How Long

[tetraqueen]

How long does it take after you set up a tank for the fish to setle and have babies. I have platys, guppies, neon tetra's as well as clown loaches, gouramis a plec and two silver sharks. Do you think they all eat the babies ??
One of my tetra's looks huge ? is that a sign or do they get fat

 

[love_fish]

Well, first of a ll, a tetra isn't a livebearer. Second, how long have you had your tank setup for. If you go to the fish index, and look up platys, it tells you how to distinguish from male or female (this works with guppies and mollies too). Most likely they will all eat te babies. You can get a seperate breeding tank (say 5 gallons with heater and filter), or try raising te fry in a breeding net, and don't put the mother in the net, as it will cause stress and she may abort the pregnancy or possibly die.

That tetra that looks big, may be constipated, or have internal parasites, causing her/he to look big. What do you feed them?

 

[dwarfgourami]

Out of all those fish, it is only the platys and guppies (and possibly gouramis if conditions are right) who are likely to have babies without careful conditioning. Clown loaches only breed in captivity after hormone injections, not sure silver sharks do it at all. Even neons are quite difficult to breed, unlikely to happen by accident.

Platys and guppies on the other hand breed like rabbits - unless they are males. Pregnancy takes 4-6 weeks, they will eat their own babies, but can go on having a new batch every 4-6 weeks.

Can I just ask the size of your tank, since you've got some fish in there that grow very large? Did you add them all at once? What are your water stats?

 

[tetraqueen]

Out of all those fish, it is only the platys and guppies (and possibly gouramis if conditions are right) who are likely to have babies without careful conditioning. Clown loaches only breed in captivity after hormone injections, not sure silver sharks do it at all. Even neons are quite difficult to breed, unlikely to happen by accident.

Platys and guppies on the other hand breed like rabbits - unless they are males. Pregnancy takes 4-6 weeks, they will eat their own babies, but can go on having a new batch every 4-6 weeks.

Can I just ask the size of your tank, since you've got some fish in there that grow very large? Did you add them all at once? What are your water stats?

I did try to reply earlier! I get this wrong all the time. I am sorry I mentioned other fish as well as the livebearers. The tetra is giving me concern and I will ask on another forum.
I have asked on size and they say 100-gallon tank is required.
I wish I had this fish forum before I started I would not have bought so big fish but they are little now.
I have only had guppies a week given by a friend in despair. I think two are male with their brightly coloured fan tales and the other is female although unsure has a black dot at tail and is brown yellowish.
I bought them all over a period of time, which I typed in the other but, as my hands are sore I cannot type as well as spell!

I am unsure of them breeding would it be better to let them go to someone else.

I will check with the shop re the tetra.

I could always buy a small tank for the guppies and platy's put together or one at a time? Then when I get my large tank I can have a nursery the 90 litre and the big tank . if you get too many I canny cope. Perhaps I am too stupid for this hobby! I feed bloodworm on Saturdays and I feed dried food other times. I feed the plec wavers and tablet food. All fish seem to eat everything but tetras do not eat wavers. Should I give up ?

 

[dwarfgourami]

Of course you shouldn't give up! Don't panic- we're here to help!

Shall we leave the other fish aside; I would suggest posting in beginners forum stating the size of the tank and the number/kind of fish. Then we can sort out what arrangement would work best.

If you've only had the guppies for a few weeks it is too early to worry about them breeding. They may just need the time to settle down. My platys didn't breed for months.

It sounds like you have 2 males and 1 female. To make sure, look at the anal fin (the one under the anus). In a male that is pointed like a rod (well, it's a sort of willy), in the female it looks like a normal rounded fin. (The same works for sexing platys).

This is not an ideal gender ratio as guppy males are notoriously oversexed; she could be in for a bit of a hard time. A better ratio is 2-3 females to 1 male. Other than that, I wouldn't worry about them not breeding.

Don't worry about the tetras not eating sinking wafers; they'll eat flakes and bloodworm.

 

[woodie]

dont give up we all start somewhere no one is ever an expert we all learn new things all the time

this site is really helpful and will help get you sorted good look with all your fish

 

[tetraqueen]

dont give up we all start somewhere no one is ever an expert we all learn new things all the time

this site is really helpful and will help get you sorted good look with all your fish

Thanks I am getting good advice. Pity I post in all th wrong places but its good all care.