Questions about maintaining Guppy fry.

[benlink3]

Hello all. I have 8 Guppy fry in a plastic breeder in my 5 gallon with the parents. I want to move them to another tank. I just need the answer to the following questions for precautions :

1. How big of a tank shall I place the fry in?

2. Do Guppy fry need an air pump and/or filter running at all times?

3. If they need an air pump, shall I use an airstone?

(Getting kinda long now...LOL)

4. Can I place live Java Moss in tank for decoration, or is there a
particular plant Guppies tend to like?

5. What degrees shall I have the temperature in the tank remain at?

(Now this is getting ridiculous...LOL)

6. I have my Guppy parents in a 5 gallon, shall I keep them there, or
should I move them to a 10 gallon tank, and let the fry occupy the 5
gallon tank or vice versa?

I think that is about all I can come up with now!

I do appreciate any answers you may be able to give to me. As this is the best
forum I have come across.

Ben

 

[AquaNut]

Hi again Ben

I had an answer for you, but then it occurred to me that I don't know what you intend to do with the fry when they're grown. If you're going to sell them to your lfs, that changes things, but I'm going to assume that you want to keep them. If you do, in fact, wish to keep them, I'd move them into the ten gallon tank (presuming it's cycled - fry won't tolerate a cycling tank). I wouldn't worry too much about an airstone, but I'd set up a sponge filter for them (just a simple gadget, available at any lfs, which uses an air pump, some airline tubing, and a sponge to produce a filter that won't suck in the fry). You can use java moss or any other live plants that you wish. Guppies do love live plants (all fw tropical fish do, imo). They're particularly fond of cabomba and ceratophyllum (hornwort), which they use both for hiding in and for nibbling on. They also seem to like to hide in the roots that dangle off my cardamine lyrata plants. A nice clump of java fern seems to be good for hiding, too. Obviously, if the fry are the only fish in the tank, they don't NEED to hide, but they still like to. I would keep the water temp somewhere in the neighbourhood of 78 - 80 degrees; chilled guppies equals fungus infected guppies. I have found that once the fry are even just a few days old, they cease to be snackfood for the parents. However, seeing as you have two tanks available, you can wait until your fry are several weeks old and then add the parents to their tank. They don't need to be fully grown, just bigger than mommy and daddy's mouths. Other people will probably have different advice for you - there are no hard and fast rules on how to raise your guppy fry. Hope that helps.

 

[benlink3]

Great answers!
Although I do have another!
Considering the fact that I do not know much about Guppy Fry,
how long after I set up a new tank,
should I wait to put the fry in?

Ben

 

[AquaNut]

Well, the tank needs to be cycled. There are pinned articles about cycling in the Beginner's Section of this forum if you're not too sure what I mean. Without going through the entire procedure, I can tell you that because you already have an established tank, it will be a lot quicker for you to cycle a new tank. If you can take some filter media and some gravel, or anything else out of your already running tank (a rock or piece of wood, or a live plant) and put it into the new tank, you will be starting out with a decent bacteria colony. Try a fishless cycle; it's supposed to be far quicker than cycling with fish.

Alternatively, you could probably get away with moving the two adults to the ten gallon tank without actually cycling it, if you have some filter media/gravel etc to move into it, AND if you're willing to change about a gallon of water per day until your nitrites are at 0. I wouldn't try moving the fry to an uncycled tank, though... not even if you're willing to do the water changes and all that.

Btw, the fishless cycle, especially if you jump start it with some filter media or whatever, usually takes two weeks or less.