Guppy Babies - What Next?

[LSU]

Hi,

I'm fairly new to this and was hoping for some advice.

Prior to me having a tropical tank when I was young(somtime ago) I was given a new tropical tank set up for last christmas 2006. Since then we initially lost a few fish but about 4/5 weeks ago one of our guppies gave birth to 11 babies(that is what we could see and rescue!). We were over the moon and they have all since survived and are currently growning within a net bredding trap quite happily. For info we currently have 2 male guppies and 2 female guppies.

Well, yesterday evening and into this morning it appears another of our gupies has given birth, which was unexpected given her size etc. So far seen and rescued 5. The problem we have is the tank will not support anymore fish once grown up and me being me cannot bring myself to 'dispose' of them.

We get great joy from seeing our fish have babies but we also know we have a limit of how many we can keep due due tank size. We already intend to buy a new larger tank shortly but we would like to continue seeing new fish being born.

The question is, would a local fish seller be interested in taking some of our new borns in the future? perhaps on a regular basis? or for business reasons would they only deal directly with credible suppliers?

Me and my partner love our hobby but are still new to it. We are not looking for any financial gain from this. We simply enjoy our hobby and are too soft to do, you know what!!!

Just wondering what the take was on this really. Have any of you had similar situations? Would greatly appreciate any advice. Thanks.

 

[theotheragentm]

The only way to tell is to walk into the store and ask them. Some take them for store credit even.

 

[*Fishkies*]

Yep the only way would to be either call your pet stores or go to them in person and ask!! Best of Luck!

 

[mommyof2bettas]

as said, the best way to find out is to ask.
Guppies should be at a ratio of 2 females per male or the females will get harassed. They will keep giving birth even if the males are gone as they store sperm. If you don't want any more babies it's best to give away the females. Most fish shops won't take fish until they are "adults" and display their sex and colors. Some guppies may seem females when young but grow up to be males, so they probably won't take such small babies. My lfs just gave me some free guppy fry as they weren't able to keep them because they weren't old enough.
You should also get rid of some hiding spaces of you don't want fry so that the other fish will eat them. If you feel that killing them on your own is too... not right then you won't have to worry because when your guppies give birth the others will eat them and you won't even see any babies.