Moving guppy fry

[big_fresh]

Hello all,

My mate has had a guppy population explosion! He has kindly donated me some fry which are 1cm long. What is the best way to introduce them into my 10G tank without getting eaten/hurt/sucked up by my filter?

 

[[jdm dc2]]

no can do bro... if you have a tank with other fish in their.. they will most probably eat the fry thinking its food... also about the filter.. yes it will suck them up.. people tie pantyhose around the filter so it does not suck them in... or a sponge so it does not suck them in.. slowly introduce them to the water.. dont just throw them in so they dont get shocked from the temp difference or pH difference.. remember they are just babys.. they are very sensitive to everything..

you cant put vodka in a new babys bottle.. the same way you cant just throw baby sesitive fry into a new tank..

slowly introduce them..

and if their are other fish in the tank.. dont count on them living.. unless you have a lottttttt of hiding spots for them.. even then is a close call..

 

[jams.alaskan]

Hi there!
I have a ten gallon set up for just that. It is cycled which helps... I covered the intake on the penguin filter with a stretched nylon and used a rubber band to attach it. I have sand as a substrate but I would give at least some thought to those that say that very little to no substrate is a good way to keep the tank clean and safe for fry. You feed them 3 to 4 times a day so there actually is quite a deal of "unseen" waste to fry. I have only two fish (two immature male guppies) that would have been considered a threat to the fry and they would not have been able to eat my fry so I was ok there. Are there other fish in there? Are you adding fry to adult fish? If so you may just be giving them lunch - lots of plants real or fake would help to provide some cover but in a ten gallon it would be hard to stay super hidden so some loss could be expected. Float the bag that they are in for say twenty minutes to get the temperatures even then poor them out into a net suspended over a bowl or something - I wouldn't add any of your friends water...

Have fun and best of luck to the new step parent

ALASKA

 

[Big_al_d]

you cant put vodka in a new babys bottle..

Why? didn't do me any harm!!

 

[rollntider]

but I wouldnt add fry to my vodka either, makes a terrible mess

 

[big_fresh]

Thanks for the advice all

I especially appreciated all the Vodka suggestions

But I was already planning to add them in the tank in the same way I would add any fish. In the bag for 20, wait....add water, wait again....pour fry into net and hope for the best.

My mate also threw in a few tadpoles in the mix...he said to use them as "entree", to distract my hungry platies. So after I put some extra plastic plants and a piece of PVC piping, I turned down the lights and added the fry.....

Once i turned the tank lights back on, the guppy fry scampered around the tank into a dense clump of artificial plants(platies too fat to fit inbetween the dense plastic), the tadpoles were quickly mopped up by my platies and I don't think I saw any fry become "mains".

My 20 gallon is now ready so I will be moving the platies and cories over to that tank this weekend.

 

[crazie.eddie]

This would be good to keep the fry in as well.

It keeps the fry seperated from the rest of the fish and allows them to be easily fed. But since you already have another tank for your bigger fish, you may not need it.

 

[big_fresh]

Thx for the breeder suggestion. Just out of curiosity, does anyone have one? I've heard they stress out the pregnant mothers.

I thought about that but couldn't get to the LFS in time.....

I suppose i could make a DIY breeder, by using those plastic takeaway containers

but it's a bit hard now that they are in the tank. They swim so fast that i don't think there is a chance for me to catch them.

 

[crazie.eddie]

I actually do use it...I have several of them. I breed guppies for the fry, which I feed to my angelfish. I let some get older and when dimorphism starts and feed the females to my african butterfly and keep the males for future breeds and give some to my friends.

I used the breeder trap to only keep the fry. I normally use a breeder net for the mothers, which look like this...

I normally put the females in the breeder net the day she starts dropping or the day before she drops. I kind of get a feel when the female will drop soon. When she gets pregnant with fry, she will get big. When she will drop soon, she will get even bigger, almost squarish. It's best to feed the female protein enriched foods, like bloodworms. Before she drops, she will normaly not eat and seclude herself from the rest of the fish. This is when I place her into the breeder net. The fry are easier to pickup inside the breeder net. One she finishes, then I transfer the fry into the breeder trap, which I displayed above. I keep the female in the breeder net for a few days so she can rest and not get harassed by the males.