Guppy babies!

[Chikadee]

Hi guys!

I am new to this site and the aquaria world, so I apologize in advance for my newbie questions.

I currently have a 10 gallon tank with a few guppies, and some other fish in it that I set up about two months ago. Last night, I noticed I had some baby fish! I wasn't even aware that any of my female guppies were pregnant! So I did some quick research online and found out that the dark spot at the end of her abdomen means she was pregnant. So today I bought a breeder's box thing, where the mommy goes on top and the babies drop through to the bottom to avoid being eaten. We eventually caught 6 fry (I assume that's all there is...) and put them in the breeder's box.

Now the question is, the presumed mother (she's the fattest of my four girl guppies) is still really really huge. Will she give birth again in the next few days? I put her in the box just to be safe, but I'm not sure if she'll have more babies. Is there a way I can tell? She is really big and the gravid spot is really dark. I don't want to keep her in there if she's not going to have more, cuz it makes it harder to feed the fry and I think it's stressing her out.

Also, I've read that the fry can eat powdered flake food. So I put a little bit in there, and most of it just floated to the bottom of the box. The fry can easily reach the food, but I'm not sure if they can see it or if the food is still good. Should I dump the food out periodically and put more in? Also, how long should I keep them in the box before they're safe to go into the tank without being eaten? Is powdered flake food the best food they should eat? Should I feed them some freeze dried blood worms as well? (that's all the food I have right now... but I could get more if other types are recommended)

Any advice you guys could give me would be great! Thanks in advance!

 

[1veedo]

Female guppies give birth several times after being fertalized, so she's probably still pregnant.

You don't have time to culture algea(1 week) or infusuria(something like that involving bruised lettace - 2-4 days). So I would invest in fry food until their about a week old then add powdered flakes and bloodworms allso try shrimp. If they don't seam to eat stick with fryfood until they do.
If you wan't, put a glass of boiling water and a bruised lettace leaf(no need to be distilled unless you have poor tap water)in a warm place(attic with a lid) for 4 days(infusuria). Or regular water outside for a week(algea) and feed them that when it's ready. Bruise lettace by rubbing it between your fingers.

Your fry probably lived this long eating suspended algea not flakes and probably won't live much longer whithout food!

 

[HOLLIEO]

Chickadee, I have a female guppy that looks on the chunky side
I see the dark end on her. Does this mean she is ready to have babies? I am not sure with the guppies. I have only had her for about 2 weeks.

 

[Chikadee]

What do you recommend as far as fry food goes? If i get the dry kind that comes in a bottle designed for all fry, do you think that is good enough? Or should I invest in some newly hatched brine shrimp? Also, is there anyway to speed up the infusuria process? Like, if I put it in the oven or something? They seem to be eating some of the flake food, but it does look like the flakes are too big for them. I took the mother out of the breeder's box, because I'm not sure if she'll have more babies... Does anyone know of a way to tell?

Thanks for all your help!

 

[Chikadee]

Hollieo- I have no idea! All my guppies have dark spots and one is just super fat, so I'm assuming she's the one who had babies, but I don't even know for sure which one the mother is! I put her in the box for a day but she didn't have more babies, so I don't know... The fry were just all of a sudden in my tank one day.

 

[HOLLIEO]

My molly just had babies and I feed them a powder food good for all fry (live bearers and egglayers). It is made by Hikari, called 'First Bites'. My baby mollies eat them and they are live bearers like the guppies. They carry the food at Petsmart, if you have one by you.

 

[platylover]

My platy had babies in the tank and I didn't know about it either. I was only able to save two of them. I also bought a breeding trap for the fry. I fed them something called "small fry", which you can buy at Petsmart, which is a liquid food that is powder flake food mixed with strained egg yolk. They seemed to love that stuff. When they were about 2-3 weeks old, I fed them powdered flake food every other feeding.
I have heard that a good rule of thumb for when to place the fry back into the tank is, when the smallest fry will not fit into the largest fish's mouth.

I hope this helps you out.

 

[jratuszn]

Will guppies live/be happy/ and most importantly, breed, if there is little to no light?

I am toying with the idea of raising guppies as feeders, but the only place I could keep the breeder tank would be in the cabinet beneath my existing tank.

Thanks!

-Jeff

 

[1veedo]

If there's enough light for them to see I would think that would be fine. It sounds like you need to invest in a light though.