Guppy sexing and population control

[olegdulin]

We have a 25 gallon tank. My 7 year old wanted to have guppies in it, so we got 2 males and 3 females.

Since then the females gave birth to a bunch of fry, of which currently 6-7 teenagers survive. There is 1-3 day old fry swimming around.

So, first question is at what point can one tell the sex of the fry ? When do they begin to show colors ? I am asking because I have a few friends will to take them, but I dont want to end up owning all females.

Second question. What would be a good tank mate that will eat the fry (preferrably without me knowing it) but wont harm the adults ? In general, how can I control the population the natural way ?

Let me tell you what I have done so far - trimmed the plants so fry have less hiding places... turned up the flow through the filter (yes, I know...) But the fry hide in the substrate pebbles!

Anyways, advice is appreciated.

Regards,
Oleg


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[Andrew.]

The adult guppies will eat the fry if your tank doesn't have too many hiding places, the fry rate of survival will go down if you put more adult fish in your tank as almost all fish will eat small fry
Tetras are really good at eating fry, if you only want one more fish you could probably do either a single GBR or a Bolivian Ram

 

[olegdulin]

They are not even trying to hide and adults ignore them... Should I get a few more males ?


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[olegdulin]

Will tetras hurt adult guppies ?


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[Pamiam]

The reproduction rate of guppies is enormous. Each female can give birth to 30+ fry per month. The female can hold sperm up to 12 months, meaning she does not have to have a male around to give birth.

As soon as you can see the gonopodium, you will be able to sex them, mine were usually around a month old. The coloration comes later, sometimes mine would take over 2 months before the coloration kicked in.

I would suggest maybe 1 angel fish, they won't bother the adults but should gobble the fry in no time

 

[Crazyhermitcrab]

Maybe you can sell them to your local fish store?
Female betta?

 

[Skibum3]

My serpae tetras go crazy and have a feast when there is fry around! Plus they are very pretty fish so maybe look into getting some of those

 

[toddnbecka]

Angel fish will grow large enough to eat adult male guppies. Ram's aren't very reliable for that purpose, they tend to get lazy and eat flakes instead. One fish I found to be ideal for eating guppy fry but nothing much larger were Akysis catfish. Not too commonly available but you can find them online occasionally. They will, however, eat ALL the fry.

 

[emilygupps]

Maybe don't feed the adults while there are small fry around that way they'll be hungry enough to hunt. Eventually the fry will get too big to eat.

No one feeds a barn cat, the cats are expected to catch mice if they want to eat.