Why aren't my fry growing?

[Jen21]

I have a seperate tank for my fry, there are swordtails and platies. Most of the fry are growing great, but there are a few that look like they were just born. They are about 2 months old. Is this normal?

 

[guppy_man]

ive got 18 guppy fry and i have just had to move 4 of them to a bigger tank because they would be able to eat my others the ones i moved were about 3cm and the ones that are in the fry tank are still smaller than 2cm
i dont know whats wrong ive fed them brine shrimp for 2 months and started flake about 2 weeks ago.

 

[Tokis-Phoenix]

Fry will grow at different rates even if they are from the same batch- you will usually find the male fry grow alot faster than the females and are usually the first to develop their later life colors i.e reds and blacks are common to develop late in guppys and metallic colors for all livebearer fry too.
Don't worry about it but i would separate the larger fry once they are bigger enough to eat the small ones.

 

[paulthegreat]

Over crowding can slow the growth rate. When I seperate out the bigger fry for sale there always seems to be a growth spurt in the next size group down. The bigger ones will always out compete the little guys at feeding time so the stronger get stronger and the weaker ones stay weak. When the bigger ones are removed the rest have a chance to take their places.

 

[wrs]

causes of slow growth

low temp.
no water changes
poor food.

so raise the temp up to 86
give them a special growth food
daily water changes

and be sure they are not in a breeder box.

or they are the runts.

 

[Tokis-Phoenix]

Actually i would say 25degrees is the ideal temperature for guppy fry, i've always had the best results from it and good strong fry; making them grow fast isn't the most important thing in raising good fry and find fry raised at higher temps don't grow so large.
Daily water changes are unesarsary is your fry are in a cycled tank and it can be stressful for them too.
Hikari first bites are good, but i find TetraMinfry is the best; feeding them finely crushed freezdried bloodworms/tubifex/daphinia/krill once a week or no less than every 4days is also good for them as these are high protein foods good for growth but don't supply all the nutrition they need so you must keep a good fry food feeding sessions; the more regually you can feed little meals to them the better too.