New Adoptee

[smithw14]

Let me try again

-Can I breed feeder guppies in my 20g community tank? I have never bread and have no idea how to do it. I've got a seclusion net thingie that you hang on the side of the tank for I guess when the mother is about to have the babies?

-Can someone please tell me how to bread guppies? Or point me to a website or something? Every site I find is talking about exotic guppies and such. These are just plain old feeder guppies I have.

-Is it possible to wean a fish off of live food? If so, how does one do this?

Thanks.

-William

 

[joannde]

On the breeding of guppies, there's pretty much nothing to do - just get some males and some females (you can do a ratio of 3 females per male) and you'll have all the guppies you'll need. Include a few plants (real, plastic or silk) for hiding so the fry have a place to hide from the parents (who will eat them if given the change). If there are any other fish in the 20 that might like to snack on the guppies also just get more pairs. You COULD, if you wanted to ensure more fry survive, put a divider in tank and move the fry to one side.

On the weaning - I have no idea, so I hope someone else can help you out on that one.

 

[DepotFish]

Guppies are hit and miss, as long as they are together they will breed constantly, but the babies may not survive long enough to grow. As for weaning to processed foods- don't. This fish probably will never eat something not moving and that's what is best for the fish. I've seen the crippling effects of processed foods in all types of animals: dogs, cats, mice, rats, gerbils, turtles. The best thing to do is stick with what it is supposed to eat or don't own the animal at all. It'll be best to look for a home now than before the guy is 3 feet long and eating baby rats and pinky mice.

 

[hulkamaniac]

That is definitely a long nosed gar. It's also sometimes called a needlenosed gar or a needlefish. They get huge and the 55 won't be big enough for it, plus it may eat your oscars. Depending on what state you're in, it may be considered a sportfish and you may be allowed to release it into the wild. If it's not native to your state, then obviously you shouldn't.

 

[smithw14]

Well, according to the 15 year old fish expert working at petco, you cant tell the difference between feeder guppies. Blah. He also has paired me with incompatable fish and led me astray on many occassions. Why I keep asking him questions I don't know. Maybe I should venture to another pet store - lol.

So how do you tell the sex. From what I can tell the ones I have are so dang tiny themselves. There are two different looking ones in my tank as of now. The smaller ones are more colorful, they have orange around thier tailes and almost like a bullseye in the center of them - a black dot surrounded by an orangish/tan color. They are no bigger than my fingernail. The larger ones are only slightly larger, but they don't have any bright color to them. Their bellies seem also to be fatter, and they appear to have a black dot around their rectum or whatever fish have.

Also - how do you know when they are about to give birth?

 

[DepotFish]

The females with have a normal, round anal fin. The males will have a pointy anal fin.

 

[bert12]

The larger plainer ones are females, the males are small and colorful.

 

[smithw14]

Guppies are hit and miss, as long as they are together they will breed constantly, but the babies may not survive long enough to grow. As for weaning to processed foods- don't. This fish probably will never eat something not moving and that's what is best for the fish. I've seen the crippling effects of processed foods in all types of animals: dogs, cats, mice, rats, gerbils, turtles. The best thing to do is stick with what it is supposed to eat or don't own the animal at all. It'll be best to look for a home now than before the guy is 3 feet long and eating baby rats and pinky mice.

I think thats so interesting because I read in this same forum how people talk about that it is very unhealthy to feed aggressive fish like oscars, etc. feeder fish for all their lives. But you say for the gar that is fine.

The larger plainer ones are females, the males are small and colorful.

Gotcha - makes sense.

I don't mind feeding the gar guppies but he is a very non-aggressive hunter and my oscars kill anything smaller than them that moves. I put 10 guppies in the tank and gar eventually got one but it was ripped out of its mouth by the oscar. The oscars got all the others. The gar waits until they get right up to their mouth before they pounce. The oscars chase around the tank. Who do you think is going to get all the guppies?! lol

So I tried a tank divider today - maybe I can divide the tank during feeding time. What a pain in the butt it was to get the fish separated, get the divider in, and then sit and wait for the guppies to swim right up to the gar for him to eat. I literally had to coax the guppies right up to the Gars mouth. Ugh. It is very interesting to watch him eat though, I must admit.

I think I am just venting now. Unless somebody has and drastically different solution, I belive Mr. Gar will be departing from my tank shortly. He is incredibly fascinating though.

 

[Musket]

the female will get very large and look like she is about to explode. Just like a pregnant human.

 

[rich311k]

Oscars are not fish eaters in the wild. they eat insects and worms. Gars are fish eaters. Different fish have different food needs.

 

[DepotFish]

I said that live food was better than processed. The variety will eventually incluse things like frogs, mice, baby birds, whatever you can get. Feeder fish alone are not healthy for a lifetime. I mentioned baby rats and feeder mice because you probably aren't going to find other small feeder animals at a cheap price. Gars are opportunistic and will pick up and small animal that falls into the water.

 

[smithw14]

Oscars are not fish eaters in the wild. they eat insects and worms. Gars are fish eaters. Different fish have different food needs.

I understand, but that sure doesn't stop my Oscar's from gobbleing up every single thing that drops in the tank, and thats the main problem. They eat worms and insects as well - I feed them this on occasion to suppliment. But if I drop minnows in for the gar, they chase them all around the tank until they can gobble them up. With the ghost shrimp, they eat a few then kill the rest for sport. Its crazy. I've had to put a tank divider in.

I said that live food was better than processed. The variety will eventually incluse things like frogs, mice, baby birds, whatever you can get. Feeder fish alone are not healthy for a lifetime. I mentioned baby rats and feeder mice because you probably aren't going to find other small feeder animals at a cheap price. Gars are opportunistic and will pick up and small animal that falls into the water.

My mistake. But it is weird. He will not eat earth worms dangled or dropped in front of him. He won't eat insects dropped on the top of the water (or some that fall to the bottom, I have tried about 4 different kinds). He won't eat brine shrimp. He won't eat ghost shrimp. He won't eat blood worms, he won't eat glass worms, he won't eat flakes, he won't eat cichlid pellets (floating or sinking). He won't eat shrimp pellets. He won't eat freeze dried krill. I even tried waving some small peices of canned tuna around in front of him. Nope. lol

All he will eat is the guppies. I'll check with the pet store to see if they cary baby feeder birds.

 

[joannde]

What did your neighbor feed him ?

 

[lovemybarbs]

Funny stuff. This fish has an attitude.

 

[smithw14]

I wish it was that easy. Its a long story, involving a death in the family, her aquiring the fish, being overwhelemed, then threatening to flush it down the toilet unless I took it.

So in short, to answer your question, I don't know.

Funny stuff. This fish has an attitude.

He really does. And he isn't scared or skittish of anybody or anything. I had read on some website that when keeping the gar in an aquarium, be very gentle not to startle them because they startle easily and will bash their nose up against the glass.

So, I was paranoid. But I soon noticed that he didnt give a rats ass what I did to the tank nor what anybody else did. I had to do a major water change the other day, so, I'm on one side of the tank doing the gravel filter thing, got my arm all down in there because its a 55. All my fish, naturally, are on the complete opposite side of the tank and my crayfish is in his log praying for dear life because theres a huge "thing" holding a huge "thing" and its disturbing his gravel he so methodically pushed around to make it to his liking. I digress. Anyway, I'm sitting there doing the up and down motions with my Vacuum on the gravel, and then low and behold I feel something meander, not swim mind you, meander by my arm, brushing up against it. I think its a plant or something but I look up, its the Gar. Is he socializing? Nope. He could care less what I was doing. He just needed to get by, hes got places to swim to ever so slowly.

Every time I'm doing tank maintenance, he doesnt move. I had to rope my gourami earlier to put him back in the community tank, I had to maneuver the net around the gar because he would not move!!

Skittish - pshaw. Not my Gar. There isn't anything thats gonna interrupt whatever it is he does.