What Do Ppl Do With Their Unwanted Fry?

[Bobtastic]

Hi all!

We decided to start our tank off with Platies after advise from our LFS needless to say we entered into the usual Fish-in cycle... Now that is done and dust and we're started to add the rest of our stock the Platies started to do what came naturally to them and popped out fry!

Now... as we have tried to create a nice natural environment for our little fishies so we had nice life plants, a cave, rocks and bogwood which have turned out to be very handy hiding places for all the little babies. As we weren't really looking to intentionally breed them we have left the fry in the main tank but like Ray Mears and Bear Grills they seem to be survivalists! and we have not got 2 mid-sized and 8 teeny fry swimming round the tank! I'm pretty sure that this isn't the last batch that we are going to see and we certainly wont have room for them all.

So my question is what do most ppl do with unwanted/excess fry? I think we are able to give some of the to our LFS but I'm not sure if they will continue to take them. We're not looking to sell them only to give them to a decent home. I only want humane suggestions so no feed fish comments if you pls.

Thanks in advance!

 

[AdAndrews]

Hi all!

We decided to start our tank off with Platies after advise from our LFS needless to say we entered into the usual Fish-in cycle... Now that is done and dust and we're started to add the rest of our stock the Platies started to do what came naturally to them and popped out fry!

Now... as we have tried to create a nice natural environment for our little fishies so we had nice life plants, a cave, rocks and bogwood which have turned out to be very handy hiding places for all the little babies. As we weren't really looking to intentionally breed them we have left the fry in the main tank but like Ray Mears and Bear Grills they seem to be survivalists! and we have not got 2 mid-sized and 8 teeny fry swimming round the tank! I'm pretty sure that this isn't the last batch that we are going to see and we certainly wont have room for them all.

So my question is what do most ppl do with unwanted/excess fry? I think we are able to give some of the to our LFS but I'm not sure if they will continue to take them. We're not looking to sell them only to give them to a decent home. I only want humane suggestions so no feed fish comments if you pls.

Thanks in advance!

just let other fish eat them, as long as the fish is much much bigger than the fry so that it eats it in one instead of taking chunks off it.
edit: sorry, didnt see the "no feed fish" bit, but still this isnt cruel at all, cruel would be flushing them down the toilet, or turning off the heat so they die... nothing like my suggestion

 

[mixmaster jay]

or give them away to someone who has room, or feed fish i know you dont like the idea but it is a natural life cycle

 

[Bobtastic]

We are already working on the "natural selection" stylie in the tank, but they have that many hiding places and are that quick that mum and dad can't get at them!

I don't mind if the weaker ones get picked off, but I don't like the idea of giving them to someone who has the intention of feeding them to something else.

 

[OldMan47]

I bag up my excess and take them to my fish club's auctions. The club profits, my fish find a home and I get enough to help pay for their feeding while they grew up. I will never get rich selling my fish but I don't need to find a home for fish beyond what I want. The hard part is raising them large enough to sell without filling the house with tanks to raise them in. That has become less a problem since I started keeping and colony breeding goodeids. They only drop fry every 2 to 3 months and they have small drops of 10 to 20 fry. That means they don't fill their tanks as fast as my endlers do. They are also much easier to sell than a guppy or platy would be because they are less common. If I ever get overpopulated with goodeids, I can also sell them at the LFS for a good price because they just can't order them anywhere commercially.

 

[Bella]

I sell mine on a site called Kijiji. I sell them $1.00 each once they are big enough to not get caught in the filter. I only put a price them them to avoid people looking for feeder fish. I refuse to sell them as feeder fish. If I can tell when people come buy they want them as pets.. I usally give them a few more to help get rid of them. lol.

 

[craig855s]

Most LFS should take them off ur hands when they are at a sellable age (2 months maybe a bit more)..may even get a small store credit per fish (enough to buy urself a bottle of liquifry for each brood u take in maybe? ive not taken my first brood in yet but will be soon..my LFS sell assorted platy at £3.95)

 

[The Gourami]

Either take them to a LFS, or buy an angel fish.

 

[Tolak]

OM47 has the best idea, here's a list of UK clubs, though some of the links may be dated, a Google search usually solves that; http/fins.actwin.com/dir/clubs.php?c=20 Clubs regularly hold auctions, and by contacting them you will find someone to take spare fish if there is no auction in the near future.

Be warned; you may come home from an auction with more than you left with.

 

[OldMan47]

Right you are Tolak. I always come home with fish but a lighter wallet. I can't sit still that long so I end up being a runner with the fish, delivering them to the successful bidders. The real problem with doing that job is that you get a good look at everything they have to offer and too often you end up delivering to yourself.

 

[Tolak]

Hahaha, I do the same thing, though often I end up slinging tanks & other weighty items. That should be rule number 1 of any auction; if you see the folks up front bidding on an item pay attention, get the seller ID, and look at the other items that seller has to offer if the bidding goes too high on that item.

 

[OldMan47]

That sounds like a good strategy to me Tolak. I carry lots of heavy items but seeing the fish just past the end of my nose makes it worth the effort. I have even brought home empty bags of water, my wife's opinion, that turned out to be nice Heterandria formosa once they had some time to grow to adult size. They were very young when I brought home the empty bag of water for my empty 10 gallon and started feeding the tank no-see-um fish food that I called microworms. She was upset when she asked me for a picture of my invisible fish to show her co-workers and I e-mailed her this picture.

Then I came home from the ALA convention auction with this fish

 

[lordofthesea]

sell the healthy ones. destroy the deformed ones

 

[LauraFrog]

OldMan, what IS that second fish? I noticed its appearance in your avatar... why only one? (though it looks like that number will be increasing any day now...)

 

[OldMan47]

They do not increase numbers easily Laura. It is a Brachyrhaphis roseni female. I had never seen one before I bought 6 at the ALA convention auction. When I got home I started trying to find out what I could on them and found that they are in the same family as Gambusia affinis and are just as eager to eat their young. From what I can gather, a carefully designed set of bottom cover combined with removing fry as soon as they are born is the only way to get survivors. It seems that I am moving forward and needing to learn about some of the harder livebearers these days. I have kept mollies, swordtails and guppies most of my life but these guys promise to be a bit more of a challenge.