Guppy Fry

[meegosh]

I added a female guppy to my tank with 1 male guppy and some ghost shrimp. A week went by and my male guppy got beat up and eventually died. (Previous post in unhealthy fish section)

Well two days ago I noticed a tiny little guppy fry hiding in my moss. My question is how long does it take for the fry to develop? The female was only in my tank with the male for about 6 days before he died. Is that enough time for the fry to develop? Or was the father from another tank? I'd say the fry is about 5mm long now. It is in my 10g with only ghost shrimp and the mother. Should I remove the mother?

Unfortunately I don't have another tank to put the fry in. Any suggestions? I did see it eat some flake foods that I crushed up and sunk the bottom (where he has been hiding).

Thanks in advance!

 

[CatatonicBug]

Gestation for guppies is about 28 days. If the male mated with the female on the first day they were in the tank together, and if it's been 4 weeks since then, the male you had may have been the father, but it's really hard to tell. The females can store the sperm for quite a while and have multiple broods with a single spawning.

 

[meegosh]

That answers that question! Thanks catatonic! Now, should I leave the mother in the tank or remove it? It would go in my 30long... thanks in advance!

 

[dskidmore]

You could put the fry in a breeder net or box to keep it safe from Mom, or you could move Mom to another tank.

I've used one of these in the past. I also bought a fancier one that had a little air driven circulator, but it was very difficult to adjust and maintain correctly.

That little one is a survivor. Guppies don't usually have small boods, there were probably many others that didn't make it.

 

[CatatonicBug]

That little one is a survivor. Guppies don't usually have small boods, there were probably many others that didn't make it.

That is true. I have heard it said that the usual brood is between 40 and 80, sometimes up to 120 at a time.

However, I have also heard some people say that as long as the parents are fed well, they won't eat the young. I saw fry in a mixed guppy tank at a LFS recently with almost no cover to hide in (in fact, one actually made it in the bag when I bought a few of the males), so there is a chance that that may be true.

 

[meegosh]

I'm guessing that the other fry were eaten by the male. Maybe that is what caused the female to pick on him, and eventually kill him. The ghost shrimp I have in my tank are rather small at this point and I don't think they would catch a fry. I could be wrong though. I will try to find a breeder box or net that I could try to attach. Thanks for the help guys! I've never had any of my fish reproduce, its quite interesting!

Any guesses on ROUGHLY how old it is? Its probably 5-6mm in length. I'm just curious more than anything. I wonder how long ago she had her brood?

 

[SpeedEuphoria]

I'm pretty new but have Guppy's in my 10 gallon(3F/2M). Currently I have 1 fry, I spotted at least 6 at one time, I witnessed all of the Guppy's trying to eat the fry when they saw it. The fry do OK at avoiding them but most were eaten. I witnessed my Ghost shrimp eat 1 fry and 2 fry eaten by the adult guppy's. My Ghost shrimp(4 of them) were good sized, all have since died(not exactly sure why).

So far my 1 surviving fry is 2 weeks old and starting to get color on the tail. After aprox 1 week the others left the fry alone, well they would chase it, then they would get close and seem to notice it was a fish so they backed off and left it alone.

So just letting you know that the shrimp could eat it also, or the mother, but after a week or so it should be OK.

On the age of the Fry, I would guess its just born or near 1 week, mine seems to double in size basically weekly so far and after ~2weeks I'd say its ~11mm+

 

[meegosh]

Thanks for the info! I guess it is possible that one of my ghost shrimp could grab it. I'm going to stop by the LFS and get a breeder net for it. I crushed up some more flakes yesterday and sent it down the flow of my HOB and I saw the fry swimming over to get the food. For being a little guy he can move quite fast!

The mother saw him last night, and like you said, backed off once she realized it was a fish and not a bloodworm. I floated some java moss too to give it some cover when its up top, seems to love it!

Thanks again for the replies, I'll keep you updated

 

[theotheragentm]

You might even have more that are hiding out. I always found a few more here and there. Good luck.

 

[meegosh]

Well I came home on my lunch break and the female was floating on her back at the top The one fry I can see is still hanging in there. I moved my java moss around to see if there were any other fry hiding in it, didn't see any. I guess I'm going to wait for the fry to grow up a bit and then I'll decide on what I want to do with the tank.

 

[dskidmore]

How sad! Any idea what the cause was?

 

[meegosh]

Not too sure... my friend had it in her tank for 5 months or so and had luck breeding with it. So I asked her if I could borrow her for a bit... Looks like I owe her a guppy. I've been watching the parameters closely and everything seems normal. The fry and couple dozen ghost shrimp are doing fine.

 

[kimo]

I'm guessing that the other fry were eaten by the male. Maybe that is what caused the female to pick on him, and eventually kill him. The ghost shrimp I have in my tank are rather small at this point and I don't think they would catch a fry. I could be wrong though. I will try to find a breeder box or net that I could try to attach. Thanks for the help guys! I've never had any of my fish reproduce, its quite interesting!

Any guesses on ROUGHLY how old it is? Its probably 5-6mm in length. I'm just curious more than anything. I wonder how long ago she had her brood?

A female guppy will never kill a male. It most likely died of another injury or disease. Ghost shrimp at any size won't bother guppy fry. Breeder boxes are a NO, NO when it comes to guppies no matter what you read in the advertisements. That is the easiest way to cause injury and disease. Can't really tell how old the fish is by the size. I've had guppy fry that were so small it was like two eyes on a stick. Some so large at birth that they looked half grown. Probably around two weeks old.

(A fancy guppy breeder for more than 40 years...)

 

[dskidmore]

Breeder boxes are a NO, NO when it comes to guppies no matter what you read in the advertisements. That is the easiest way to cause injury and disease.

If you're trying to produce large numbers, sure, a dedicated fry tank is better, but for the average hobbyist trying to save a few fry, the breeder boxes work fine. I used an airline to siphon out uneaten food, and swished it around to exchange the water every day, and I had respectable survival rates.

 

[SpeedEuphoria]

Ghost shrimp at any size won't bother guppy fry.

I witnessed it in my tank, I was surprised myself

 

[kimo]

If you're trying to produce large numbers, sure, a dedicated fry tank is better, but for the average hobbyist trying to save a few fry, the breeder boxes work fine. I used an airline to siphon out uneaten food, and swished it around to exchange the water every day, and I had respectable survival rates.

Much safer and easier to fill a 1 gallon plastic bottle (the kind that dog treats or mayonaise comes in) w/treated water and put the guppy fry in there. All that's needed is an airstone. And NO... the bottle does NOT need to be cycled. The fish will come out of there long before the cycle is complete. If uneaten food clutters the bottom, just use an airline to syphon and clean... maybe once every 3-5 days. A 1g will hold up to 20 fry for the first two weeks. Time enough to seperate females/males. Breeder boxes are too small any way you look at it. Try guppies - Your DIRECT INFORMATION SOURCE about show quality guppies, guppy food, guppy supplies for the best info on how to breed and raise guppies.

 

[meegosh]

Well I ended up getting a breeder box, the biggest I could find. It has different chambers in it for qt'ing fish. As far as the females beating up the males.... I've seen it again. I went to the LFS and there was a new kid (15 years old) working the tanks. I wanted to get 2 females and two males, he put one male in a bag by himself. Then he got lazy and put the other 3, one male and two females in another bag. While I was on my way home I noticed some activity in the bag. I looked and the one female was nipping the males tail. It took quite a decent chunk out of it. I think the male is stressed, I have been treating with melafix in another tank. Doesn't look good for him.

The others are doing fine - two females and a tequila sunrise male (aka shooter), and the fry is growing like crazy. I'd say its well over 12mm now. When should I wait to take him out of the box? When he/she is almost full grown?

Thanks again everyone, I never expected to have any fry in my tanks, its been quite a learning experience!

 

[dskidmore]

Then he got lazy and put the other 3, one male and two females in another bag. ... one female was nipping the males tail.

In such overcrowded conditions as you see in transport, you'll get unusually agressive behavior from stressed fish. That doesn't mean it's part of their normal temprament.

 

[meegosh]

I was simply responding to kimo's statement that a female guppy will never kill a male. I saw it done a few weeks ago to my male guppy when he got nipped/stressed to death from the new female. I agree that during transport they are more aggressive due to stress.

 

[kimo]

I was simply responding to kimo's statement that a female guppy will never kill a male. I saw it done a few weeks ago to my male guppy when he got nipped/stressed to death from the new female. I agree that during transport they are more aggressive due to stress.

There was something already wrong with that male guppy that put him on his last legs. The female didn't kill him.