which male and which female produce what then, specially if you are interested in developing lines

 

[bluesword23516]

I know but I still need to keep fry under control. I only want the smartest and I have my selections of fish. I just need to sell the other adults, its so hard because no one buys guppies where I live. 

 

[Alasse]

Have another tank with a predator in it, i feed my excess to either the angels or the goldies

 

[bluesword23516]

I can't buy another tank. I was thinking maybe a single male platy? I have shrimp so I have to be careful of what I buy. 

 

[Baccus]

A gourami with shrimp would have been a bad idea, since shrimp are on the top of gouramis food list.
 
Could you put the fry into a tank of their own with something like a gold panchax or a  butterfly fish (Pantodon)? But keep in mind anything that is going to be a suitable fry eater is going to potentially view everything else in the tank as food as well.
 
If another tank is out of the question you could try putting a divider in your tank and put the predatory fish on one side with the fry and have the rest of the fish on the other side, but this all depends on the size of your tank and availablitly of suitable dividers.