When Do I Take Them Out?

[lyssa3411]

My tank is still cycling, and I lost a lot of fish. I am down to one male and 3 baby guppies. I still have the babies seperated. They are about a half inch long. When is it time to put them in the tank with the male?

 

[helterskelter]

if your cycling then you should be testing for the nitrates and ammonia levels.

And this will indercate when you tank is matured as the nitrites levels will rise and ammonia will be 0 as well as nitrites be 0.
This process take about 4 weeks, if u added fish befor this period the no wander they have died, the ammonia is lethal at low levels to fish.

Once u have tested you water then post the resualts, and some from a few days befor hand, this will help to indercate whats happening.

 

[xostrawberryox]

by separated do you mean they are just in a breeder trap/net or they are in a completely different tank? If they are already in the tank, you can put them with the male as soon as you believe they are big enough not to fit in the adult's mouth.

 

[theotheragentm]

Frequent water changes are going to be necessary until your tank is mature. You really shouldn't have fish in the tank before it is cycled. Since it's too late for that, just do 20% water changes daily for the time being. Test your water once a week and slowly cut back on the water changes as you see the bacteria is keeping up with the bioload.

 

[lyssa3411]

thanks guys, what Im really asking though is when do i put in the babies. they are in a breeder net right now.

 

[helterskelter]

The male will only eat new born babies once their a week old they should be safe.
Females are larger and eat them still, not almost all other fish will eat fry untill their 2-3 weeks old

 

[Betta91]

It can also depend on how strong your filter is. If the babies are still quite small and are getting used to swimming, don't release them until they are strong enough to swim away from the filter current.

 

[theotheragentm]

You can also put a stocking over the filter intake if you are worried about smaller fish getting sucked into the filter.