Too Many Fry?

[fishyfaye]

Hi Guys,

Just registered to this forum in hope that someone could offer me some advice. I'm a beginner to tropical fish keeping - I've always loved tropical fish because I think they're beautiful and been keeping them now for about 2 years now.

However about 9 months ago (ish) I accidentally got a female guppy in a fish bag from another tank when I purchased two clown loaches, and recently shes been giving birth.

Last month I saw the cutest little baby fish swimming around the tank (only saw two) and the next day they had disappeared, obviously eaten by the other fish in the tank (I have one rather large yellow gourami, 2 clown loaches, one tetra, female guppy and very small male guppy).

I read online that the female guppy gets preggers straight away and would probably drop fry again 25+ days later. In light of this I bought a small breeding tank - Today I noticed signs of her dropping the fry, I popped her in the tank, went out for a meal with my family, came back and to my suprise saw about 40+ pair of eyes staring up at me!!!

Now I'm thinking OH MY GOD... all these guppy babies - what the hell do i do with them? lol

I know i could let some go, and let other fish eat them, but my mum said Id be evil and with those little cute eyes, i really dont want to do such a thing. Im just worried about them obviously getting bigger, and my tank is only small. Plus im really up sh*t creek if they start breeding with each other!

I know when they grow a bit bigger I could sex them, but i dont have another tank to put the males/females in - what would you guys do?

Any help on the matter would be great thankya!! xx

 

[sussexgirl]

Hi Guys,

Just registered to this forum in hope that someone could offer me some advice. I'm a beginner to tropical fish keeping - I've always loved tropical fish because I think they're beautiful and been keeping them now for about 2 years now.

However about 9 months ago (ish) I accidentally got a female guppy in a fish bag from another tank when I purchased two clown loaches, and recently shes been giving birth.

Last month I saw the cutest little baby fish swimming around the tank (only saw two) and the next day they had disappeared, obviously eaten by the other fish in the tank (I have one rather large yellow gourami, 2 clown loaches, one tetra, female guppy and very small male guppy).

I read online that the female guppy gets preggers straight away and would probably drop fry again 25+ days later. In light of this I bought a small breeding tank - Today I noticed signs of her dropping the fry, I popped her in the tank, went out for a meal with my family, came back and to my suprise saw about 40+ pair of eyes staring up at me!!!

Now I'm thinking OH MY GOD... all these guppy babies - what the hell do i do with them? lol

I know i could let some go, and let other fish eat them, but my mum said Id be evil and with those little cute eyes, i really dont want to do such a thing. Im just worried about them obviously getting bigger, and my tank is only small. Plus im really up sh*t creek if they start breeding with each other!

I know when they grow a bit bigger I could sex them, but i dont have another tank to put the males/females in - what would you guys do?

Any help on the matter would be great thankya!! xx

How big is your tank? I had this problem with platy fry. I kept them int he breeder net for about a month then released them into my tank and when they had grown to a decent size I bagged them all up and took them into my local aquatic store. They didn't give me anything for them because they get loads given to them but at least they were able to sell them on and take them off my hands. If you keep livebearers you've got to expect this, mine were breeding every month in the end and I was inundated. I just gave all my livebearers to the LFS in the end and put it down to experience. Best of luck and don't forget to buy some fry food if you're going to raise them.

 

[fishyfaye]

My tank i think is only about 60 litres!

I think thats what Im going to have to do... Would you advise releasing some now into the tank (obviously for the other fish to eat them?) or just leave them to grow? My tank cant take another 40 fish swimming around and there's more risk of infection and disease when it's too overcrowded.

I'll have to speak to the fish store near me to see if he would accept some when they are a little bigger.

Two questions::

How old are guppied until you can sex them?

And how old do they have to be until they start mating??The last thing I want is them in-breeding and giving me more babies xx

 

[wackystarfish]

It depends. Guppies grow at different rates to each other, like people As soon as you see the Gonipodium, that means it is male. I would seperate them at this point.

 

[sussexgirl]

My tank i think is only about 60 litres!

I think thats what Im going to have to do... Would you advise releasing some now into the tank (obviously for the other fish to eat them?) or just leave them to grow? My tank cant take another 40 fish swimming around and there's more risk of infection and disease when it's too overcrowded.

I'll have to speak to the fish store near me to see if he would accept some when they are a little bigger.

Two questions::

How old are guppied until you can sex them?

And how old do they have to be until they start mating??The last thing I want is them in-breeding and giving me more babies xx

I know it feels cruel when you have the fry for the first time but I would release them into the tank. You don't have the capacity to raise 40 extra fish and when all is said and done it would be survival of the fittest in the wild. You will be amazed at how great fry are at hiding and you'll always have a certain number of them surviving in the tank among the other fish. So long as there are plenty of places for them to hide. Alternatively you can do what I did and go out and purchase a small baby tank like the Aqua One 320 and set up a nursery! It's always handy to have a spare tank for quarantine or breeding anyway.

 

[becca320]

If you cant get any joy with your LFS, I am in west yorkshire and currently have the room to grow them on with all my guppies, If you are really really stuck I can take them off your hands depending on where you live ??

Becks.