Guppy Fry

[kimo]

"Well I ended up getting a breeder box, the biggest I could find. It has different chambers in it for qt'ing fish."

What size is it? I've never seen a commercial breeder box with more than one chamber in it. The one (single) "sized" for livebearers is usually way too small.
Its designed so the fry drop straight through the vee but in practice all it does is stress the female while waiting. Moving a female right before birth is a surefire way to disform, disfigure or kill the fry. Most likely the female will end up being so distressed its easier to cull her too. Plenty of floating plants, feeding right will always insure success. My breeding females are never moved once they are picked and go into the breeding tank. Always move the male.

 

[dskidmore]

Never is a rare thing when dealing with the real world. There are almost always exceptions.

 

[meegosh]

Well I went home on lunch and the male that was nipped is now dead. Anyways... the breeder box I got from a LFS is about 6" long, 3" tall, and 3" deep. It does have the V that you were talking about with the slot but I don't have it in there, I'm just using it to keep my fry safe.

As far as dividing it, it has a slotted piece that you can separate it down the middle or by thirds. I have the fry in the big space and I did have the male in the smaller section.

It looks like this:
___________
[....|.......... ]

 

[kimo]

Never is a rare thing when dealing with the real world. There are almost always exceptions.

If you use the word "never" in you fish housekeeping rules... you might have one tank that has a disease running in it, but it won't have spread to all your other tanks.

Will leave it up to the reader to think about this one... if you are a truly accomplished aquarist you'll understand. All others will be scratching their heads...

 

[dskidmore]

If you use the word "never" in you fish housekeeping rules... you might have one tank that has a disease running in it, but it won't have spread to all your other tanks.

If this discussion was primarily about QT I would agree with you, but the argument was that female guppies "never" pick on the males. When trying to predict nature, you can't say never or always, but you can use never or always when setting policies for your tank, like always fishless cycle or never let your guest pour beer in the tank.

 

[meegosh]

Looks like one of the females is about to blow!! Both the females have an unusually strong appetite, its almost like a frenzy when I feed them. I'm going to try to get a picture of the biggest female. I know there is supposed to be a dark spot at the end of the abdomen, I'm just not sure if its her normal coloring or if she's carrying.

Also, I asked before and I don't think I got a response... how long should I wait to introduce the fry back into the main tank? The only other tank mates are the two females and one male. Thanks in advance!

 

[kimo]

"Looks like one of the females is about to blow!! Both the females have an unusually strong appetite, its almost like a frenzy when I feed them. I'm going to try to get a picture of the biggest female. I know there is supposed to be a dark spot at the end of the abdomen, I'm just not sure if its her normal coloring or if she's carrying.

Also, I asked before and I don't think I got a response... how long should I wait to introduce the fry back into the main tank? The only other tank mates are the two females and one male. Thanks in advance!"

A female guppy will go "square" before she drops any fry. It will look like she swallowed a balloon. The "gravid spot" will be darker, you might even be able to see the eyes of the fry through her skin. If a female has been with a male it's most likely she is pregnant, even if for only a few hours.

It all depends on the fry's future tankmates. If they are always well-fed you might be able to add the fry now. In some tanks you don't have to take any fry out from day one. Other tanks, especially one with canivorous type fish (cichlids, etc) they might need to be almost full grown before adding them back.

"its almost like a frenzy when I feed them." <<< try feeding them Wardley's shrimp pellets if you really want to see a feeding frenzy.

 

[dskidmore]

My policy is to wait until the fry are bigger than the other fish's mouths...

 

[FishCrazyBenBOMB]

I had molly fry, they are around 3/4'' to 1''. They were 4 months old on June 27th. It's funny though, I bred two dalmation mollys, and I don't have one dalmation molly in the fry. Ha

 

[kimo]

My policy is to wait until the fry are bigger than the other fish's mouths...

All dpends on what type of fish, how many fry, how valuable they are to you...

After 2 or 3 generations guppies usually leave their fry alone. Depends on how well they are fed too or the space available.

 

[kimo]

I had molly fry, they are around 3/4'' to 1''. They were 4 months old on June 27th. It's funny though, I bred two dalmation mollys, and I don't have one dalmation molly in the fry. Ha

Youll have to wait for the next generation to be born. Its all in the genes and depends on if they are heterozygotics or homozygotics.

 

[meegosh]

More fry!!!

Hey guys,

I thought I would keep you updated with my guppies. The 1 surviving fry from a month ago is doing great! He/she is just starting to show some color on his dorsal fin and tail. I have let him go in the 10g with 2 females and 1 male. They thought he was food from far away but when they got close they realized he was a guppy and stopped.

Now onto my next story...

I came home from work yesterday, started feeding the guppies in my 10g, they go nuts when I walk up and they pace back and forth waiting for food. One female wasn't at the top of the tank waiting for me, I looked and I saw her chasing my little 3week old fry around!!!! It seemed kind of odd to me so I fed them to distract her. When I did that, thats when I saw some fry hiding out in my java moss. I netted the adult guppys(2f/1m) and acclimated them to my 30g.

As soon as I pulled the adults out the fry came out of everywhere!!! I counted 9, my girlfriend counted 12 at one time!!! They are so small compared to my other fry that is just over 3 weeks or so old. I tried snapping some pictures of them but they are hard to get. I took a video that shows the size difference between the 3week fry and the new born.

One quick question, I guess since the one female was chasing the older fry that means they will eat their fry?! I want some survivors but then again I don't want my 10g filled with 30 guppies either. I moved the parents up top and it looks like the other female is going to drop. I might just leave her up top so the tetras will take care of the fry. I know, I know, that sounds horrible!!! I just don't have the space or time for a 3rd tank right now for the babies.

Heres the link to the youtube video ( i took it on my digital camera so its not the best quality)

YouTube - Guppy Fry

And heres a picture with the older fry circled in red, right beside him is a new fry and up top are some more.

 

[CatatonicBug]

Don't feel bad. I actually have a few guppies in my GBR tank with the intention of having the GBRs eat the fry. Supposedly it helps the GBRs to spawn. Guppies are such prolific breeders that you will be swamped with fry if you don't find something that will take care of them (by eating or otherwise).

 

[kimo]

"One quick question, I guess since the one female was chasing the older fry that means they will eat their fry?! I want some survivors but then again I don't want my 10g filled with 30 guppies either. I moved the parents up top and it looks like the other female is going to drop. I might just leave her up top so the tetras will take care of the fry. I know, I know, that sounds horrible!!! I just don't have the space or time for a 3rd tank right now for the babies."

Just because a female chases the fry it doesn't mean she will eat them continously.

If you don't want 30 guppies in your 10g, you'll have to get used to the art of culling. Remove all the fry to a spare tank (use a 1g platic jug if need be) and pick out and save the best (1-5%). Feed the rest to the tetras.... but after awhile the tetras will start ignoring the left over fry too...

You want fry? <g> I have more than 300-400 in one of my tanks right now. All fancies - no boattails. Free for the taking.

 

[meegosh]

Wow! 300-400?! That's just insane, how many mothers are there?

Well as far as the female chasing, I did see her eat one of the fry after she chased the month old fry around. That's when I decided to throw them up with the tetras and corys. I like the idea with the plastic jug, I may consider that with their next batch.

I never thought I'd be able to breed fish but it sure was simple. Add 2 females and 1 male, wait a month and viola! You've got fry out the wazoo!

I don't know if my neons would go after the fry, I would only assume that they would. My diamond tetras would eat anything they can fit in their mouth I think.

 

[kimo]

"Wow! 300-400?! That's just insane, how many mothers are there?"

Too many to count. Its my cull/growout tank. I only save 1-5% of the total. The reat are the ones that go to the LFS (all fancy). And that's EVERY month. Usual gestation is 23 to 45 days for guppies. Depends on the temperature.

"I don't know if my neons would go after the fry"

Neons won't bother even day old fry. They totally ignore the guppies.

At one time I had 2400 adult guppies in the 150g for a summer.... just to prove that it could be done.

 

[meegosh]

Well last night I saw a single fry hiding in my java moss in my 30g long. I guess my diamonds haven't found the fry yet or they ate too many before.

I don't understand where all these babies are coming from, I only have two females. How can there be more popping up like every week?! I have a month+ fry. Then another batch less than a week. Now this mystery fry in my 30g.

I tried netting the lone fry but he kept hiding so I'm not sure if he'll get enough food in the moss or not. If I can net him I would like to toss him down in my 10g so he can eat.

 

[meegosh]

Hey all, its been a while since I have posted. Got a new job and things have been busy. I thought I would post an updated about my guppy fry since when I signed on I had a punch of PMs about them.

Right now, actually last night, I pulled 10 males that are almost full grown into my 30g long. I put the two adult females (the mothers of all these stinkin' fry!) back into the 10g once the males were removed. In total, not counting the fry in the 10g now, I have 11 males in the 30g long, and 7 females in the 10g with probably about 6-9 more fry. It appears I have three different types of guppies. I know the last batch of fry are the tequila sunrise guppies. The last batch seemed to be a mix between the purple looking mother and the tequila sunrise guppy. The first one, I'm not sure who is the father, maybe the mail man?!

Only other thing that has changed in my tanks is one neon died, it stopped eating and had some damage to its jaw. Once the holidays are over I am planning on getting back into the hobby a lot more. I'm thinking light and substrate upgrades in my 30g long.

Nice to see you all again, I'll try to stop back more often!

 

[dskidmore]

The first one, I'm not sure who is the father, maybe the mail man?!

Guppies have the odd talent of being able to hold onto sperm, from multiple matings, over several broods of fry. The only way to be 100% certain of the parentage of guppy fry is to take the mother to be out of the fry tank before she and her brothers are sexually mature, and only ever give one male access to her.

Your guppy could have been impregnated at the fish store, or the distributor before that, who knows?