What To Do For The Best ?

[james1971]

I beleive my one of my female guppies to be heavily pregnant. I am not 100% sure on how pregnant because I have only had my aquarium since Nov 2005 and only had the guppies for around 2 months so this is my first experience of a pregnant guppy.

I am in the process of setting up a separate small tank to house the fry. Probably around 5-6 gal.

To avoid any fry being eaten ( I have angelfish and sharks in my main tank ) I am wanting to put the pregnant guppy in the tank before she drops.

Do I put her in there along with the other 5 guppies I have to make her feel less stressed ?

And shall I put some plants in so the babies can hide ?

Any advice would be helpful..I just hope I manage to get it all set up before it happens cos I still have to sort out a heater.

James1971

 

[DevilsAdvocate]

Put her in alone, she should be fine.

Plants are also a good idea as they give the fry some refuge and if you use live plants, micro organisms for them to feed on.

Don't forget to cycle the tank first, you should be able to 'seed' the filter in your established tank for a few days before moving both the filter and fish over together!

Hope that helps.

 

[james1971]

Put her in alone, she should be fine.

Plants are also a good idea as they give the fry some refuge and if you use live plants, micro organisms for them to feed on.

Don't forget to cycle the tank first, you should be able to 'seed' the filter in your established tank for a few days before moving both the filter and fish over together!

Hope that helps.

Thanks

Can you please clarify what you mean by 'seed the filter'..

Cheers

James1971

 

[Annastasia]

Seeding the filter usually means either putting filter media in the new filter from another filter that's been running, or putting the whole new filter in the main tank alongside the other one, so it can pick up some bacteria and get cycled. You don't want to put fry in an uncycled tank, so if you're going to do this, it'd be a good idea to start now. When you move the filter over, you'll want to keep an eye on the water stats to make sure they stay stable.

 

[james1971]

That's cleared that up - thanks very much for the advice.

James1971