BABY OVERLOAD

[hecmac]

Hi Room,


I new to this and will start with a few basic details about my tank, ok

its 48" X 18" x 12" , think thats roughly 40 Gallons. I Have owned the tank for about 8 months. I have 4 bala sharks, 1 Irridescent Sharks, 2 male sword tails, 2 adult and 4 baby black mollies, 1 siamese fighter, a few tetras of different type etc... oh and about 30 guppies ranging from 1 day old to 8 month old.

The guppies are the problem!, they are breeding like rabbits lol, I need some advice on controling the number of fry. I started with about 4 female guppies and 2 males.

I know the Irridescent Shark will munch through a few when he gets a little older, and the siamese fighter seems to be fond of trying to catch them but they seem to be new batch born eveyday.

Any advice on controlling these would be appreciated,

Regards,
Hec

 

[modernhamlet]

Remove the males.

No really... if you have a male and a female guppy in the same tank, chances are, you're going to have fry! Guppies are nothing if not prolific...

A couple of unrelated questions:

Have you had any compatibility problems between your betta and the livebearers?

Are you aware of how big bala and irridescent sharks get?

 

[Socrates]

Nothing to add except I think with those dimensions it's colser to 45 gallons.

http/www.pcpages.com/fish/us.html

 

[hecmac]

Lol there is to many males now! and I not entirley sure what to do with them, dont fancy killing them and I about 4 hours from my nearest pet shop....

Em excuse the ignorance, I am not one hundred percent sure what a betta is, but everybody in the tank gets on well, no hassle and everybody seems well. There is a chinese algae eater whos very territorial , nobody is alowed near his " cave ".

Yeah I was aware they get quite large but I hoping in the next year maybe to purchase a bigger tank. (again advice on a size of tank and where i can purchase would be appreciated) .

Regards
Hec

 

[hecmac]

I live in the uk, is there a difference between US and UK gallons??

Regards
Hec

 

[rsz]

You need to either take out the males or take out the females

This and this say the minimum tank size for a bala shark, one says 55gal and one says 70gal. Since you have 4 of them, I would guess you'll need about a 120gal at least

I also looked up irridescant sharks and I found this and this (the second one suggests at least a 125gal for one fully grown one... and according to these sites they grow pretty big ).

Yes, there is a difference between US and UK gallons - US ones are slightly smaller so you fit more of them in a tank... but it's not a huge difference

Also, if you aren't sure what a betta is, have a look in the pictures board on this forum - there are always lots of pics of bettas there (you might not see one identical to yours, but you'll be able to tell if they're similar )

HTH

rsz

 

[hecmac]

tHANKS FOR THE ADVICE

Yeah Think the Bala should be ok but by the sounds of things the irridescant shouldnt be kept at all in an aquarium, they get rather large!,

I am afraid I bought it from a large pet shop in Glasgow as there was a warning that it would eat fry, it also looks stunning, almost like a shark I think and this would have been useful to control the guppy fry. They never advised me that it would grow so large.

I have a marine center near to my home and perhaps they would take it should it get to large.

althought I know I should have done a little reserch into this before purchasing the fish, I would have expected the pet shop to offer me a liottle advice on the matter, oh well...

Thanks again for the advice,
Hec

 

[modernhamlet]

althought I know I should have done a little reserch into this before purchasing the fish, I would have expected the pet shop to offer me a liottle advice on the matter, oh well...

Sadly, this is often not the case. But now you've learned that the particular fish shop you got it from from can't be trusted. Whether the mistake was due to ignorance or greed on their part, it matters not.

Maybe you could return the iridescent to them? Could be worth a shot.

Good luck!

 

[babyfish]

Try and rehome the sharks if you can and then put the betta in his own little tank 5 gal+, then buy at least 3 angels and put them in with your livebearers, won't be long before there are no baby guppies

 

[hecmac]

Hi All and thanks for the advice,

well I still intent on owning a bigger tank in the very near future. I find the fish rewarding and stress busting.! I will certainly keep the fish the now and see how they get on. Sadly its a 4 hour drive to return the fish to where I purchased it, and since it cost me three pound to buy its really not worth the 7 hour return journey. Might sound little selfish but hey... lol

Does anyboy have any information on tank suppliers in the UK, I plan to keep the current tank for the smaller communty and maybe house the bala / catfish in the larger tank

Thanks in advance
Hec

 

[SirMinion]

Em excuse the ignorance, I am not one hundred percent sure what a betta is...

"Betta" is another name for the siamese fighting fish.

Pet stores in Britain tend to call them Siamese Fighters, whereas the Fish Keeping community tend to call them Bettas.

The same thing is true with Guinea Pigs... called "Cavies" by the fans.

 

[iloveyou]

bala sharks dont grow too fast so the 45 gallon will be ok for them aslong as they dont live to be like 10.... seems the problem lies more with the guppies... do u just let them breed in the tank and not take the babies out... that should take down 3/4 of the fry just in leaving them in the tank... if not... maybe buy a fish that loves eating live food.. not sure what that would be... are they taking over your tank? are u unhappy with them breeding like that? id be happy

 

[hecmac]

Yeah think the balas will be fine for few years.

Dont get me wrong I like the Guppies, I love the fact they breeding, suggests to me that they happy and healthy. The reason I have a problem is that the level in the tank now about comfortable, and any more going to start getting a little congested, which in turn going to reduce the fish health.

A couple of FRY eaters would be fine to control the fry and keep the tank comfortable. I could " adjust " there hunger so to speak by reducing the flake/shrimp/worm food when numbers are on the up.

The Irridescent Shark will certainely munch its way through a few I hope, according to most sites I have checked.

Thnaks

 

[modernhamlet]

Sorry, but not feeding as much or buying a piscivore in order to control a population that you allowed to happen and can stop with little effort both seem a little backward to me.

 

[hecmac]

Sorry, but not feeding as much or buying a piscivore in order to control a population that you allowed to happen and can stop with little effort both seem a little backward to me.
With respect, and as I am inexperienced in this hobby all views are welcomed,

I agree I allowed the population to get out of control. A little more preparation and study into aquarium fish and the species involved and I would not have got into this position. I am definitely guilty of rushing head first into things and getting carried away with the excitement of seeing the fish breed.

You suggest I can stop with little effort, how? If I remove the males, where do I put them?? I don’t have a second tank, or space to house a new tank, I don’t see killing the males as any better than using small fry as live food. Infact I would argue it is worse. Of the 20 - 30 guppies I would say 18 are female and of this 15 are pregnant, so I would estimate at least another 10 male guppy would survive even if I remove the current males. I live 4-5 hours from my local pet shop, Pet Smart, a huge supplier in the UK who don’t accept stock from the general public, due to the risk of disease.

Having read numerous internet sites over the last few days it seem accepted practice to use guppy fry as live food. It must be healthy for all fish to have a varied diet, and a natural one. The guppy fry that survive will be the strongest, ensuring a healthy tank, and the ones that dont, well they ensure the remaining fish are healthy by providing part of a varied diet and keeping the community down to a healthy size.


Again I would agree that it is a situation I could have avoided if I was a little better informed but as usual I got carried away with a new hobby.