Dojo

Hey
My female is pregnant again and due fairly soon. I have her six 24 day old fry in a breeder box and have her in another breeder box as she looks like she's ready to pop soon and her mate looked like he was bugging her. I was just wondering whether once the new fry arrive are they ok to go in with the older fry right away or should I wait a week/longer till they are a bit hardier and more able to compete for food?
Thanks

ray_sj

With my limited experience, I've found that they will be ok if you mix them. However, my second batch of fry did not grow as fast. I suspect the older fry are getting more than their fair share of foot because they've gotten pretty fat.

I'd love to hear what more experienced guppy breeders recommend, though!

Nick G

They'll be fine. I mix newborns with fry up to 3 months old.

COBettaCouple

The main thing to consider is "are they big enough to fit in the mouth?" If not, they should be ok together.

Bindel2303

I haven't hand any a full month apart but close and they were fine. As ray said they might not grow as fast, and you might lose one or two of the weeker ones that cant fend for themselves, but for the most par they should be fine. I've had 4 droods spanning 3 weeks all in one tank for the last 3 months and they are all doing great. I have 34 of the original 37 left.

Dojo

Thanks all, I think i'll wait and see how many she has and maybe give them a week to become a bit hardy because 2 of the almost-4-week-old fry are like twice the size of their siblings even though I try feed them evenly. I could imagine them having a go at any weak newborns. I think i'm seeing a hint of yellow on their tails now which is cool because their mother is blue so im looking forward to see what else she throws.
She should be having them over the weekend I think she's fit to burst at this stage!

ABCDemily

I'm in the process of doing this at the moment, a long as the newborns don't fit in the elder frys mouths, then you're fine.

Dojo

Well they are all mixed together fine now, ended up having to put them in with the older fry right away as the new fry kept swimming up through the slits back to their mother and promptly getting eaten. She had about 60 overall, ate 10ish so have like 50 newborns. Bit more than she had the last time! I won't catch any more batches till this lot are grown up and rehomed or i'll be overrun lol

COBettaCouple

Cool.. ya, they do grow in numbers rather quickly.