What to expect when you're expecting fry?

The friendliest place on the web for anyone with an interest in aquariums or fish keeping!
If you have answers, please help by responding to the unanswered posts.

TwoFish

Aquarium Advice Apprentice
Joined
Feb 23, 2014
Messages
31
Location
Southern California
Today, after spotting what looked like eyes in my square-shaped female guppy I had to admit what I was denying: she's very, very pregnant.

I've now moved her to a breeder net and I clipped some plants from an overgrown spot in my tank so she's got some greenery to hang out in (and the fry have a place to hide in if she drops when I'm not home to keep an eye on things).

This is the first time I've had to deal with a pregnant guppy, so I have a few questions:

1) What do I feed the fry? Just crushed up flakes?

2) How will I know when the fry are old enough to release back into the main tank? Just when they look too big to fit in guppy mouths?

3) My other female guppys all have those black spots at the base of their tummies, that means that they are pregnant as well, yes? About how long is gestation?


I didn't expect to have this problem so soon. The females I bought were from a segregated tank, but I suppose they weren't segregated enough!
 
Livebearing Fish

Hello Two...

Livebearers prefer larger tanks with a lot of floating plants in them. Plants like Hornwort, Anacharis and Pennywort are good ones. If you have a bit higher lighting, then float Water Sprite in the tank. These plants are natural water filters and make good hiding places for the females and eventually, the fry.

Don't move any fish. It's stressful and unnecessary. Just feed all the fish a little more and a little more often. If you like, put some flaked fish food into a heavy sandwich bag and using a rolling pin to mash it up.

I feed mostly frozen foods from San Fran Bay, freeze dried tubifex worms from Hikari or Tetra and flakes from Cobalt.

Don't neglect your water changes. Tanks up to 30 gallons should have half the water replaced weekly. Larger tanks can typically go 2 weeks between 50 percent changes. The water in very small tanks should be changed every 2 to 3 days.

This isn't the only way to do things. The water keeping hobby isn't an exact science. There are many ways to succeed.

B
 
Used to feed my guppy fry chicken egg yolk. I seem to remember keeping them separate for two months. And as soon as You can tell the gender difference you have to start sororities and fraternities unless you want your fry to breed. You'll get pretty good at it. If you do this you'll prevent the "born pregnant" stereotype.
 
I've found that hikari first bites are a good option for some fry. Guppy fry are not picky eaters and will eat prepared foods or frozen/ live foods.


Sent from my iPad using Aquarium Advice
 
Back
Top Bottom