Guppies As Live Food

[Arthur b]

after a malfunction with my heater all of my fish apart from my 40 guppies died however i see this as an opportunity to remodel my tank.

i was thinking of moving my guppies out of my large tank and into a smaller tank i have where i will continue to breed my tiger guppies. this leaves me with a decent size tank ready cycled with nothing in it.

what i was thinking was that i would convert my tank into a brackish tank were i would keep a large mudskipper or a catfish of something exciting.

then i was thinking of using my guppies (witch i can produce an infinite amount of) as live food for the more exciting brackish fish.

does anyone have any advice on how i could do this or what would be a good brackish fish for eating guppies.

 

[nmonks]

Most anything will eat small guppies -- knight gobies, archerfish, monos for example -- not just "predators" like waspfish, pike livebearers and Siamese tigerfish.

But you do need to be realistic about this. Something like a pike livebearer will eat nothing other than guppies if you start using them, and a mature female (up to 20 cm long!) expect two or three every day. Over its 2-3 year lifespan that is a LOT of guppies.

Many aquarists who think they'll be able to produce their own live food are quickly lifted out of that delusion! It's best to adjust all predatory fish to easier/cheaper/safer live foods or frozen foods where possible. There's also some evidence that using live feeder fish encourages aggression in predatory fish, so be very careful before you start down this path.

Cheers, Neale

 

[Arthur b]

thanks for the advice.

the pike liveberther sounds like a pretty nice fish. i have done some research on them and apparently they can live of most things including earthworms, bloodworms, insects and even beef?!

do you think it would be posible to feed them of such foods with the addition of a guppie or two every couple of days.

my second question is about the size of my tank, it is 60cm long 30cm wide and about 40cm tall. i doubt that it would be big enough for a female however unless i am mistaken the males are about 10cm long witch would better suit my tank. would it be posible to keep more than one male withought them killing each other?

 

[nmonks]

apparently they can live of most things including earthworms, bloodworms, insects and even beef?!

They can. But not if they are wild caught, and the day you feed tank-bred specimens live guppies is the day they stop accepting everything else they've eaten thus far, except perhaps big live insects/earthworms.

do you think it would be posible to feed them of such foods with the addition of a guppie or two every couple of days.

Nope.

my second question is about the size of my tank, it is 60cm long 30cm wide and about 40cm tall. i doubt that it would be big enough for a female however unless i am mistaken the males are about 10cm long witch would better suit my tank. would it be posible to keep more than one male withought them killing each other?

They're relatively docile but different sized individuals will eat one another. No question. Since your tank is relatively small, I'd perhaps be looking at some other predator, if that's where you want to go. Neovespicula depressifrons for example. In a freshwater tank, Thalassophryne amazonica would be an option. It doesn't move much, so doesn't need to eat much, and you could probably keep it satisfied with gut-loaded guppies without much bother.

Cheers, Neale

 

[Marine/Freshwater?]

If you are into breeding guppies why don't you breed Pike Livebearers (Belonesox belizanus) ? They breed similarly to guppies, the only worry is canibalism of the babies by the parents.

 

[Arthur b]

that would be awsome but as emonk said they are hard to keep fed and my tank is not big enough however i have found a 100 gallon clear plastic storage container witch i am going to use as my brackish tank, so if i can find a more reliable food source i might keep pike after all and keep my 20 gallon tank for breeding my guppies


i am guessing that the weird prehistoric fish (can't remember the proper name of hand) would be ok with other fish so long as the other fish are larger than it? would it be possible to have the prehistoric fish and the pike in the same 100 gallon tank?

 

[Marine/Freshwater?]

By prehistoric fish I am sure you are refering to Stonefish/Toadfish right? There is a brackish Toadfish (Batrachus trispinosus) that would do well or there is an Amazon Freshwater species that is more rare. "Prehistoric fish" used to mostly refer to the amazonian species. If you can identify the indivdual than you can find out it's specific water parameters.

EDIT: I was correct Thalassophryne amazonica a.k.a Prehistoric Monster Fish. It is freshwater. Belonesox belizanus is usually more freshwater than brackish. It can be found in hyper-saline areas, but it usually occurs in freshwater. It could probably co-exist with either species of Toadfish you have.

 

[Arthur b]

i should have all i need to start cycling my tank soon and then i have a good few weeks to decide witch fish to get as i am still undecided. once i get the tank i'll take some picks for everyone to see.

thanks everyone for all of the advice

Arthur