guppy questions

[gto_cowgirl]

Hello! I have a few questions about breeding guppies and the tank conditions. Right now I have a cycled 10 gallon with 3 guppies (2 F/1 M), 3 long finned danios which I will be getting rid of shortly and a male betta (btw my betta gets along fine with the guppies, no flares) .

1) Your suppose to keep temperature around 78-80 degrees? Right now my tank is at 80.

2) I have about 4 large plants and a big rock in the tank. I read you should keep lots of plants for hiding places for the fry so that they may survive. I was planning on buying a mat of that plastic breeder grass and spreading it around the tank for hiding places. Is that stuff hard to clean? I have a little bit of that in my tiger barb tank but it’s hard to suck the gravel under it so I was wondering if any of you had any knowledge or tips?

3) Right now I only have 3 guppies. I plan on leaving the fry with the parents and taking the chance of losing a few fry. Would there be great losses so that I should get another trio of guppies or would at least 4-5 guppies survive a month?

4) I read your suppose to feed the guppy fry several times a day with crushed up flake food. How do I make sure the guppy fry get enough food while the parents are still in the tank? I don’t want to separate any fish.

5) I have been reading you should keep the tank as clean as possible. How do you go about cleaning the tank with tiny fry in it without sucking them up? Anyway to use a aquarium gravel cleaner with fry in the tank? If so, how?

6) I have an AquaClear 150 which is an hang on the side filter. Should i buy some sort of sponge or pantyhose to tie to the intake tube so the fry don't get sucked up? I don't want to buy a sponge filter.

7) Last question, I know some people may not like this one but I was wondering when is a good time to feed the guppy fry to other fish? Is there a particular age or just as long as the fry is smaller than the other fishes mouth?

 

[marks69]

get youself a breeder net, then after she drops, catch all the fry you see and stick them in it.that way you can save alot of your fry, and after a couple of weeks stick them back with the parents.i find it makes it easier to feed the fry nore often without the parents getting extra snacks(fry).
make sure you clean the tank alot, cause i find the extra food you give the fry can make the water bad quickly.
a turkey baster is a good way to catch fry, but i have used a net to catch the fry when my wife was around.
gl
mark

 

[gto_cowgirl]

I have read numerous reports about being able to successfully keep the fry alive in the same tank as the parents without separating them in a breeder net. I would like to try to do that unless there can be no survivors at all with this method. I don’t like the idea of keeping fish in a tiny area with barely any room to swim for weeks on end especially. So if I should keep more guppies how many more to have that survival rate? Also, please if you can answer all the questions.

 

[guppymonkey]

I have read numerous reports about being able to successfully keep the fry alive in the same tank as the parents without separating them in a breeder net. I would like to try to do that unless there can be no survivors at all with this method. I don’t like the idea of keeping fish in a tiny area with barely any room to swim for weeks on end especially. So if I should keep more guppies how many more to have that survival rate? Also, please if you can answer all the questions.

I agree. I have been breeding guppies for awhile now and breeder nets are basically completely useless. It ends up getting really dirty and the fry end up being stunted from the small space.

To answer your questions:

1) 80 is ok. In fact for fry 80 is optimal because it helps speed up their metabolism which makes them grow faster.

2) Instead of buying the breeder grass I suggest you get some large bushy types of plants (plastic or real whatever your preference is). The bushy plants give the fry places to hide if the adults start going after them. It works better than the breeder grass because the breeder grass is too low and fry tend to swim towards to top a lot.

3)One male and two females should be ok. I am not sure what you are talking about with "surviving a month". The cycling process maybe? With tons of fry on the way I wouldn't add anymore guppies.

4) Crushed flakes can work but I like to use brine shrimp personally. They sell brine shrimp hatcheries at pet stores. That way you can get fresh live food for the fry (helps them grow faster).

5) I vacuum the gravel in my fry tank all the time. Usually the fry get out of the way of the syphon. And if they get stuck I usually just stop the syphon and try to let them out. I haven't had major problems with it.

6) I have never had problems with fry getting sucked up by my filter. I don't have experience with the Aquaclear 150 but I assume its similar to other models on the market. There shouldn't be a strong enough suction to harm the fry.

7) It depends on what you want to feed them to. If its something big like an oscar they should be full grown. If its something smaller than they can obviously be smaller. Just as a warning, never try to feed sick fish to other fish. It just spreads disease.

 

[gto_cowgirl]

Wow thank you for your reply guppymonkey. I'll look for those bushy plants. Oh and what i ment was surviving a month was i know the parents may eat some of the babies but i wanted at least a certain number to survive each month from mostly just being eaten.

And yeah i would never give sick fish to other fish to eat. That is why i'm raising my own. I have seen those conditions in the store, its just horrible and i don't want to risk it.

Thanks again!!, i feel much better about this now.

 

[Rivermud76]

To add to what guppymonkey said...

The best way to make your guppies grow well is to feed them in combinations. Flake food tends to stay in the digestive track longer. If you feed on a cycle of say flake then brine then flake then brine..... over the course of a day they will grow extremely fast. Brine shrimp works like a laxative. A smart feeding schedule would be first feeding Flake, 2 hours later feed brine shrimp, repeat throughout the day. The reason you feed the brine shrimp is because of the high protien content.. = growth.. Guppies spend the first part of their lives working on growth then the rest of their lives working on sexual development. Guppies may get bored with the same type of flake each time so maybe you might think about using 2-3 different type of flake foods such as hi-pro and spirulina.

Instead of buying a brine shrimp hatchery, make one of your own brine shrimp cultivation

The brine shrimp eggs will hatch in a solution made from untreated tap water, any non-iodized salt (table salt works fine), and baking soda. I make up about 5 gallons of solution at once and use it over several days. I use 15 cc (1 tablespoon) of salt per liter of water. I use about 15 cc of baking soda per 5 gallon bucket. The latter is not at all critical.

 

[gto_cowgirl]

I usually feed all my fish a variety of food.

For the angels i feed a variety of freeze dried bloodworms, freeze dried brine
shrimp, flake food, cumcubers, spinach leaves, water fleas (prepackaged), frozen beefheart.

For the tiger barbs and shark, all of the above with some african cichlid sinking pellets and colorblend's sinking pellets to help the shark's colorful tail.

I have seen those brine shrimp hatcheries and even read about making my own but I don't really enjoy growing any kind of live bug/creature. I love the colorful tails on the guppies is why i thought about breeding them for food.

I may have to start growing my own baby brine shrimp if the angels begin fertilizing any eggs but other than that i would really rather not go into live foods except for fish. But thanks for your help I have thought about buying a different kind of flake food mostly with more algae to supplement the veggy diet.

 

[MartinB]

I also give my fry some hard boiled egg yolk.
Thay love it.

 

[Lenna]

I have an aquaclear 150. So far I haven't had any fry sucked into it. I don't think the suction is powerful enough so they should be ok.

 

[rbcxpeter]

I'm also interested in breeding guppies (don't mean to steal this thread) but i was wondering how often do they breed? In other words, how fast would 10g tank be filled up with guppies if you started with 2 F and 1 M. Thanks.

 

[MartinB]

It only take them 3 to 4 weeks to breed.

 

[gto_cowgirl]

I tried looking on the internet last night for some fake java moss and had no luck. Does anyone know where i can buy some of those at? I don't really want to grow anything real, barely have any lighting on that tank and i wanted some real good bushy plants for the guppies.

Or does anyone know any good sites i can order some fake plants that would help the guppies more. I can't seem to find really good plants.

 

[guppymonkey]

Doesn't have to be just short plants. Taller plants work also. I don't know the specific names of any plants. I just went to my local pet store and got some large filler plastic plants and they seem to work very well since the fry have a tendency to go towards the top of the tank.

 

[Rivermud76]

One thing you can do is get groundcover plants for reptiles. Cut the limbs off the main branch and then use fishing line to secure two limbs together. Groundcover foliage for reptile tanks is fairly dense and with two branches laces together it provides a nice looking floating plant. Perfect for guppy fry to hide in. You can find most of this groundcover at your lps for under 5 US.

 

[guppymonkey]

Some of those reptile plants have metal wire in them that would contaminate the water. Others will leach chemicals into the water. Only plastic plants made for aquariums should really be used, others can possibly kill the fish. Not all will leach chemicals but its impossible to tell just by looking at them.