Hello, My teenager and I have kept small freshwater aquariums for the last decade we began with a Betta when she was 3, when she was 6 we began with a 10 gallon and added a little tetra named Berry Blue, fortunately for us he was extremely hardy as we learned on the fly about water chemistry and over the years we have had a few tanks and numerous fish. My daughter is now 15 we recently lost our Berry blue :-( and added 3 guppies to our 20 gal. To our surprise they have begun having countless babies every few week with more on the way. We have put together another 10 gal for all the babies with spare stuff a 3 gal whisper with under gravel -t split on a 10 gal air pump and a old 5-10 gal submersible whisper with cut to fit floss in both for medium and unbleached coffee liners rubber banded to the intake. The babies are a joyful experience but any and all advise on how slow them down with little to no spending and to re-home the babies would be greatly appreciated.
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- Thread starter Keri
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The only real way to stop livebearers from breeding is to separate males from females. You could control the numbers of surviving fry by adding something that predates on them.
As to rehoming, as livebearers are such prolific breeders they arent in great demand. You might get a local fish store willing to take them off you once they are big enough to sell, you might even get a little store credit. You could look for a local aquarium club, see if they have a message board where you could advertise your fish. Again you might find someone willing to take them off you or give you a little money. I have heard of people that keep predatory fish wanting guppies to use as live food if thats something you would consider.
As to rehoming, as livebearers are such prolific breeders they arent in great demand. You might get a local fish store willing to take them off you once they are big enough to sell, you might even get a little store credit. You could look for a local aquarium club, see if they have a message board where you could advertise your fish. Again you might find someone willing to take them off you or give you a little money. I have heard of people that keep predatory fish wanting guppies to use as live food if thats something you would consider.
Even in what is called a community tank, small fish like tetras will reduce the number of fry by eating them while the fry are small enough to fit in their mouths, especially if there isnt a lot of hiding places for the fry to avoid being eaten. They dont have to be "predatory" fish to keep numbers down.
Agree about just getting some fish which like a lil snack now and again will definitely help.
And as for separating the the males and females, I had over 2000 Endlers and Guppies during the pandemic. Not by choice, every week I would remove any fish which didn't look like it had a darkened gravid spot at about 1/3 inch and still they overflowed. I had 11 Congo Tetras, which I just figured would eat babies, but nope, at least not enough to make a dent in the population. And didn't ever see them chase or eat the fry. Other fish will help though.
Females can store the sperm for about 6 months. Babies can be impregnated at around a 1/4-1/3 inch. So basically babies having babies. Usually you can find homes for a small number of them, but everyone gets so many of the fish unless they are a specialty variety which are hard to come by. Sometimes if they are really beautiful fish a local fish store might buy them for credit at their store.
Welcome!
And as for separating the the males and females, I had over 2000 Endlers and Guppies during the pandemic. Not by choice, every week I would remove any fish which didn't look like it had a darkened gravid spot at about 1/3 inch and still they overflowed. I had 11 Congo Tetras, which I just figured would eat babies, but nope, at least not enough to make a dent in the population. And didn't ever see them chase or eat the fry. Other fish will help though.
Females can store the sperm for about 6 months. Babies can be impregnated at around a 1/4-1/3 inch. So basically babies having babies. Usually you can find homes for a small number of them, but everyone gets so many of the fish unless they are a specialty variety which are hard to come by. Sometimes if they are really beautiful fish a local fish store might buy them for credit at their store.
Welcome!
Hello, I am new here also and seen this.
As another poster mentioned here, some local pet stores, even a big box store, may take babies off your hand for store credit, once they have made it to viability, of course.
I am in Erie, PA and I have a frisky Dalmatian Molly colony in a 20 gallon long and every few weeks, I am removing fry. There is a pet store here called Buzz-n-Bees that take the fry gladly after I reared them for 30 days.
Steady diet of baby brine shrimp and the occasional algae wafer they will take 4 days to peck at, lol.
As another poster mentioned here, some local pet stores, even a big box store, may take babies off your hand for store credit, once they have made it to viability, of course.
I am in Erie, PA and I have a frisky Dalmatian Molly colony in a 20 gallon long and every few weeks, I am removing fry. There is a pet store here called Buzz-n-Bees that take the fry gladly after I reared them for 30 days.
Steady diet of baby brine shrimp and the occasional algae wafer they will take 4 days to peck at, lol.
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