Verrrrry Serious Problem Here!

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Ludwig Venter

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I am bursting out of my seams with no market for them... I think everybody in town has at least 30 of my guppies, I've given to every kid on the block, every classroom at school has a tank of my guppies.... and I think at least 200 new ones are born daily.... My swords, Mollies and Convicts are all going the same way... I just cannot stop them from breeding.... Is there some sort of birth control that I can add to the water??... What can I do???


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Is there not any local wild life that controls this, have a look for a heron,these here are great fish control :lol:

Not sure mate, as cruel as it sounds,have you thought about introducing some true predatory fish into the ponds?only other possibility i can see,which i think would be impossible is sperate the sexes..
 
I think the problem is Ludwig your going against Natures basic Law, i.e. survival of the fittest.
By having a predator that will remove the old, weak (and unlucky) thus leaving you with lower numbers of fish but in theory much stronger, healthier specimens
 
Is there not any local wild life that controls this, have a look for a heron,these here are great fish control :lol:

Not sure mate, as cruel as it sounds,have you thought about introducing some true predatory fish into the ponds?only other possibility i can see,which i think would be impossible is sperate the sexes..

I do have King Fisher birds lining up for breakfast every morning, but not making an impact.... If I feed them to the Convicts, they flourish and breed.....

I think the problem is Ludwig your going against Natures basic Law, i.e. survival of the fittest.
By having a predator that will remove the old, weak (and unlucky) thus leaving you with lower numbers of fish but in theory much stronger, healthier specimens

These are all extremely healthy and hardy fish.... I get complimented by everyone getting their fish from me....
 
Get a predator tank :) How big can you go ;)
 
The only thing I can think of is dont feed them - then they will gobble up any new fry born. It wont cure your overload at the moment - but it would stop more surviving!
 
This is the Convict pond.... I feel bad to remove the eggs when they breed, but not half as bad as it would be to flush a coupla guppy fry.... There are always (at least) 3 pairs busy breeding...

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Wow if were dealing in pond terms I really would think about some decent sized predators and just toss the fry in its just the food chain at the end of the day and if you run out of space its bad on both of you.
 
Wow if were dealing in pond terms I really would think about some decent sized predators and just toss the fry in its just the food chain at the end of the day and if you run out of space its bad on both of you.

Doesn't work... when I had the Oscars in a pond, I fed them a daily dosage of 100 platies per day.... Eventually, they were swimming amoungst the Platies, and the Platies were multiplying in their pond....
 
The only things i can think of is either, get a predator type,maybe something like " Hydrocynus goliath"

or have a look into possibility of snakeheads like parachanna obscura,not sure what your laws of keeping these are,but reccomend keeping it in a escape proof tank and transfer the fish to tank,dont want it escaping from the pond unless you can escape proof a pond,which is nigh on impossible,
they can jump
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=032MopZR3ac
 
are you allowed to advertise them as feeders ?
 
are you allowed to advertise them as feeders ?

I advertised them on "Bid or Buy" (SA's equivalent to EBAY) for 14 days for less than 1 cent each, (They sell for 1,500 cents each) and the bid closed on the 15th with no takers....

I am way out in the bushveld and potential buyers won't collect. and it is Impossible for me to ship that many.... If I lived in the bigger centres, (Like Pretoria) where there are at least 40 pet shops,.... I probably could've specialized in guppies alone and made a comfortable income.... (Pretoria is about a 700km return trip from where I'm staying)
 
are you allowed to advertise them as feeders ?

I advertised them on "Bid or Buy" (SA's equivalent to EBAY) for 14 days for less than 1 cent each, (They sell for 1,500 cents each) and the bid closed on the 15th with no takers....

I am way out in the bushveld and potential buyers won't collect. and it is Impossible for me to ship that many.... If I lived in the bigger centres, (Like Pretoria) where there are at least 40 pet shops,.... I probably could've specialized in guppies alone and made a comfortable income.... (Pretoria is about a 700km return trip from where I'm staying)

That is a problem then, i would go down the predatory route. Or if it comes to it simply culling the excess numbers.
 
I am bursting out of my seams with no market for them... I think everybody in town has at least 30 of my guppies, I've given to every kid on the block, every classroom at school has a tank of my guppies.... and I think at least 200 new ones are born daily.... My swords, Mollies and Convicts are all going the same way... I just cannot stop them from breeding.... Is there some sort of birth control that I can add to the water??... What can I do???


Masses007.jpg


Masses009.jpg


Masses016.jpg


Masses010.jpg

Just for interest sake, the guppies and Swords all originate from 2 males and 5 females... the Guppy culture was started in (plus or minus) 1995, and the Swords in 2008... (Last year, I lost about 8,000 guppies when (being away for the weekend), some kids fed them Double bendix (extremely poisonous stuff)... the new culture (as it is today) started with a few survivor fry from that incident.... I'm hoping it will stabilize one day....
 
approximately how many are in each pond?
 

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