Stupid Question: Guppy Fry

[soritan]

So, I know someone who has guppies who sometimes breed, and half jokingly I said, "Next time you get some, give them to me." And, they (being one of those shoddy fish keepers who are far more lucky than they are learned), agreed (they have a divided 10g, one side guppies, one side goldfish. )

If they give these fry to me, what are the odds of them surviving? Should I prepare for fish keeping... or should I look upon them as being live feeders for my current stock?

 

[CoolWater]

You'd be supprised as to what punishment guppies can take. And infact 5 gallons is fine for guppies, i'd be worried about the golfish. And hence maybe the goldfish's waste that may wonder past the divider to the guppies side.

I think you should make a small set up for the fry, but only keep say 4/5 fry to raise. And feed the other fry to your current stock. You can then raise those fry you kept, and breed your own guppy fry to supply to your current stock from here onwards. Free and good food for your fish
And guppies are very undemanding easy fish to breed let alone keep.

 

[soritan]

oO Do you think so? That'd be rather neato, except I reckon that it'd take at least 7 hours for her to pull them from their tank, bag them, move them to our work place, give them to me, allow me to clock out and go home, and the acclimate them. Or am I assuming that fry are more delicate than they are?

 

[Annastasia]

They will probably be OK in that time, provided she bags them well and they don't get too sloshed around and stressed out. Is there anyway she could give them to you over the weekend or anything, as that would be best.

I'm not sure what you mean by 'should I prepare for fishkeeping?'. Guppies aren't any less deserving of a good life, just because they are "feeder fish". Any fish could be a feeder fish, Betta babies for instance, but Guppies and Goldfish are looked down upon for being feeder fish.

 

[Tolak]

I don't see why they wouldn't work for you, they are pretty hardy. Being bagged for 7 hours should be fine, as long as the temperature is kept reasonable.

 

[bleechme]

I don't think you should make them feeder fish, I don't know about you guys but I'd be mad azz heck if I gave away some of my fish to someone who's just gonna use them as feeders.

 

[soritan]

Well, her fry never survive. According to her, "they just vanish", she has a 100% death rate on all her fry, and often loses other fish in her tank... for reasons which I'm sure are obvious to all of us.

Of course I would treat them humanely, even if they were just feeders. I wasn't going to put them in a dixie cup atop the tv. I just wanted to know if I should brace myself for their pending death, or if I had a shot at keeping them alive.

Your advice makes me feel a lot better about taking them on, though. Before, all I could think was, "what have I done??"

 

[bleechme]

^ good. Hope they live, then make babies and then you could use the babies as feeders (Inbred guppies are not really good to keep--> refering to the babies that your babies will have)

 

[soritan]

Now it's just a matter of time for them to show up. I'm almost looking forward to it. I've seen guppy fry, they're fascinatingly tiny.