I've Had 23 Babies ! Eek !

[DizzyMoo]

Hi folks,

I've been cycling my 3ft & 4ft tank for wks now & tested them wednesday to find my 4ft tank ready to go ( i'd used media from my 2ft tank already cycled ) and the 3ft very nearly there, So anyway my plants came from a seller on here & ebay, got them in & needed a few bits from the lfs, light stuff, food etc.
I don't buy fish from there as the tanks are always dirty or there is a dead fish, Well i always look (& moan) but was pleasantly surprised they had just had a delivery & nearly all the tanks had been cleaned ( maybe they heard me bitching ?? )

Anyhoo they had some guppies come in, some gorgeous male " red flamingo's " as they were labelled & a mix of females, So i got 2 males & 3 females ( 1 red tail,1 yellow tail & 1 baby blue tail) as well as some other fish .. Well didn't see til i got home one of the females had a belly full of babies..she's had them today !
Luckily i was watching & i managed to rescue 23 guppy fry I had no breeding net or trap or anything so had to do my best to catch them & seperate them, they are now in the 2ft tank & the female looks much slimmer lol

Tad shocked i wasn't exactly expecting any new fish , never mind a shed load of babies too!

Just want to check they will be ok in the 2ft by themselves? Nothing else in there to eat them anyway as i've transferred what was in it to the 4ft.

I've obviously no fry food so need to get some but anything else i need? Should i expect any deaths or will they be ok? All the other fish were trying to eat them so had to feed them to get them out the way *wipes brow* .

Any advice? xx

 

[Ludwig Venter]

It'll be a good thing if you could put some 3 to 5 Apple snails in there & ordinary flake foods crushed between your fingers when feeding will be ample....

23 babies..... you should be able to raise at least 23 of them.... guppies are hardy.

 

[OldMan47]

Ludwig has given you some excellent advice. The fry will eat what the parents do but need it smaller so that they can get their mouths around it. Some of the "treat" foods we give fish like daphnia or BBS are great to promote even more growth in the fry. Since you have placed them in a cycled tank, I would expect all of them to survive and thrive. Don't forget to do frequent small feedings and frequent large water changes to optimize growth.

 

[fry_forever!]

Awesome! They'll do great, no worries!
And they'll grow fast, as long as you do water changes often, and give them a nutritious diet!

 

[hughessomefish]

like most or all animals or fish they will grow fast within a week from when they are born mine normally double in size

 

[DizzyMoo]

Brill thanks for the help ,I'd just done a 25% water change tuesday evening on all tanks then tested wednesday morning So they'll be ok til next wk now.

I've given them the flakes crushed almost to a powder & yep they all came out of hiding. One thing i have a problem with is the filter is to strong what can i cover it with to stop them getting sucked in? Will a pair of tights be ok or will they get stuck to the net?

Thanks for the advice folks, I'll try get a piccy soon but only got a webcam to take pics with & it isn't the clearest of cams.