scriabin

I'm the kind of guy who finds a spider in the house and catches it in a glass and puts it outside. When there are ants in the kitchen, I figure it's my fault and put whatever they are eating outside and wait for them to leave instead of spraying them.

But in considering adding livebearers to my tank, I feel weirdly callous about babies being eaten. I mean, the only reason a single female guppy can produce 500+ babies in a year is because in nature, the vast majority of them don't make it, right? If some survive, great, if most don't, isn't that just the way the food chain is set up? I even find myself thinking, I'll bet those fry are full of nutritional enzymes that are a good dietary supplement for the other fish (!). It's not that I want the babies to get eaten or derive pleasure at the thought- I'm just not sure I feel ethically bound to interfere with what seems like a natural process?

Anybody have any opinions on this?

Thanks,

Jonathan

Barbrella

I'm like you. I catch flies, crickets or whatever in glasses and put them outside. I rescue worms off the pavement and do all kinds of wacky things!

I gave up keeping livebearers many years ago due to my wussiness. I'm not saying there's anything wrong with letting fry get eaten, but it was way too stressful for me to see helpless babies fleeing and trying to hide from adults.

Many people do just let babies get eaten, because after all, what is anyone going to do with hundreds and hundreds of baby platies, e.g.? And you're right - in nature, maybe 1 out of 100 may survive.

It's really up to you, but if you've never seen fry being hunted and eaten, you might feel differently when you do. But maybe it won't bother you, so it's really your choice!

sirdarksol

I see no huge problem with it, as long as you (or whoever is keeping them) don't see a huge problem with it. In the end, I think it's a personal issue. Absolutely nothing wrong with folks like Barbrella to have an issue with seeing it (which is precisely what she said).

My molly tank, if I can ever get a male to survive the attentions of my murderous female, is meant to be a "natural" system, where the fry have to hide out and find their own food. There's plenty of plant matter in the aquarium, so there are tons of places to hide and there's tons of stuff to eat.

Allie

It's natures way...more fish get eaten in the wild than in home aquariums.

PetSmart

I know a guy who breeds red wag platys to feed sub-adults to a snowflake eel

clinton1621

Its natures way, but also a personal choice... if it bothers you then there is nothing wrong with that either =)
In defense of the reason a lot of people do it though, its much safer to use your own feeders, than to use pet store bought ones that could possibly be loaded with pathogens from the poor conditions they are kept in.

mrsmuffin

For me personally, I don't have an issue with it. My 30 gallon ended up with female platys unintentionally (before I knew better) and I now have a happy, overstocked (where is that "True Confessions" thread? ) tank. Every once in a while I find a baby that has survived long enough to not get eaten, but for the most part they end up as feeders. Of course, I have never actually seen any of them give birth or get eaten. My feelings might change if I witnessed that...

Shawnie

I catch flies, spiders, ants etc and feed them to my fishies ..I wouldnt ever kill any animal just because but to feed myself, my family, or my fishies, its nature to me

jen82

i understand it is nature. And everyone will have their own view. Personally i will only keep male guppies, mollies etc because i hate the thought of fry being eaten.

pinkfloydpuffer

I agree it's just personal preference. I think I'd be alright with it. My puffers love hunting, and they'd enjoy chasing around the little molly fry. But I'd probably save a few anyways. But for now all I have are male mollies, so I don't have to bother with that right now

RandomKayos

This a good response. Every living thing on this planet survives because something else dies. Either becuause they ate it or filled the vacant space. I fully understand someone not wanting to watch the process and I also understand those who are facinated by it. Personally I have no issues unless the death is a waste. So in this case of feeding fry to other fish. No problem.

RK

expansion5th

I agree with not wanting to see the babies eaten - I'm a vegetarian, I never intentionally kill anything - BUT -

- what do you breeders do with all of your fry? I mean those who actually separate the fry from the other fish and raise them ... what do you do with all those fish? I mean, eventually they'll grow up and breed and then you'll have a tank overflowing with guppies eating their own babies anyway, right? Seriously, where do all these bred fish end up??

Micah

Chief_waterchanger

Off topic:

The fancy guppies that Dino and I breed are sold to fellow hobbyists either in person, on the internet, or at the Atlanta Area Aquarium Association bi-annual auctions. Guppies having a lifespan of about 2-3 years means that there are always people looking to replace some that died of old age.