Help new babies !t

[Brendanpat]

They should be big enough by 2-3 weeks old

Hii .what should I do with my fry if a lot of them survive? Should I look about another tank or would a pet shop take some of them ? Should I seperate the males and females ? I'd love to keep breeding some but I wouldn't have the space in my tank

 

[AdoraBelle Dearheart]

Hii .what should I do with my fry if a lot of them survive? Should I look about another tank or would a pet shop take some of them ? Should I seperate the males and females ? I'd love to keep breeding some but I wouldn't have the space in my tank

You'd have to check whether your LFS might take them. I believe the big chain stores like Pets At Home don't take livebearer fry from home hobbyists, because of the threat of disease spreading, but my privately owned local fish store takes my livebearer fry. Whether they will would be up to the owner. If not, you'd need to look into selling or giving them away privately.

It's best practice where possible to separate them into male/female tanks as soon as they're old enough to sex, because otherwise the females can become gravid way too young, but it's not always possible, and anyone buying livebearer females should be aware that there's always a risk that they're already gravid or carrying sperm packets.

I wouldn't suggest trying to keep them all - your one female can pop out another 30-40 every month, then if any of the young females in this batch do get knocked up before you can separate them, those would be mature within three months and start popping out fry every month too, you'll soon be overrun with tanks and guppies!

But if you wanted to keep a couple of females so your own adult female isn't outnumbered by males, you could. Or you could rehome the adult female and keep a couple of the nicer males to have a male only tank if you want to avoid dealing with fry all the time. Up to you!

 

[AilyNC]

I would keep some pretty males and offer to sell or trade the rest with fish shop once they're bit bigger. They'll want them at a size thru can be sold at. My platy fry at 2 months old are still too small to trade. I'll probably try swap them for plants or maybe fish food.

 

[Brendanpat]

Thanks

You'd have to check whether your LFS might take them. I believe the big chain stores like Pets At Home don't take livebearer fry from home hobbyists, because of the threat of disease spreading, but my privately owned local fish store takes my livebearer fry. Whether they will would be up to the owner. If not, you'd need to look into selling or giving them away privately.

It's best practice where possible to separate them into male/female tanks as soon as they're old enough to sex, because otherwise the females can become gravid way too young, but it's not always possible, and anyone buying livebearer females should be aware that there's always a risk that they're already gravid or carrying sperm packets.

I wouldn't suggest trying to keep them all - your one female can pop out another 30-40 every month, then if any of the young females in this batch do get knocked up before you can separate them, those would be mature within three months and start popping out fry every month too, you'll soon be overrun with tanks and guppies!

But if you wanted to keep a couple of females so your own adult female isn't outnumbered by males, you could. Or you could rehome the adult female and keep a couple of the nicer males to have a male only tank if you want to avoid dealing with fry all the time. Up to you!

Thanks . Yeah think I might keep the males and 1 or 2 females .I love the idea of seeing new life . I'd imagine my lfs will take them . How soon would I be able to tell if there Male or female ?

 

[Brendanpat]

I would keep some pretty males and offer to sell or trade the rest with fish shop once they're bit bigger. They'll want them at a size thru can be sold at. My platy fry at 2 months old are still too small to trade. I'll probably try swap them for plants or maybe fish food.

Sounds good . Yes I'd like to keep them anyway for a while to see them grow nice and strong. But I dont want them breeding with each to early . Are they safe together for 2/3months ?

 

[AdoraBelle Dearheart]

Thanks

Thanks . Yeah think I might keep the males and 1 or 2 females .I love the idea of seeing new life . I'd imagine my lfs will take them . How soon would I be able to tell if there Male or female ?

I usually sex them at 3-4 weeks, I can usually tell by then, but I've been breeding them for a while and it can take some practice to tell. You don't want to accidentally put a single female fry in a tank full of males since she'd likely be killed, so do a lot of research on how to tell the difference when they're young, don't be afraid to make use of tubs/buckets to separate them out and be sure (If there's one I'm not sure of, I put it into a square perspex thing I have so I can examine it more closely) so when you're ready to sex them, be ready with buckets or tanks for male/female/not sure, take your time, and you can keep the ones you're not sure about in the breeder box/bottle for a bit longer until you can be sure of the sex. Once the gonopodium begins to develop, you can be confident that those ones are male.

 

[AilyNC]

Mine are all in the one tank. From a few days old up to 2 months.

 

[Brendanpat]

Mine are all in the one tank. From a few days old up to 2 months.

I'd love to own a petshop. And breed all my own fish ..

 

[AilyNC]

I'd love to own a petshop. And breed all my own fish ..

I'd be dreadful though cause I wouldn't wanna sell anything

 

[Brendanpat]

I'd be dreadful though cause I wouldn't wanna sell anything
Should I let the fry loose into my tank after a week or two and then would it be ok to sex them at about 2 months and then export some to lfs ? Because I don't have a separate tank . And it wouldn't be good for them to stay in the breeder box bottle for too long ?

 

[AilyNC]

I would wait 2 to 3 them put in the main tank. Luke you say you've only 1 tank. Ask the local shop what size they'll take them at. I wonder as they get bigger will more water changes be needed for the tank?

Both @AdoraBelle Dearheart & @Retired Viking have more guppy fry experience. You've only in be tank so I think keep them there until you can sell them.

 

[Brendanpat]

I would wait 2 to 3 them put in the main tank. Luke you say you've only 1 tank. Ask the local shop what size they'll take them at. I wonder as they get bigger will more water changes be needed for the tank?

Both @AdoraBelle Dearheart & @Retired Viking have more guppy fry experience. You've only in be tank so I think keep them there until you can sell them.

Yes probably will need extra but I dont mind that . Think I mite look for a very small tank for fry next time and get a wee foam filter and put it running in my tank to have bacteria built up . Am sure the mrs wont mind a small one ..

 

[AilyNC]

Yes probably will need extra but I dont mind that . Think I mite look for a very small tank for fry next time and get a wee foam filter and put it running in my tank to have bacteria built up . Am sure the mrs wont mind a small one ..

Maybe she'll see the baby fry & be smitten

 

[Brendanpat]

Maybe she'll see the baby fry & be smitten

Hope so ..I have to convince her to feed them during the day ..

 

[AdoraBelle Dearheart]

Hope so ..I have to convince her to feed them during the day ..

Guppy fry are pretty hard to resist! Tiny little things, big eyes... she couldn't leave those little cuties hungry!
I found three more guppy fry in the parent tank today, bringing my total for this batch to 37