What Breeding Trap Do You Use?

[!Gina]

Ok so the first time my guppy had fry, i kept her in a marina 3 in 1 breeding trap:

I was advised by the pet store this would be the best, however i encountered ALOT of problems with it.
My guppy was quite stressed out by the small space, She gave birth to only 5 fry, 4 of which got eaten. There are holes at the bottom of the trap (where the fry are kept) somehow some of my other fish and managed to poke through the holes and attack the fry, the ones that werent eaten died of fright anyway.

Considering this breeding trap is advertised as being safe for both guppy and fry, i wasnt impressed.

I've since bought a breeding net, which im keeping the 1 remaining fry in quite happily. But can i use this for when my guppy gives birth? in a net the chances are she'll eat most of them.
&if i let her give birth in my tank, they wont stand a chance, any that survive will be instantly sucked in the filter.

so what would/do you do?

 

[xander_chookeypud]

I have the exact breeding trap as you- that marina 3 in 1 one. I havent experieced problems like you have. Although i did find that my guppies were getting stressed in the small space like you said- so i just took the middle compartment out to allow her access to the whole breeding trap bar where the fry go. I found that i couldnt have more than one female in it (in each compartment), they were just working each other up so my suggestion is to take out the middle compartment. I only found that my shrimp was trying to get his thin legs in but after encouraging him off he eventually stopped after the 3rd go! I used to have loadsa guppies n swordtails but they never managed to attack them- holes were too small

 

[!Gina]

I have the exact breeding trap as you- that marina 3 in 1 one. I havent experieced problems like you have. Although i did find that my guppies were getting stressed in the small space like you said- so i just took the middle compartment out to allow her access to the whole breeding trap bar where the fry go. I found that i couldnt have more than one female in it (in each compartment), they were just working each other up so my suggestion is to take out the middle compartment. I only found that my shrimp was trying to get his thin legs in but after encouraging him off he eventually stopped after the 3rd go! I used to have loadsa guppies n swordtails but they never managed to attack them- holes were too small

yeah, i could take out the compartment, but she'd still perhaps eat the majority of them before i could resucue them. Also it seems to be my rainbow shark and clown loach, that are using their 'pincers' to poke through the holes and get the fry.
They swim upside down and if they dont manage to actually get the fry, they scare them to death anyway.

Thanks for advice though, i might try to remove the compartment, if i dont come up with another way soon.

 

[dwarfgourami]

A much better way is to stick lots of plants in the tank, let her give birth there, then rescue any fry you see and put THEM in the breeder net on their own, preferably with a floating plant to hide in + eat from. Many females are really stressed out by the breeder net- and as you say, it gives her easy access to the fry. If the tank is heavily planted and you keep an eye, they probably stand as good a chance, and you're not risking her life.

 

[!Gina]

That could be a good idea, i have 2 pregnant guppys at the moment, maybe i could try and keep one in the breeding net, and leave the other amongst the plants (ive recently ordered 70 new plants anyway) and see which technique works best?

Thanks for giving me ideas..

 

[Fishy Mishy]

Agree with dwarfgourami. I have just been away for 5 days and come home to lots of baby dalmation mollies! They were thriving in the floating plants and I have carefully netted them and put them in to the breeding net which already has baby guppies in and floats in my main tank. This way I can make sure they get to eat the baby food rather than the greedy adults who seem to love the baby grub and I like to keep an eye on there progress.

 

[Annastasia]

I'd stick with the plant idea, personally. I've used it for a long time, and you still end up with some fry. The females always stayed healthy too.

 

[ananda1]

I used a breeding trap...ONCE. It let the fry out through the "water circulation holes" in the bottom of the thing. (And that was with molly fry, who are huge compared to platy, swordie, and guppy fry!) So, the mom was stressed, most of the fry got out, and all of the fry got eaten.

Other solutions I have tried:

5g tank, bottom covered with one layer of marbles (the old-fashioned spherical kind, not the decorative, flat-on-one side kind). Fry were able to hide in the spaces between the marbles, and the mom wasn't able to get at them.

Fake (plastic) wheat grass, floated upside-down in the tank main. Fry hide in the stuff, and fish usually can't get to them. Most fry were able to get away from mom & the other fish and into the wheat grass to safety, but some got eaten. Use a great big net to scoop up the wheat grass, fry, and all if you want to transfer them to a rearing tank.

Heavily planted tank. Fry hang out in the valisnera, esp. in areas where the roots are pulling themselves up out of the substrate, and whereever the leaves are really close together. At night, fry head for the surface, where they could fairly easily be scooped up for removal to a rearing tank.

 

[Fishkeeper2004]

Also, if you have a spare tank, plant it heavily and have marbles and large stones at the bottom, but keep it empty until the mother is ready to give birth. Let her give birth in the empty tank, and remove her after 24 hours - this way only a minute number of fry are killed, and all the rest are happy and healthy, using this method I have raised well over 200 guppy fry...

 

[imouse]

I bought the 4 in 1 and binned the side and bottom dividers as soon as i got home. I place a few floating plants in after a sprinkle of sand to just dust the bottom of the trap.
(theory for the sand is that mother is rather loathe to sift through sand for an easy snack during period of egg sac absorbsion)




mouse

 

[ferrikins]

I don't use them at all.


Evil evil traps of death.

I have a 12g beeding tank with loads of plants ect.

 

[Bryan1957]

I have large rocks in my 55 gallon tank and java moss. I probably have more than 30 fry in there now with the fish listed in my signature. There are 12guppie fry that were moved out of the breeder net when they were about 6 weeks old, the rest are platy and swordtails all born in the tank.
I also have two 5 gallon tanks that are listed as quarantine tanks. I use one of them for fry, the mother can give birth in there. I have large substrate gravel, some large rocks (about 3/4" in diameter) and some flat rocks that I used to make a cave on the bottom. The cave is too small for the adult fish and easy for the fry to hide in. I remove the mother after she gives birth.
I also have a 1.5 gallon tank that I use in a real emergency. There isn't very much cover in this tank and it is very small, so it is a last resort.
I probably have about 70 fry total in my tanks and don't use a breeder net except to raise fry in one of my tanks because there wasn't a birthing tank available. I've never used a breeder trap.
There are 2.5 gallon tanks available with UGF for a few dollars at Wal Mart and PetSmart here in the US. I have seen the breeder traps, they cost about 8$ US, a 2.5 gallon tank at Wal Mart cost about $14. They don't need very much space and can be available quickly if you need a place for a fish to give birth. The 5 gallon tanks will set you back a little more but can double as a quarantine tank for new fish or sick fish.
Good luck with your fry, they are fun to watch.
Bryan

 

[chrisquinn12]

I recently made my own breeding net. Not really to save money but the style of my tank hood made the bought ones nearly impossible to fit. I now have 3 mollie fry which we netted a few days after they were born. We thought theyhad been eaten. Couldn't see them at all. We had to move rocks and plants to flush them out...Probably should have just left them be. But now they are happy in their custom made accommodation..

 

[Angry_Platy]

I have had livebearers long enough now to know when they are going to give birth within about 12 hours. I put the mum into a breeding net and let her give birth in there, I also throw a few floating plants in for the fry to hide in. As soon as the mum has finished birthing then she goes back to her tank. The fry stay in there for 3 weeks gwtting fed every 2 hours and then they get moved to the plastic breeding trap where they stay till they are big enough not to be eaten.

 

[!Gina]

I recently made my own breeding net. Not really to save money but the style of my tank hood made the bought ones nearly impossible to fit. I now have 3 mollie fry which we netted a few days after they were born. We thought theyhad been eaten. Couldn't see them at all. We had to move rocks and plants to flush them out...Probably should have just left them be. But now they are happy in their custom made accommodation..

I'd thought about custom making a breeding net, simply because i know all the problems i've had with the shop bought ones, and i know how i want to avoid them in future.
If you dont mind me asking, do you have any pictures of your custom net? i'd be interested to see!

Also Thanks for the advice everyone, like i say, i've ordered tonnes of new plants, and when the arrive i'll make sure theres plenty of places for the fry to hide, and fingers crossed they wont be eaten by my sharks or sucked into the filter (that has happened before).