How Do You Get To Fry Before Anyone Eats Them?

[mike_nofx]

I am now set up for guppy breeding (well almost anyway).

I have 1 Main tank. It has 2 males and 4 females. They recently had fry, which i collected and put into a second tank. I have 5 in the fry tank now, which i believe there should have been more, but some must have been eaten! I only got them 5 because they were in the substrate (they fell in).

I recently removed the substrate, so no more fry would fall in. So i have NO substrate in either tank.

What id like to know is, how can i get to the new fry from the main tank before the full sized guppies eat them? I do a fry check in the main tank every morning before work, then i check all the time at night!

If the guppies do have fry, will all the fry be eaten before i get a chance to see them? like if they have fry in the 8hrs i am at work, could they all be gone before i get home? Same story at night when i am asleep.

Just want everything to be perfect, i just went out yesterday and spent $120 on a fry tank and accessories like a small filter, heater, food.

Thanks!

 

[kimmers318]

With my platy fry a couple of plants that offer hiding spaces works real well for us. Also, if I see mama is ready to drop or has started dropping I have always been able to transfer her to a net of some type to catch the fry and haven't stressed her out causing her to abort. The ones that make it into the tank my daughter loves to catch!

 

[Xebadir]

Dont worry to much, with that sort of population you should soon have guppies comin out your ears, some natural selection wont go wrong. Fry are remarkably smart: re add you substrate to your adult tank have some plants, theyll hide in there and just net the little fellas and acclimatise them accross(just use a bag of some sort). Make sure you keep the adults fed(1. improves their condition and therefore the young they produce: livefoods and high proteins assist int this. 2. makes them less hungry if fry do end up in the tank when your not home).

My personal pref is not to put the female in a breeder net, the net stresses her and delays the pregnancy.

For an example of fry surviving: my current batch has a baby who has lived in the tank for two weeks before i actually saw him, in with my of adults. He is the eldest and healthiest of them all(150% growth rate is phenominal).

Since i also run a substrated fry tank i have plants and a Bronze cory as a waste food cleaner(not interested in fry).

Hope this helps.

 

[BigIan]

cabomba eldoia and hornwort floating in the tank all make excelent hiding places for fry

 

[mike_nofx]

Thanks for the advice!

I'd prefer not to use a breeding net. As i am new to breeding, i wont know exactly when to put the pregnant female into the net.

So are corys not interested in fry at all?? I wouldnt mind 1 if that were the case, but corys are shoaling right? so id prob have to have a few, that'd make it more of a cory tank than a fry tank! hehe.

Any other fish that are ok with fry? like bristlenoses? just somethin small to help clean up a little.

 

[guppymommy]

Some of the fry are bound to become a meal for the larger fish. I was only able to save three of my last fry drop, but as I alread had 29 fry from previous drops, I wasn't too disappointed. If I were you, I'd leave the substrate in the "big" tank so you will have a better chance of saving the fry. I have elodia floating in my tank, but the fry seem to prefer to hide in the stones on the bottom. If it helps, I use "glass" stones that I purchase from the craft department at my local Wal-Mart (normally used for decoration in vases). They are larger (about the size of a nickel) and I only have a few in the tank. This gives the fry a place to hide from the larger fish (though I do have silk plants in the tank for them to hide in too) but they are easy enough to catch once I notice them.

I periodically check my tank for fry as I have three males and nine females, someone is always dropping fry.

I have also found that a turkey baster (yes, I said turkey baster) is much easier to use for catching the fry than a net. Just sqeeze the baster, stick it in the tank, and suck the fry up! Then squirt them into their new tank and that's it! I have had great success with this method. It doesn't seem to hurt the fry at all (and using the net can squash them sometimes).

Best of luck with your guppies! Don't worry about trying to save them all, you'll have plenty in no time!

 

[Xebadir]

Whatever you do: dont add a bristlenose, they are awesome fry killers, they will clean out your tank no problems.

 

[Rafael Dilone]

Well for anyone who wants to save baby guppys's from being eaten you should buy a breeder box. I have used it for my guppys in the past and I have saved several Dozens of guppy fry