Head In The Sand Yet Again.

[Asmp41]

I thought I was doing right by buying females for my male Guppies. Only to be told I am going to have hundred as they can have 40 babies at a time and also that they can have seven pregnancies
Getting my leg pulled but was also told they are usually always pregnant befor they leave the lfs.
I Was also told you cannot let them in breed.Catching them and seperating them out with my family ,would not work and I cannot have a lfs here either.

So if they go to a good home.
My small tank will have seven neon tetras and two platies.
What can I put with these.
That are peaceful that do not grow big.

Yes please tell me what to do what to buy to keep me happy. Same question I asked when you all suggested I get the big tank.
I thought this was a nice peaceful hobby little to do.
My husband says its fish fish fish.
Lol Divorce soon sort me out guys.

 

[OMA]

Hi there. Inbreeding is not the worst thing that can happen. most of the guppies you buy in a shop are likely to be siblings anyway as they are often inbred to retain certain patterns and markings, even though the mixed one look way better. Inbreeding can cause defects though such as hunchback or general deformation. I have one and i call it Gimpy, she's fine though and lives happily.

Yes guppies certainly do seem to multiply fast but (and i know that this may seem cruel) if you include just about any kind of omnivore such as an angel or barbs the fry will be eaten before you even know they are there. It may seem mean but it really is for their own good.

How big is your tank before any suggestions are made?

 

[dwarfgourami]

Just trying to remember- have these babies actually been born yet? (sorry, I read so many posts, here and on other forums, I sometimes get them mixed up).

You may find that the parents themselves snack quite happily on their offspring.

Keeping livebearers is a bit of the luck of the draw. I bought 2 female, 1 male guppies at the beginning of the year, and the same number platies: out of their offspring, I have 1 surviving guppy baby, and 15 young platies. Probably something in the region of 50-70 fry have been born in the tank during the year; most of them I never even saw. 1 female I bought was pregnant from the shop, the other 3 weren't. Nature is unpredictable.

As OMA says, one more lot of inbreeding is not that disastrous; it is more the fact that if you don't separate the youngsters, they will go on breeding with each other indefinitely, causing not only inbreeding but a severely overstocked tank. Provided the parents don't eat them all within the first few hours. And that is a totally unpredictable business. Some do, some don't.

If your tank is 10 gallon, 7 neons and 2 platies will be its full stock. If it is bigger, say 20 gallon, you could add some corydoras. If you do not want babies, the way to go is either with male livebearers (in groups of at least 4-5 to spread aggression, though not more than 1 male swordtail) or egglayers. Most egglayers will not produce surviving offspring unless you actively do something to encourage them.

 

[Asmp41]

Hi It's a 620 Aqua one 90 litres. which means about ? gallon.

The two platys are say 10
the 1 male Guppu is 2cm or even less and is stick thin
the other Guppies are 4 cm say 6 when totally grown x7 would =42

Then seven neon tetras 7x 5 =35 when grown + 90

so per litre of water is 1 cm of fish at the moment its a whole lot less neon =3cm
Guppies =4 and the other is 1.5
So very little in there.

I think though the rule is daft as they need more than that to swim.
I have offered these in buy sell swap.
I have also been told to put a barb in from my other tank but too scared for my precious Neons...
I am a bit over the top over these Neons but my first fish and I am very fond of them.


Thanks for your help.