Regarding Guppy Fry

[Cooper2085]

Just wondering at what sort of age you set them free into the main tank?

Mine are now 6 days old and have had a diet of Crushed flake and Cyclops, soon to be having micro worm courtesy of a forum member (Cheers 5Teady ).

They are all between 8mm and 1cm long, but i have 2 worries. 1 is my filters, i have 3 atm 2 mature and 1 maturing ready for my new tanks. Its 2 Fluval 2's and a Fluval 3 set on the lowest settings.

The other worry is them being eaten, i know people say there big enough when they wont fit in there mouths..... But im not sure how big that is lol

In the tank i have:

3 Neon Tetras
6 Copper Harlequins
3 Albino Corys
4 Female Guppies
1 Male Guppy
1 Pentasomthing barb
1 Amona Shrimp

There all fairly small community fish.

I found 2 more babies swimming about in some plants this morning, it looks like another guppy is dropping fry! I dont have any more room for nets in my tank and my breeding tank isnt ready yet (Nitrite is sky high >.>).

Thanks in advance for your help

 

[Duck and Dive]

Wait until they are a few weeks old (2-3 weeks) before releasing them into the tank to be on the safe side.

 

[phistar]

i think the answer could be when the fry are big enough not to fit inside the adults mouth?

but letting them get a bit bigger could also help them alot for sure

 

[Duck and Dive]

But even if they are are only slightly to big to eat they will still try and attack them if they are are still small. Only put them in when they are about 2/3 of the size of the smallest adult fish in the tank to be on the safe side.

 

[Cooper2085]

Would it be a good idea to partition part of my tank off for them now? Im looking at 27 babies now and more on the way. Its only a 3ft tank (Till next week) i could section off 1ft for the fry?

 

[phistar]

ohhh haha alright then... just wait til they're about an inch big then?

Would it be a good idea to partition part of my tank off for them now? Im looking at 27 babies now and more on the way. Its only a 3ft tank (Till next week) i could section off 1ft for the fry?

that seems like something i would do if i was running out of room for the frys to swim about...

maybe an air filter would work for that side of the tank for the fry

unless waterflow from the filter can work on the other side of the tank

 

[Cooper2085]

There seems to be plents of surface movement of the water atm.

I would maybe move the filters to the far left of the tankand add a sponge filter to the fry side like you suggested.

In my fry tank there is a sponge filter, there quite nice little things really alot quiter than the power filters. Do the power filters clean the water more than sponge?

 

[phistar]

i honestly can't answer that for ya lol

everyone seems to have their own opinions on either a power or sponge filter works better . . .

i've never used sponge filters til i started owning livebearers, works like a charm for my frys though!

but when it comes to having/raising fry, sponge filter is the best option to go for . . .

but usually those who use power filters when they have frys, they wrap some kind of cloth around the filter so the frys don't get sucked into it or something

 

[Thomas 2507]

I let mine go at about two months.

 

[Cooper2085]

I must be stupid or something though, because i just cant get into my head how a sponge filter works >.>

I can see how Powerfilters work, water is sucked in and spat out, and it sucks all the crap into the filters which the bacteria feed on. The sponge filter however.... Just seems to blow air through it and cause a few bubbles lol!