Fry!

[Andeekaii]

Decided to clean my main tank out, after emptying a bucketful of water down the bath i noticed a small thing swimming around; with further invesgation i realised they were fry, so unfortunately i probably tipped a lot of them away.
Even so, i was still left with 18 fry which i moved to a smaller tank. This is my first time raising fry. They were about 5mm when i found them, any idea how old that would make them? (They're platy fry, i think!)
Theyre now about 8mm long after about 5 days.

Heres a picture

I noticed some are black but some are clear, does this mean theyre probably a mix of platty and guppy, or are they just late developers? Also the clear ones are longer and look completely different, i've only had the guppys for a few days though, and they still have dark gravid spots so im pretty sure its not guppys. And the only other fish i have are Dwarf Gouramis.

Also 1 of the fry is about 13mm, a lot larger than the others, any ideas why? And should i seperate it?

Any advice, comments, help, chat - would be nice

 

[fish are friends....]

Id say they are a 1-2 of weeks old. 18... your very lucky. They've been lucky to survive.
The one that is 13mm was probably from an earlier batch of fry. No need to seperate it. You fish have probably been breeding for a while.
Feed them on baby brine shrimp or liquifry.. can buy it from most fish shops and is reasonably cheap too.
You could probably release them when they are around 1.5-2 cm long.

 

[Andeekaii]

The tank is quite heavily planted and there have only been about 8-10 fish in since its been setup, which is probably how they survived.
Any ideas about the clear / black ones being platys or guppys?

 

[fish are friends....]

the black ones are definately platies. They get colour a lot earlier.
Clearer ones will be Guppies. Should get there colour in a month or 2 depending on what they are fed.

 

[5teady_2012]

What other fish do you have in the tank? any mollies?

 

[fish are friends....]

What other fish do you have in the tank? any mollies?

They do look a bit like molly fry actually!

 

[5teady_2012]

If he has mollies, i would say all the fry are mollies except there is on guppy in there

 

[fish are friends....]

Yea, I agree. That clear one is definately a guppy.

 

[Andeekaii]

I have no mollies at all.
There are :
2 female and 1 male black platys (with yellow bottoms, like the fry)
3 dwarf honey/golden gouramis. 1 male 2 female
There were:
4 male guppys (yellow)
4 female guppys (leopard print tails)
Unfortunately, 2 females died (due to being chased by the males i think)
and this morning i found a male dead.
I have since seperated the 2 males into the downstairs tank and left a male and 2 females in my tank.

The 2 females left are pregnant, the gravid spot is dark but they don't look fat.
I have only had the guppys since the 26th of July.

 

[fish are friends....]

Thats just enough time for them to drop fry so that guppy can't be very old.
Your fry are definalty platys then as there is nothing else that the could be.
Sorry to hear about your guppies. I used to find with mine, whenever one died they all did. I never knew why tho. They arn't very hardy. Especially in new tank set ups.

Good luck with the fry tho mate!

 

[5teady_2012]

yup they will definitly be platy then, just asked cos they look a bit long.

Nice fry btw

 

[Andeekaii]

Thanks guys, glad thats cleared up.
'fish are friends....' I've always had trouble with guppys, i thought id give it another shot in my new tank setup, (6 months old) But alas, no luck.
Im hoping the 2 females and male i have left will be okay.
The 2 male i moved downstairs look pretty ill and are just hanging around the top of the tank not moving much, so i doubt they'll last much longer either

The fry seem to be doing pretty well though, although, when feeding i dont actually see many of them actually eat, but they must be eating otherwise they would be dead.
I feed them a mix of crushed up flake food, daphnea and im trying to grow some baby brine shrimp at the moment for them.
And yeah they are big enough to eat the daphnea, except the bigger ones which just swim around haha.

 

[fish are friends....]

What temperature is your tank at. Guppies can sometimes do a lot better in a cooler tank.. around 23-25'C
The only problem with that tho is that your other fish will suffer from the temp change.
Raising your fry in a warmer tank will be fine tho. They will grow to get used to it and adapt.
One of my fry that i raise was the Guppy i kept alive for the longest. Had him for about a year.

The food that your feeding is fine. I'm sure their eating too. Maybe they just don't like people watching them

 

[Andeekaii]

The main tank is pretty warm to be fair.. 27-29 usually. But the other fish love it and are a lot more active with the warmer temperatures. Also, the temperature gauge is on the side of the tank with the heater on, so i presume the actual temperature is a little bit cooler than the reading.
The fry tank is at 25-27 degrees. Without a heater.
I dont have the money for a heater at the moment but my room is always roasting lol.
The tank is right close to my computer so its always warm and its never dropped below 24 degrees, even at night.

 

[fish are friends....]

The fry would be fine at that temperature! But lets just hope you dont have a cold night lol