Guppy Babies

[Fluffybiker]

well as some of you know from my post on the new to hobby board one of my guppies had little'uns

Coulple questions... mother went into the tank on april 30th.. anyone able to guess the age of these?
and when will i be able to tell their sex? after watching for an hour or so they all look like girls at the
mo with the larger fan like anal fin

heres some pics of the lil darlins

 

[lilfishie]

they are usually sexable around 6/8 weeks, when there colour will begin to show, how big are they? very cute by the way

 

[modaz]

they all look female to an untrained eye when they are fry but at about 4 weeks you should be able to see the gravid of the females, this doesnt mean they are pregnant just how to tell the difference, the males should be starting to become apparent at 6-8 weeks depending on what they are fed on, crushed flake encourages slow grow and mixture of live and flake encourages fast and healthier growth, you dont have wait for the colours to start forming though, you can take a look at the fish before that and with a good eye will see the male sex organ developing (sorry i cant spell it ) seperating the males from the females will also speed up developement of your fry. if the mother was put in the tank on the 30th then they can be as old as that, they do look as if they are a couple of weeks old though. and for the record..........FANTASTIC pics

 

[Fluffybiker]

they range from 10mm to 15mm and are sharing the tank with 3 platies

currently being fed flake the platies take all the bloodworms (think the babies are still too small to eat them!)

is there anything else i can feed them to help them grow healty and strong would be nice to get 2 or 3 pretty males from
this the rest will have to be rehomed though

PS camera used is a ricoh caplio R5 and is managing to take some stunning close up shots! at £180 i'm well pleased with it

 

[modaz]

they are most prob from the same brood as being so close in size, you can go to the LFS and buy some Brine shrimps and combine it with flakes but dont feed them the brine shrimp every day as its best to do so twice a week, your other fish will benefit from this as well, Brine shrimp bags tend to have Baby shrimp in there so they will be small enough for the fry to eat,this will turn them into excellent fish and it improves their colouring as they mature
another way is to put some bloodworm into a blender and blend but some people dont like the idea of this for health reasons but if you got an old hand held blend that could do the trick

 

[dwarfgourami]

Instead of blending bloodworm, I use TetraDelica jellied bloodworm, as that is easier for babies to eat. Also same brand daphnia and brine shrimp. And deshelled brine shrimp powder. And powdered fry food. And mushed boiled pea.

 

[chucksmo]

Quick ? does the jellied bloodworm leave a bad residue on the tank? I have heard from acouple of other post on hear and was just wondering. by the way beautiful babies. congrats.

 

[dwarfgourami]

Quick ? does the jellied bloodworm leave a bad residue on the tank? I have heard from acouple of other post on hear and was just wondering. by the way beautiful babies. congrats.

Not that I've noticed, but like everything else it's a question of not overfeeding. I've got tinier fry than guppies, and I tend to stir out a tiny amount of the stuff in some tank water before putting it in the tank.

 

[Neo8223]

Wow, they are very healthy fish!!! They must have been taking in small chunks of bloodworm to look like that.

 

[Fluffybiker]

thanks for the tips off to the lfs tomorrow for baby treats lol have tried chopping up some bloodworms
and that caused a little guppy scuffle! think they like em lol

couple more piccies, i can sit and watch the lil darls for ages beggars to catch on cam but a couple nice ones i
felt i wanted to share

Another question is whats the safest way of doing a 20/25% water change without harming/ accidently removing the babies?
the poo levels are High and i want to get a change done asap have been too worried to do one since spotting the wee ones!

 

[dwarfgourami]

Oooo, they are such good pictures!

As for the water changes- just keep your eyes open, if your gravel vac head is very large take it off and just use the hose part, even if you do scoop a few fry into the bucket it probably won't hurt them, though obviously best avoided.

 

[Fluffybiker]

Wow one of them is showing some colours 2 big dark spots on its tail...
ben trying to get a pic but this has to be the sppedy gonzalis of guppy fry!

but form what you guys have said this is early!

hoping i'll have some pretty males cross ya fingers for I

oh and water change went smoothly no one was lost

 

[Fluffybiker]

got some vud of em now

http/vids.myspace.com/index.cfm?fuseacti...eoid=2030427834

they are getting big now (vids about a week old) half now showing dark areas on them
with some patterning to their tails
All still look femail with a fan anal fin

 

[lilfishie]

aw they are so cute, great vid, sound like they are colouring up nicely, how old are they now?

 

[Fluffybiker]

at most they are 3 weeks old now

here's a more recent vid, watch closely as the babies are going for worms bigger than them and one looks like its snorkling lol

http/vids.myspace.com/index.cfm?fuseacti...eoid=2030437549