what to do with guppy babies?

[titanzmom]

I got some guppies from someone about a week ago, and put with my other guppies. And last night one of them gave birth, i was not ready for that and don't know what to do with the babies. Is there any thing i can make since all the lfs are closed. Thanks in advance...

 

[Lager]

Do you have any kind of plants? If you have some moss or even old plastic or silk plants, throw them in and let them float. The babies should hide in it. A separate tank for grow out is much better than a breeder box or any such contraption.

 

[Jnam]

I agree with Lager when i had that same suprise i went out and bought a breeding contraption from petco/smart... Wasted space and time stressed out mom (she lost all her color) Just float some fake plants and if you dont have any they are really cheep at walmart. I use a 10 gallon tank for guppie grow out then after 3 weeks they move to the 29. Thats when its time to cull them. My LFS gives me 1.00 credit per adult fish, so call around. Hope this helps...

 

[bazil323]

If you don't want to keep them or sell them, you can just let the guppies and any other tankmates eat them. Sounds kind cruel/canabalistic, but it works and the fish don't mind.

But if you do want them, the above suggestions are great. I'm not sure what baby guppies eat, but my baby mollies eat finely crushed flake food. I'd bet they eat baby brine shrimp.

 

[titanzmom]

thanks, most of them got eaten, I will go buy some plants today. Thanks for the info.

 

[mike47517]

you can sell them back to the store at around 3months old. seprate them into another tank or get bunch of plants.good luck.

 

[Johnny Tuttle]

I'm in the process now of dealing with an abundance of guppy fry. My ideas are selling/giving to the LFS (but if I do this, they might just use them as feeder fish), using them as feeder fish for the gold fish in my pond (I'm torn on the morality of this), putting in a ram or a pair of rams to eat them (Aargh. Again is this right?), or letting them mature a little more & try to give them away locally to others in the hobby (Kijiji?).

You'll get more fry, believe me.

 

[mike47517]

if you let your fish get colorful then the lfs wont use them as feeders. they already have pleanty

 

[Jnam]

separate the boys from the girls 2 cycled 10 gallon tanks would work. Then when they color up (you can hurry this process along with a little higher than normal heat) your lfs should take them and sell them. I may not be local but I would take some off your hands if you want me to. Always nice to get a different strain in the gene pool... Good luck.

you can usually tell the females first they get their gravid spot before the boys gonopodom(sorry for spelling) develops. At least that is my experience. i just scoop out the girls from the main tank. Unfortunatly the girls may not color up and the LFS still calls them feeder fish... But when i am not trying to keep them i just let everyone hang out in the main tank with the rest of the fish. Survival of the fitest and what not.

 

[newfound77951]

using them as feeder fish for the gold fish in my pond (I'm torn on the morality of this)

There's nothing wrong with this. Fish eat other fish all the time. You are not a bad fish parent if you do this. However, if it makes you lose sleep at night, then don't do it, but unless you're dedicated to raising and finding homes for a lot of babies it might make sense to not keep livebearers or only keep males or females.

 

[Acer]

i use the survival of the fittest/pick of the litter technique . i do as mentioned above, keep the 2 sex's separated, then as they are coloring up keep the fish that have the best color/shape then i throw the rest into my 125gal mixed community fish. they usually last a few days or so. at least thats what i do.

 

[mgamer20o0]

i do that too. i just leave them in the tank what makes it makes it.

 

[Jnam]

i find i get better color when i separate the sexes. And when i leave them to fend for themselves i get about a 10% survival rate(tank is moderately planted). What size tank do you have? And what other occupants?

 

[black hills tj]

I stay away from livebearers, but I have heard that having spawning guppies in a tank may induce a pair of fish of another species to spawn.