Baby guppies

[ToddEly]

I went to Petsmart and selected a pair of guppies. As the guy was putting them into the bag, he asked "Would you like some free guppy babies". Of course I said sure. Well I have them at home and they are in a large fish net hanging into the tank, so no one else can come along and eat them. At least I hope. How can I care for these guys. I have some freeze dried brine shrimp and flake food. Should I crush these up for the little fry?

Thanks,
Todd

 

[webmoose]

My guppy fry love the regular flake food i feed the parents I just grind it up really fine.. I've never used a net I have lots of plants for them to hide in.. What do you plan to do with the guppies if when you have a large population.. What other fish do you have in the aquarium that you think might be interested in eating them? I have neon and cardinal tetras and bronze cories and they all leave them alone..


* others mileage may vary...

 

[Terry]

Just feed your babies some crushed flake, How many babies did the lfs give you? You will have to take them into account when totting up your stocking levels, even though they are babies they still wee and pooh. you can put then into your main tank if you have lots of hiding places for them.

 

[LondonGman]

This is all the information i have on baby guppies based on personal experience. i hope it helps.

Crushed flake food is OK.

if you leave them in a net or breeder tank like i did they will grow very slowly. I added an airstone to it which made them more active and they grew a bit but not much.

6 babies that I gave to a mate were nearly adult sized when I decided to let my tiny baby guppies out of my breeder tank. Of about 30 babies, 20 were eaten by my dwarf gouranis and the cardinal tetras. For some reason they left 10 fry of various sizes alone which have now been doing well and finally growing larger.

I decided to release the guppy fry, not just because their growth seemed stunted but because I could not keep 30 full grown adult guppies in the tank so a loss of 20 babies panned out well for me.

 

[Neurotic_Fish]

One of my guppies had babies 2 days ago.I wasn't prepared,and i didn't intend to keep them.But it's more than interesting to watch some of theme grow.
I don't have any breeding net,or any other (unoccupied) tank.So i put 3,4 of them in a plastic bag like the ones used when we buy new fish.It flows in the tank.
I add one cup of tank water twice a day.
You think that i have any chance?

 

[Terry]

Me personally i don't think the babies will be to happy in the bag for long, I think that you should let them go. As long as you have lots of little nooks and crannies for the fish to hide in that will increase there chances of survival.

 

[ToddEly]

The gave me 4 babies. I think he said that they are supposed to be purple and sun burst guppies.

My tank is pretty empty as far as decor goes. I have on pice of drift wood (not very big), 1 plastic plant and 1 rock. There does not seem much for them to hide at the present. I think I will keep them in the net until they look big enuff not to fit into someone's mouth. It is kind of cool to watch grow.

 

[Amber76]

Quick question if there's anyone around...do guppies normally come out tail first?

I'm just wondering because I came downstairs to putter on the computer and watch a movie, when I went upstairs to check on my mama guppy and she had three babies in the two hours I was down here. She just had a fourth about ten minutes ago and it came out tail first. Just wondering if this is normal?

I have another mama that had her babies on Saturday but I didn't get to see the birth and I didn't have her in a breeder. I was kicking myself because I was thinking the night before that I should put her in there because she looked HUGE, but I didn't want to cage her too long...haha, I don't feel that way any more my other mama has been caged for three days or so I was only able to find one baby in the tank so I put it in the breeder tank. Unbelievably though, right as soon as I noticed that the new mama was having her babies tonight, I saw a little fry outside the breeder. 8O There is no way that it could have gotten out of the breeder and it has no yolk sac like the new little guys, it looks a lot more like the older baby and buddied up with it right away. Do you think there could be any more of them hiding out in my tank???

Well, I'm off to stare at my mama giving birth...so much better than late night TV! She's still really big...hmmm, wonder how many more are left in there? I'll keep you all updated!! So exciting!!!!!!!

 

[Amber76]

Ok, she must have just been having trouble with that one because she's just popping them right out now, head first . Phew! Hope she doesn't have to go through another one of those. 8O