My First Baby

[Nicky2]

Day 1
I have managed to catch a small fry (not quite got the hang of the turkey baster) but ive managed and put it in a net for the time being.... trying to get a piccie and will keep you guys posted.

 

[vix]

Day 1
I have managed to catch a small fry (not quite got the hang of the turkey baster) but ive managed and put it in a net for the time being.... trying to get a piccie and will keep you guys posted.

Ohhh congrats, any idea what baby it is?

 

[Nicky2]

Ohhh congrats, any idea what baby it is?


Anybodies guess..... theres been a dalmation mollie looking very pregnant for the last 6 weeks or so, but i also have another molie and 5 female guppies, so im thinkin its a mollie babie but not too sure. She was responsible last time for 3 babies which unfortunately all died.

Heres the piccie, not bery good, if anyone got any tips for photographing fish and fry i would like to know.

 

[Annastasia]

Fry can be hard to photograph, I know! Put the shutter speed up (or sports mode) and if you have macro, use it. It takes a lot of patience, but if you take a couple hundred you should get a good one.

Congrats on your baby!

 

[hot_hazza3]

Congrats

 

[catastrophi]

Congrats on the fry. I was estatic when my guppies had their first babies. Right now iI have about 30 fry in a grow out tank.

 

[guppymommy]

Oh, congratulations! Fry are so cute.

 

[Nicky2]

Oh, congratulations! Fry are so cute.

i saw another fry earlier but was unable to catch it and havent seen it since. guess i may just be the grandparent of one fry

 

[guppymommy]

i saw another fry earlier but was unable to catch it and havent seen it since. guess i may just be the grandparent of one fry

Well, maybe that other one is a good hider. But if not, at least you got one!

 

[Neo8223]

Nice Job! To help the fry survive longer in the big tank, plant the tank densley with live or fake plants. The trick is to guess when the mother is going to give birth and then to put her into a breeding tank. Normally no one gets it right in their first go but after 2 or 3 times, you will notice how fat the fish are normally before they give birth. (remembering to mabey add a mm each time or so as the more times live bearers have birth, generally the more fish you get) although there are variables you must consider before that.

A few years back i bred about 300 guppys which kind of brought me into loving to keep fish. Every now and then i try to breed them and it is always great fun. I just set up a tank and am giving it a shot now.

You should try to breed swordtails too! Its quite funny watching them grow up in the breeding tank with the guppies. They grow in like 1/2 the time to the same size as the guppys and normally you can let out the swordtails into the main tank pretty quickly.

Hope you catch that houdini if a fry and if you get more fry, feed them newly hatched live brine shrimp they love it. There are hundreds of articles on how to make them and the hatchery but the general steps are: buy the eggs, fill the hatchery with salt water. I find 1 tablespoon (not teaspoon) of sea salt is adequate per litre. Then stick an airline in the tank on itsown without the diffuser thingy attached to it. leave it by the window (watch out for ledges which tilt at an angle. i got soaked the other day when i forgot and just so happened to be right next to it) Nehow, after 36 hours, cover up the hatchery for 10-15 mins and block air bubbling through. Syphen out the brine shrimp which have no settled a the bottom, rinse and feed (but dont overfeed) You might want a shrimp net, but a cotton handkerchief works well too, but rinse before

 

[Nicky2]

Still only 1 fry, but hes happily swimming around in his little separate tank... Feeding him on crushed flakes and liquifry at the moment. shame hes no siblings to keep him company.

Mother (or at least i think) is still huge, but shes been huge for 5/6 weeks. Do they usually give birth over a short time span, or could she drop fry over a few days?

 

[Neo8223]

Still only 1 fry, but hes happily swimming around in his little separate tank... Feeding him on crushed flakes and liquifry at the moment. shame hes no siblings to keep him company.

Mother (or at least i think) is still huge, but shes been huge for 5/6 weeks. Do they usually give birth over a short time span, or could she drop fry over a few days?

decent choice of food it works

As for the huge mother, it has known to happen. Mothers can abort their pregnancy (sounds crazy but is true) Some mothers can postpone their labour for ages! Normally i find it lasts about 3 days (but has lasted a week for me in the past) and if they are in a breeding trap u need to start considering the happiness of fish. (although they normally do eventually breed) My prized guppy had about 100 fry every time she spawned and this lasted 3 days which made me a bit confused at first.

Another cool fact about live bearers is that they can store sperm for up to 3 pregnancies. Also if you really want to breed live bearers a lot, feed them every day live and flake food and have the water temperature high about 27 celius. although my fish still bred even feeding them on tetra flake food.

I had a 15 US Gallons tank which is about 56 litres. The fish loved it!

 

[yotty85]

congrats! this will only be the start of many MANY more to come lol

trick is, if you dont intend to raise massive numbers, just plant ur tank densly enough. I found that java moss works quite well, cos when the babbies are being chased, they dive in and the parents get confused. and the rest usually (unfortunately) get eaten.

I have started with 4 platies in late february and now i think i have about 15.... and i didnt do anything out of the ordinary like separate pregnant females etc

goodluck with raising it!