some of my babies survived!!

[adi]

I wrote a week ago to say that I didn't know guppies were livebearers (they are my son's) until they had babies! Lots of teh babies got eaten but I managed to scoop out two into another container and there were at least two in teh main tank. I have now put the others back in teh main tank and they are fine, except now there are six!! Could one of teh other females have had some more or have these two just ben hiding very well?? The adults have now lost interest in them and have stopped trying to eat them.
How old are they before you can tell males from females?
ALso I have a weird question, just after the appearance of teh fry, one of teh adults mysteriously died. Do U think it was a) the mother who had a bad birth or B) an adult who ate too much fry? s'one told me that if they eat loads of them, it is bad for them. is this true?
Feel very amateurish next to you guys, we hardly have any equipement yet or anything. but we're learning!
Good luck to all the fellow guppy owners.
Adi

4 adult guppies (3 females (2white and orange and one grey) one pretty blue male) and six (??) fry of as yet undetermined sex

 

[Guppylover]

Congradulations on your guppy fry

At the end of the first 4 weeks the guppy fry begin to sexually develop into male or female. At the end of 6 weeks they become sexually active so if you don't want any more fry it would be a good idea to seperate them.

Yes it can be a problem over feeding fry... but that's very rare. It's mostly underfeeding them that kills them, well that's the big problem with me.

Good Luck

 

[Never2Bknown]

Most livebearers are apparently cannabilistic--guppies not least of them (Mollies are not). When I first entered the world of livebearers, I was amazed at how many different fish are livebearers, including Swordtails, Platies, Mollies, Endlers, and, of course, guppies. There is an incredibly wide variety of guppies alone.
As it is, I myself am the proud owner of 3 swordtails and several guppies--3 of which are Cobra Guppies (VERY beautiful fish!!). The only "equipment" I own for raising fry is a separate aquarium to keep them away from the adults until they are big enough, and two breeding traps. These traps can be bought for around six dollars each. They look a lot like the containers hooked onto the sides of fish aquariums in many pet shops that are often used to house bettas. Mainly the only difference is that they have a removable barrier in them that slants downward in a "V" shape with a slit in the bottom. This barrier separates the container in to two halves (upper and lower). The pregnant female guppy is placed in the upper half of this container, and when she gives birth, the fry fall through the slit in the barrier down into the bottom half where they cannot swim back up, effectively separating them from the mother so that they will not be eaten.
I find that these traps work extremely well if you wish to breed fry, and they are not overly expensive.
I wish you good luck with all of your present and future fry!!

P.S. One word of caution: if you separate your female guppies from the males after they may have gotten pregnant once before, it is still possible for them to have babies even without the males. Guppies (most livebearers, for that matter) are able to store sperm, so that they can keep getting pregnant long after they have been sep. from the males.

 

[Wisperian]

Congrats!!!!! you could use lots of plants or a breeding trap next time! gl