Will Guppies Eat Their Young?

[FishySarah]

A neighbor has been trying to give me some guppies. I'm not sure if they are compatible with my gold barbs and black tetras- both attacked my betta's fins when I had him in there.

I can put them in my five gallon alone - but if they have babies, will I be overrun, or will most of them get eaten? It's a heartless question, but I can't handle 500 guppies.

What do people normally do with excess guppy fry anyway?

Or am I getting ahead of myself...

 

[DevUK]

A neighbor has been trying to give me some guppies. I'm not sure if they are compatible with my gold barbs and black tetras- both attacked my betta's fins when I had him in there.

I can put them in my five gallon alone - but if they have babies, will I be overrun, or will most of them get eaten? It's a heartless question, but I can't handle 500 guppies.

What do people normally do with excess guppy fry anyway?

Or am I getting ahead of myself...

I believe nature will take its course when it comes to the young. Someone might be able to give a more insiteful answer

 

[buttercupbabe078]

Yes Guppies do eat their young. I've only ever found 1 baby in my guppy tank but I have seen the mum eat many babies when they are in the breeder. My guess is that if you put them in thier own tank you wont get over run very quickly.

 

[theotheragentm]

A lot of people tend to think they don't eat their young, but they definitely do. It's just that with smaller mouths than most livebearers, the fry grow up to be bigger than mouth size pretty quickly.

 

[poopwillruleyo1]

they do eat there young i lost lots of guppies because of the canible parents

 

[theotheragentm]

I don't know if it's really accurate to call them cannibal fish. Pretty much all fish will take advantage of an easy meal.