My First Litter Of Guppy Fry!

[Mackenzilynn]

 
My first litter of guppy fry were born yesterday - a great surprise when I got home! 
 
I had put momma in her breeder net, since she seemed squared off with a dark gravid spot. She wasn't lethargic, but I gave it about 2 days and it paid off!
 
She gave birth to about 10-13 babies, and I scooped her out and put her in with the rest of the community. This morning it appeared she had a few more. I managed to save three - but one of the other guppies in the tank caught one of the babies as a snack before I could get to it.
 
Now, about 16 of them are lounging in the breeder net, munching on ground blood worms and making friends with their siblings.
 
 
Since this is my first batch of babies I would love any advice you could share!
 
I have a 20 gallon tank - what am I supposed to do with the babies when they grow?
What do they eat?
Am I correct that they should live in the net for about a month?
Do I have to keep the light on?
 
Any personal stories or advice would be appreciated! Cheers!
 
P.S. Dad was a bright yellow and orange guppy and mom had some red and blue in her tail, I hope the babies will be as colorful!

 

[This Old Spouse]

Sounds like you're doing fine so far. I ended up selling a couple dozen guppies to a new LFS just starting up, but it's really difficult to sell them since they're so common. 
 
Do you have a small tank that you could use as a fry tank? It would need to be cycled like any other tank, but it's easier on you and the fry if they have their own tank.
 
No reason to keep the light on any longer than usual.
 
I ended up just letting nature take its course after that first batch. If one or two survived, that was fine as I was not about to set up any more tanks just to house the guppies!

 

[RCA]

Congratulations, it is always lovely having your first babies

 
It has been a loooooong while since I kept Guppies
 
what am I supposed to do with the babies when they grow?  Keep some and give some away or sell them if you can to friends.
What do they eat?  Liquidfry foods are what I used to use initially as they can choke if the food is too big for them.
Am I correct that they should live in the net for about a month?  Depends on the largest fish you have in there that can eat them.  We once had an Angelfish that sucked them through the breeder net!
Do I have to keep the light on? Not all the time I would not have thought.  As with all fish they need to sleep and do not have eyelids, so turn the lights out.  What was your reasoning for this?
 
Do not worry if you loose a few along the way it can happen.
 
Hopefully a more up-to-date Guppy fan can help you further.
 
Enjoy the journey...

 

[Ellieabbott4]

congratulaions ive just filled up my 50l fry tank with 50+ fry that were born last week. its quite cool if you manage to catch the female giving birth, very interesting to watch. one thing just to mention is to keep the water clean, the cleaner the water the quicker they grow . i feed mine banana worms or microworms, finely crushed flake and occasionally baby brine shrimp.
 
keep us updated on how you are getting on

 

[Mackenzilynn]

Thanks everyone!

Fishaholic - I read somewhere that that light had to be kept on all but about 8 hours, so that their spine could develop properly. I can't imagine it would make too much of a difference but for good measure I'm going to keep it on for most of the day. I think the other ones will appreciate it as well!

Also, the largest fish I have is a Dalmation molly. I'm not exactly sure how big they're supposed to be in a month, but she is he one I definitely have to look out for.

I also read that they like egg yolk! So i'm going to cook some up for them tonight

Still so excited! Can't wait to get home again today. Do you know how soon until they start showing a bit of color?

 

[Ellieabbott4]

My fry were between 5 and 6 weeks when they started to show some colours, and even now they are 3 months old and there colours are still changing

 

[This Old Spouse]

The black shows up first, sometimes fairly quickly. Other colors take several months to develop.

 

[*pete*]

Congratulations... I remember the exitement of finding my first batch of fry. Be carefull not to overfeed, keep up the regular partial water changes and they should be fine.

 

[Mackenzilynn]

It seems like they're growing so fast! Before they had the shape of a tadpole and within a few days they're already starting to look like little fish! 
 
The other fish are trying pretty hard to get to the fry though. I might have to find an entirely separate tank for the babies until they're old enough.
 
Fishaholic - I read somewhere that fry empty their stomachs every 20 minutes, and since its unrealistic to feed them that much, every four hours or so they should get fed. I'm not around enough to feed them that often, just wanted to hear your thoughts.

 

[This Old Spouse]

I used to feed mine 3-4 times daily and they grew up healthy and strong. 
 
If you could get some java moss or cabomba, something the fry could hide in, they'd have a better chance if you're going to keep them all in the same tank.

 

[pumpkinnose]

I feed my little ones twice a day and they seem to do fine.  We just moved a whole bunch of babies out of our 20 gallon with in the last month and I've moved six of my older babies back into the 20 gallon due to I was really happy with the different designs that some of the babies have showed.

 

[Aviici]

 Congratulations!!
I fed mine with the same sorta food I give the adults, just crushed it in a pestle and mortar. For example, flakes, ground down Hikari micropellets, Algae wafers crushed to dust size, and once they got a little bigger sliced and diced bloodworm. I only left them in the breeder for about 2 weeks the first time around and ended up with a few too many guppies haha. Now I keep them all in the big tank, from birth and like This Old Spouse, let nature take its course

 

[Mackenzilynn]

They seem to be doing fine with the powdered blood worms. I'm keeping my eye on craigslist for cheap new fishtanks.
I can't imagine letting little ones face the big guys, but maybe I'll get a little less emotional when I start getting too many babies to deal with!

 

[Aviici]

A second tank is always helpful, for fry and as a quarantine You just got to think what you're going to do with the fry when they grow into adults and what you're going to do a month down the line when they have another batch of fry haha ;D
 
Have you got any plants in your tank or natural cover? If in the future you have more babies (fish) and you can't really house all of them, you could just leave them in there and some fry are bound to survive naturally, it will just be a less and more manageable amount.

 

[Mackenzilynn]

I just got a brand new 55 gallon tank today!! I'm THRILLED! Will be keeping the smaller 20 gal for the fry and other guppy, and of course give some away. It's going to take a bit for the new tank to cycle anyway! Now I have the excitement of babies and a new tank to stock!
 
But yes, I definitely want to invest in some live plants. I'll be looking into some java and other sorts when I hit the aquarium store tomorrow.