i think i have impotent males

[boozybears]

Ok.. so I have a tank full of livebearers that has been cycled since mid-May. (25 gallon, water levels are all great .. amonia-0, nitrite-0, nitrate 10+). My boys are very..ummm.... 'active' with the girls ..however I have never once seen a fry. What gives? We were all excited about having lots of babies. Anyone have an idea why this isn't happening?

Thanks!!
Valerie

 

[ferrikins]

could it be they having fry and getting eaten??

Its funny cos that what my guppies are like, I only ever got one batch from a home mating and they all died bar 2, one has a curved spine, and liveing her live out in the community tank, and the over looks funny as well.

Platties I can do, just managed my fist molly pregnancey, but guppies, will breed like rabbits untill they enter my tank.

 

[Inchworm]

Hi boozybears

With all the livebearers you have, I would think there must be some fry being born. I would suspect that they are being eaten.

I will move your thread into the livebearers forum where you might get some more help from people who specialize in them. Perhaps you might want to ask some questions to learn how to ,monitor the females so that you can get them into breeding nets in time to save whatever fry are born.

Good luck. I hope to see you posting about having too many fry, in the near future!

 

[boozybears]

Yes, I have noticed my girls getting 'fatter' (lol) so obviously my guys are doing their thing.... I just find it odd that I've never once seen a fry. I do know that my fish are little piggies.. but wow! They must eat the fry really quick for us to never ever see even one!!

Val

ps- as you can tell by my specs i really don't have the room to keep any more fish... it would just be pretty cool to have a few babies around. Maybe give me added leverage with the hubby to buy a new and bigger tank?

 

[SnowyzMom]

What about java moss? You can usually buy it at lfs's, it's relatively cheap($4 a bundle here) and if the fry can swim fast enuf they can hide in it. They can also snack on it if you can't feed them often. Java moss is light enough that you can lay it on other plant leaves near or at the water surface which is where my guppy moms will usually give birth, so the fry have more chance to escape. Also piles of marbles give fry shelter apparently, though I haven't tried it yet.

That being said, my tetras will ambush any guppy fry they can. All my fry stay on the side of the 29 gallon where the live plants and java moss are. It seems fry are like Crunch 'n Munch to most other fish. I did see a new guppy mommy give birth to defective fry once that didn't uncurl and swim right away and they were gobbled and gone in seconds by other fish nearby.

Sometimes you'll get a batch of fry with alot of curved spines and the next batch, same mom, will be just fine. My daughter had one that kept throwing albinos...they took ages to grow. I've still got one, Peaches I call her, bcs she's very pale pastel peach now and I think FINALLY she's preggers...I'll be very curious to see if she births healthy fry and in what colours!

 

[Cavafish]

I have seen from your sig that you have a marble angel. If it is anthing like my marble angel your fry have got very limited chance of survival if left in the main tank. My marble LOVES them. I had them in a breeding net in the corner of the tank for a couple of weeks while I set up another tank and the angel was stalking and attacking them through the net.

When the female looks fit to bust/about to pop either put her in the breeding net (this is dodgy as she could abort or die of stress) or preferably keep a good look out for fry in among your plants at every possible oportunity and hope to get to them before other fish do!

If you have some good plant cover near the surface or a decent patch of floating plants they will hide among these. You will have to actually move the plants to find them though - they are small and stay hidden well. Look under the leaves.

 

[Da_Oz]

I am with Cavafish. Fry need a fighting chance in any tank but it yours I don't see one. You got atleast 11 fish that all they do is look for something to eat. And fry being on the top of there list. A breeder net or even a 5g tank would really help. You can get a 10g tank new for around $40 or used for free to $20

 

[mathman]

I have had Guppies, Mollies, swordtails, and platties for several months. I used to get fry like crazy then I planted some live plants and got over run with snails. Soooo, I got some loaches to keep them in check. Never saw another fry after that even with breeding grass and lots of good hiding places. My point is if you have a bI have had Guppies, Mollies, swordtails, and platties for several months. I used to get fry like crazy then I planted some live plants and got over run with snails. Soooo, I got some loaches to keep them in check. Never saw another fry after that even with breeding grass and lots of good hiding places. My point is if you have a fish that is determined, you wont see any.

Watch to see which one is digging in the bottom and getting into tight places and you will most likely know the culprit.


Often a small tank for a nursery is the way to go. Then once they are about half inch long you could put them into the community tank. One can never have too many tanks!

Good Luck.

B)

 

[boozybears]

thanks so much for all your posts! Looking at my tank i've realized that it really isn't very 'fry friendy' I really don't have that many good hiding spots for little guys. I"ll take all your suggestions and figure out what to do.

Thanks again!
Valerie

ps - if you have a 'nursery' tank do you keep fish in it at all times to keep it cycled? what do you do with them when the mommy's ready?

 

[pnyklr3]

Well, I have what I thought ot be MANY hiding places for fry, but they didn't seem to make it. I had about 4 the first morning, and then there weren't any. I keep reading posts about java moss and I'm going to look into that, since nothing else is working for me. I'm just not sure how available it is around here. The last time I went to my LFS, there were not very many plants and they didn't look very healthy, either. Good luck with your babies! I'm trying to save a few as well!!


Jade

 

[Dubby]

Another thing I noticed in my tank is that I get lots of fry when my tank has got plenty of algae. Apparently what is clean to us is not necessarily a happy medium for the fishies Also feeding live foods seems to help.

 

[boozybears]

really? you mean that wally my pleco might be doing too good of a job? Maybe i'll have to tell him to take a little vacation . hehe

Val