Guppy Fry

[kimo]

"Well I ended up getting a breeder box, the biggest I could find. It has different chambers in it for qt'ing fish."

What size is it? I've never seen a commercial breeder box with more than one chamber in it. The one (single) "sized" for livebearers is usually way too small.
Its designed so the fry drop straight through the vee but in practice all it does is stress the female while waiting. Moving a female right before birth is a surefire way to disform, disfigure or kill the fry. Most likely the female will end up being so distressed its easier to cull her too. Plenty of floating plants, feeding right will always insure success. My breeding females are never moved once they are picked and go into the breeding tank. Always move the male.

[dskidmore]

Never is a rare thing when dealing with the real world. There are almost always exceptions.

[meegosh]

Well I went home on lunch and the male that was nipped is now dead. Anyways... the breeder box I got from a LFS is about 6" long, 3" tall, and 3" deep. It does have the V that you were talking about with the slot but I don't have it in there, I'm just using it to keep my fry safe.

As far as dividing it, it has a slotted piece that you can separate it down the middle or by thirds. I have the fry in the big space and I did have the male in the smaller section.

It looks like this:
___________
[....|.......... ]

[kimo]

Originally Posted by dskidmore

Never is a rare thing when dealing with the real world. There are almost always exceptions.

If you use the word "never" in you fish housekeeping rules... you might have one tank that has a disease running in it, but it won't have spread to all your other tanks.

Will leave it up to the reader to think about this one... if you are a truly accomplished aquarist you'll understand. All others will be scratching their heads...

[dskidmore]

Originally Posted by kimo

If you use the word "never" in you fish housekeeping rules... you might have one tank that has a disease running in it, but it won't have spread to all your other tanks.

If this discussion was primarily about QT I would agree with you, but the argument was that female guppies "never" pick on the males. When trying to predict nature, you can't say never or always, but you can use never or always when setting policies for your tank, like always fishless cycle or never let your guest pour beer in the tank.

[meegosh]

Looks like one of the females is about to blow!! Both the females have an unusually strong appetite, its almost like a frenzy when I feed them. I'm going to try to get a picture of the biggest female. I know there is supposed to be a dark spot at the end of the abdomen, I'm just not sure if its her normal coloring or if she's carrying.

Also, I asked before and I don't think I got a response... how long should I wait to introduce the fry back into the main tank? The only other tank mates are the two females and one male. Thanks in advance!

[kimo]

"Looks like one of the females is about to blow!! Both the females have an unusually strong appetite, its almost like a frenzy when I feed them. I'm going to try to get a picture of the biggest female. I know there is supposed to be a dark spot at the end of the abdomen, I'm just not sure if its her normal coloring or if she's carrying.

Also, I asked before and I don't think I got a response... how long should I wait to introduce the fry back into the main tank? The only other tank mates are the two females and one male. Thanks in advance!"

A female guppy will go "square" before she drops any fry. It will look like she swallowed a balloon. The "gravid spot" will be darker, you might even be able to see the eyes of the fry through her skin. If a female has been with a male it's most likely she is pregnant, even if for only a few hours.

It all depends on the fry's future tankmates. If they are always well-fed you might be able to add the fry now. In some tanks you don't have to take any fry out from day one. Other tanks, especially one with canivorous type fish (cichlids, etc) they might need to be almost full grown before adding them back.

"its almost like a frenzy when I feed them." <<< try feeding them Wardley's shrimp pellets if you really want to see a feeding frenzy.

[dskidmore]

My policy is to wait until the fry are bigger than the other fish's mouths...

[FishCrazyBenBOMB]

I had molly fry, they are around 3/4'' to 1''. They were 4 months old on June 27th. It's funny though, I bred two dalmation mollys, and I don't have one dalmation molly in the fry. Ha

[kimo]

Originally Posted by dskidmore

My policy is to wait until the fry are bigger than the other fish's mouths...

All dpends on what type of fish, how many fry, how valuable they are to you...

After 2 or 3 generations guppies usually leave their fry alone. Depends on how well they are fed too or the space available.