Guppy Fry For The First Time

[argoma]

Hi everyone, so I had some guppy fry, they're six baby guppy.
A friend of mine that has guppy got some fry because both of her females were pregnant and she had abour 40 fry or so. She has a small aquarium and can't keep all of them so I decided that I could keep some since my tank is basically empty since I had an ich crisis.
I have now 6 guppy fry together in a 18 gallon tank with my two neon tetra survivors.
I was a bit nervous about them eating the fry but they didn't, they get along just fine.
I've been feeding the fry tropical fish flakes that i smash in very tiny pieces for them.
What are other care and other things I need to know about guppy fry?

 

[DiddleBug]

Crushed tropical flakes work pretty good.  Just make sure not to feed too much and do lots of water changes.  Make sure the fry can't get sucked in the filter! The nice thing about live bearers is that their fry are so easy to raise.  In no time at all you should have some pretty guppies!

 

[argoma]

Crushed tropical flakes work pretty good.  Just make sure not to feed too much and do lots of water changes.  Make sure the fry can't get sucked in the filter!

The nice thing about live bearers is that their fry are so easy to raise.  In no time at all you should have some pretty guppies!

 
They dont get too close to the filter. They are so tiny, so small and look so fragile but at the same time so energetic! They are about one week old, how long do they take to grow and get some color?

 

[DiddleBug]

haha i know what ya mean. They are so fun to raise.
 
Well, that can vary.  Mine took 3 weeks to a month or a bit more.  i don't remember very well... Usually the dark ones start to get dark spots first.  Are yours lighter or darker?  

 

[csfishkeeper]

I agree, it takes a few weeks for the beginning colors to show up. Males tend to color up faster than females. Between 5 and 6 weeks old, you'll be able to tell the difference between the boys and girls. The girls will develop gravid spots. The males take a little longer to develop, so if by 6 weeks any that doesn't have a gravid spot should be assumed to be a boy.
 
Once they hit about 3 months old, they will breed, so make sure that you have at least 2 girls for each boy in the tank.
 
I don't personally feed differently just for fry. In my tank, everyone has to fight for food, but I do crumble up the flakes a little more when fry are in the tank. They will eat anything that they can get into their mouth including tubifex worms, bloodworms, and micro pellets from day 1.
 
For a treat, give them some egg yolk (hard boiled).

 

[argoma]

They are all whitish, there is a black one tho.
The five whitish ones have black spots in the anal fin. The black one has a bent spine.
About bent spines on fry, what can I do about it? This black one has a bent spine and seems to be the smallest one as it is not so developed as others.