Breeding traps - to use or not to use?

[PlatyLady]

What do you think about floating breeder traps? I bought one to segregate an aggressive male, but that problem's fixed. Now I have some pregnant guppies and was thinking about putting one in, just to see the fry.

But, it looks like the fry would drop through this "V-insert" to the bottom of the trap, and then there are slits, and I wonder if they would drop through those too, just to fall into the main part of the tank, so I may not see them anyway (not sure if they fit through those bottom slits though).

And, I think it might stress out the poor girl to enclose her when she's preggers and ready to burst. She's the size of a house!

Okay, and I should add that I am not out to save any fry. If they survive, great, if not, then I will be that much farther from overstocking my tank.

Hmm... looks like I just talked myself out of the breeder trap, but I'd like to hear your opinions anyway!

[myriam]

I never did get a breeder trap. For awhile I had a tank divider and I put my pregnant black molly in there, where she did drop some fry...25!! Way more than I could ever have wanted. So I removed the divider and while most of the other fry became snacks for the other fish, there are still 8 fry surviving that are now really good-sized, from 3/4" to 1".

If you aren't looking to save a bunch of fry to grow them, I'd suggest just leaving the mum in the tank and she'll pop just fine in there. Hopefully you'll be able to see some fry before they all, err, disappear. They lurk in the gravel and in the plants.

[acronym:60db794a86="In My Honest Opinion"]IMHO[/acronym:60db794a86] the breeder trap is a bit of a hassle, and I've heard from many here that the water in there isn't as good and the fry don't thrive as well; plus the mum can get stressed getting put in there and drop a bunch of dead fry. Eek.

Besides, if you have livebearers like I do, you'll see the merits of not saving all the fry. The females pop every 4-6 weeks. As I type this, I have 2 pregnant mollies and 2 pregnant platies. Ayayay

[PlatyLady]

Thanks Myriam, that's reassuring. This will be my 2nd batch of guppy fry (my first was just this week also!). I've had about 20 platy fry born in my tanks, and didn't do anything special to save them. Two out of the twenty are now almost an inch long.

I agree, as cute as these little babies are, there is a good side to letting nature take it's course.

Okay, gotta go and get off this forum! Bachelor Bob is making his choice in less than half an hour!

[myriam]

[acronym:70acc15f08="Laughing out loud"]LOL[/acronym:70acc15f08], PlatyLady, glad you've got your priorities

[Guppyman]

Hi PlatyLady. My 2 cents? Skip the breeder trap. I have tried them over the years and they really only do one thing well. Stress-out the female. I'm sure others have had better experiences with them - but I've never heard of anyone who actually has. [acronym:c3654b45db="By the way"]BTW[/acronym:c3654b45db] - myriams post was right on the money. - Guppyman