Lone Fancy Guppy Fry

[Flame Heart]

Hi everyone. A few days ago when my mom and I were cleaning the tank, we found a tiny, lone guppy fry that looked like a newborn. I was amazed at how it could survive the cleaning since we use a gravel pump, and I finally convinced my mom to capture it and put it in our empty fishbowl. So my lil' guy is very happy in his few inches of water with a plastic plant and a small light since the area where the fishbowl is is kind of dim. He has a diet of crushed fish flakes and every few days some egg yolk cloud. He has no filter or heater, but it's summer so he should be okay.

Just wanted to share my story with you guys and hopefully I will be able to get some pics of him soon. Also, any advice on what I should be doing more is appreciated. And, my females in my main tank look pregnant also! So yay.

How long should I be able to keep him in there with no filter or heater, and when will he be big enough to go back into the main tank?

 

[Meggie :)]

He should not be kept in a small bowl, especially without a filter! I would put him back asap! Also, the bigger his environment is, like if he is kept in a tank instead of a bowl, the faster he will grow. If you want him to survive, just add a ton of plants, plastic or real. And I would NOT try to save every guppy if I were you! Where there's one, there's a hundred more to come...you will have many, many baby guppies if you have several preggo female guppies!

Good luck!

 

[Flame Heart]

I will tell my mom this, maybe she will give him more water. The bowl can hold about 3-4 gallons of water, but my mom only filled about 1/4th of it. I know about the 'saving every fry' thing, I've done it before. We just saved this one since it was the first fry in a while that we noticed.

So, I should give him all the water he can get and try to find a cheap yet reliable filter?

 

[Meggie :)]

Yes...I would give the little one all the water you can get in there and try to buy a cheap internal filter that you can fit into there, but make sure there's enough surface movement to get oxygen into the water...or the cheaper way to go is to maybe just buy a large breeding net, stick it in the main tank and put the fry into it until he is big enough to not get eaten by they other fish, then release him as soon as you can

 

[fish48]

There is no need for a filter one fry in a 3-4 gallons of water will live and grow ok
Stop feeding egg yolk there is no need for it . egg yolk can easy pollute the water .
Do a very small water change of 10% every few day in a few weeks it should be
Big enough to release him back to the main tank.

 

[Brandi.]

I have some guppies, they are both fairly small, the smaller one only has ONE baby at a time, the second had two. I'm waiting for them both to drop another set.

Good luck to your little guy! I do suggest keeping him in the main tank, too. Like PP have said, he will grow faster, and be better off.

 

[Flame Heart]

Okay, so he has about half of the bowl filled now, I would have filled it up all the way but my mom protested. I've heard egg yolk is a good source of protein, so I might just give him a tad every few days. I'll ask my mom about the breeding net, if it's under 10 dollars I might pay for it. Thanks for all your help by the way guys.

Also, we might still have a divider, should we put that in there? I'm just worried the adult fish won't have enough space.

Also, will he survive in the main tank? He is about --------- that long.

Also, one of my male guppies in the main tank might have fin rot, and I don't want to figure out what it does to fry.

 

[Meggie :)]

yea, I would maybe keep your fry out of there until you get the fin rot out of there...But if it were me I would add him back in once it is gone...I have some guppy fry about --------- long and they are all doing perfectly fine in the main tank The adults don't even try to chase them anymore and the adults are 2 balloon mollies and one guppy Good luck!

 

[Flame Heart]

Okay, once he gets a little bit bigger and older I might try and see what happens. I'm not exactly sure its fin rot, but his tail is ragged and one part is grey and discolored. And, in my main tank we have a frog who has poor eye-sight and snaps at anything that comes near it. And a big molly and a long-finned zebra danio, that would probably love to have him as a snack. So, I will wait for a bit until he gets a little bit bigger and stronger. Although it might be a female I'm hoping its a male.

It's possible parents are:

This male guppy looks almost exactly like my (healthy) one.

This one looks like mine but without the snakeskin body and has a few purple/orange splashes on his body. (This is the one that *might* have tail rot)

And it's possible mothers just have a bit of black or light blueish coloring on their tails. (nothing special)

So I'm really looking forward to seeing what he/she grows up to look like!

(Once I figure out where his real home will be I will start a journal about him)