Guppy Fry Not Growing..

[Akasha72]

mature media is filter sponges/cartridges/bio balls what ever it contains. There is little or no good bacteria in the water so there is no such thing as 'cycled water'

It can take weeks, sometimes months, for a filter to cycle. If you're not sure take a look at the beginner resource section on here and all will be explained

 

[AquaticHamster]

Yes, I mean stuff from inside the filter, not water. Just some stuff out of your main tank's filter, put in to the new one, would be fine.

Ill go do that right now. Thanks for the help!

EDIT: I have the filter in the box now. I poured all the water that was inside the main tanks filter into a cup then poured it into the new filter. I also put in biofiber from my first filter that broke down 2 weeks ago. That was in use since last August. I cut the bottom off a sock and wrapped it around the suction tube so that the fry wouldn't get sucked up. Heheh, the box is a bit short so the water pouring into it is kinda annoying. Its OKAY for the filter to be a little above the water level, right? It's the only way that will work unfortunately. Its kinda like when water evaporates from a tank and you can hear the water pouring in because the water evaporated so much. I do hope this is okay...
EDITEDIT: I put a rock decoration underneath the flow so it wasnt as noisy. Filter is now making a buzzing noise.. Normal? No?

 

[fluttermoth]

You really need media that's being used in your main filter. Stuff that hasn't been used for two weeks won't have any bacteria left alive in it.

What kind of filter is it? Most will work fine if you lie them on their side.

 

[crazyforcordoras]

Well, they grew awesome and colored up at about a month.if you feed them twice a day, they will be hungry half the day. Mine were perfectly fed all the time.

 

[AquaticHamster]

You really need media that's being used in your main filter. Stuff that hasn't been used for two weeks won't have any bacteria left alive in it.

What kind of filter is it? Most will work fine if you lie them on their side.

Its an Aquatech 5-15 gallon power filter. Cant really describe it anymore than that.

 

[fluttermoth]

Oh, an HOB! All you can do is raise the water level a bit.

 

[AquaticHamster]

Oh, an HOB! All you can do is raise the water level a bit.

Yeah, thats what I thought. It would be a disaster if I laid it on its side. XD

Unfortunately I can't raise the water any more because I realized too late that I chose a box with removable handles, in which case it has holes. I found that out the hard way... (water leaked everywhere while I was filling it) So I guess the only thing I can do at this point is live with the noise. Its only temporary I suppose. ;P

 

[PrairieSunflower]

I also feed mine often, usually 5 times per day... its important to clarify the amount that is feed though else it does sound like a lot. For small fry I am dipping half a toothpick into the water then dipping it into the baby food and portioning it that way... and still some ends up resting at the bottom.

For my adult fish and close to adult sized I feed them 3 times per day the portion they can eat in about 2-5 minutes (for example when its flakes... my flakes are about the size of a guppy head, I feed 2 flakes per fully grown adult and 1 for any smaller adults).

My fry tank gets cleaned every 3-4 days (50% change).

As for growth rate, I notice different sizes between batches, but not alarming differences and all are raised the same. Sunshine has large fast growing babies that begin color at 2 weeks. Gemini has hers a bit premature and they grow a touch more slowly. Tiny (who has died unfortunately) was a tiny female and had only 4 fry but they grew faster than Gemini's but slower than Sunshine. And Comet's seem to be only a shade behind in size to Sunshine's. But none of them are showing any signs of stunted growth from feeding or tank size.

(0-3 weeks fry I am keeping in a 3 gallon tank, they get moved into the community tank or given away or sold at that point).

 

[OldMan47]

Lots of food and pristine water conditions are the key to good growth. I just got home from a livebearer convention, yes there are such things, and one of our speakers was a commercial breeder. He basically said that as long as you can keep food always available and keep the water pristine, you can expect near optimum growth. He even cited some huge fish that he keeps in rather small confines, far smaller than any of us here would consider acceptable, where they keep growing very well because they are always well fed and always get fresh water continuously. In his case he was talking about catfish that are over 3 feet long that are living in a container so small that each must move out of the way for the next one to reach their food. Now that is very tightly packed, but they keep growing because they are living in his commercial filter of a few hundred gallons capacity and they get a constant supply of fresh water from his various growth tanks, not just the filter tank's water. None of us has the ability to provide that kind of continuous fresh water supply and we would have certainly lost all of those fish, but his point was very illustrative of the real needs of fish for survival and growth. Good water and good food are all that is really needed.

 

[FishBlast]

Lots of food and pristine water conditions are the key to good growth. I just got home from a livebearer convention, yes there are such things, and one of our speakers was a commercial breeder. He basically said that as long as you can keep food always available and keep the water pristine, you can expect near optimum growth. He even cited some huge fish that he keeps in rather small confines, far smaller than any of us here would consider acceptable, where they keep growing very well because they are always well fed and always get fresh water continuously. In his case he was talking about catfish that are over 3 feet long that are living in a container so small that each must move out of the way for the next one to reach their food. Now that is very tightly packed, but they keep growing because they are living in his commercial filter of a few hundred gallons capacity and they get a constant supply of fresh water from his various growth tanks, not just the filter tank's water. None of us has the ability to provide that kind of continuous fresh water supply and we would have certainly lost all of those fish, but his point was very illustrative of the real needs of fish for survival and growth. Good water and good food are all that is really needed.

So in a 20 gal with a fry cage with 2 fry, if I feed around 3-4 times a day, how often and how much should I change water?
I change 1.5L almost daily, 20-30L weekly (not exactly weekly but around 5 days or so distance).

 

[OldMan47]

In a 20 gallon, to follow his advice, you would feed so much that it would almost foul your water and then do huge water changes daily, maybe 50% or so. This guy was taking newborn mollies to a full 3 inches long in about 4 months. He auctioned off the stock he brought with him to the convention and I now have some beautiful silver sailfin mollies that are indeed about 3 inches long.

 

[FishBlast]

In a 20 gallon, to follow his advice, you would feed so much that it would almost foul your water and then do huge water changes daily, maybe 50% or so. This guy was taking newborn mollies to a full 3 inches long in about 4 months. He auctioned off the stock he brought with him to the convention and I now have some beautiful silver sailfin mollies that are indeed about 3 inches long.

I hope the 4 flakes a day feedings (6 flakes if counted for the 3 adults - the swordtails share a flake usually) won't be fouling the water. I can't do 50% daily on the 20 gal.
But I don't intend on selling the fry anyway, so I'm not trying to grow them too fast, I just want them to join the adults eventually so I can free up the space the cage takes.