Help, too many fry. Suggestions?

A little background…this is my first aquarium of my own. It was an impulse present from my girlfriend, an incredible gift. I knew enough about aquariums prior to know I had a lot to learn prior to getting fish. It started out as a 29-gallon kit from Walmart and I’ve replaced everything but the actual aquarium. I’ll list my current setup below if helpful.

My problem…I researched general aquarium care extensively I think I’ve done a good job of setting up the actual aquarium; however, I did not research each fish profile. Per the suggestion of my local fish store and the fish my girlfriend liked we started with 1x Female Fancy Guppy, 3x Red Wagtail Platy, 3x Dalmatian Molly. We eventually added 6x Panda Cory Cat and 3x Red Cherry Shrimp. I do weekly ~25% water changes and monitor the water frequently and have no problems (chemical or algae). So far we have had no deaths….but wow have we had a lot of births!

I did not know Platies and Mollies were live bearers prior to the purchasing them. I also did not know that female Guppies can store sperm for months. I currently have ~20 large fry and ~40 small fry (guppies, platies and mollies) and do not know what to do. I’ve called several LFS and none want the fry. I was able to give away some using Craigslist but nowhere near enough. My ammonia and nitrate levels are fine but I know this won’t last long at this rate. I have a planted tank so fishing them out is difficult. I fully expect criticism for not being properly prepared but I’m hoping for suggestions. Is there a “good” community fish I can add to the tank that will eat a majority of the fry? I was thinking of either a single Angelfish or a pair of Blue Gourami, thoughts\suggestions?

My setup (I went a little overboard on it I think….):

Tank: 29-gallon acrylic planted freshwater
Filter: Rena Filstar XP3 Canister (rated for a much larger tank). I am also running the original Aqua Power Filter but I plan to remove this with time.
UV Sterilizer: Aqua UV 15 Watt 3/4 inch W/ Wiper
Heater: Rena SmartHeater - 100W
Lighting: Coralife Lunar Aqualight Deluxe-Double Linear Strip-30" w/ Coralife Colormax-6700K 65W and Coralife 50/50 65W. I have it setup on a timer so that the Colormax is on for 8 hours between 11am and 7pm, the 50/50 for 12 hours between 9am and 9pm and the lunar LEDs are on when the 50/50 are off.
CO2: Red Sea CO2 Bio-Generator
Plants: The back and sides are lined with different background plants. I have Dwarf Baby Tears as the primary floor covering along with patches of Dwarf Hairgrass. I have various caves setup in addition to a Rubra Lotus Lily for shade.

 

First of all, your tank sounds absolutely lovely, and I hope you can post some pics of it.

Unfortunately, your tank is stocked to the max, (with the fry it's way overstocked) and there's no way you can add any more fish, unless you really reduce the number of livebearers you have by quite a few.

All those livebearers put a big strain on the bioload since they are prodigious eaters and poopers. Corys, in particular, are sensitive to pollutants in the water, so keep a close eye on your parameters.

I don't know what to tell you about all the fry (which are probably increasing in number even as I type this) As you see, most petstores have no interest in livebearer fry. I guess the guy who sold all the fish to you won't take any either?

The only thing I can suggest, and you probably won't like: Remove the plants, catch all the fry, remove all the male or female adult platies and mollies, bag them all up and just take them to the pet store you got them from. Hopefully they'll take them back.

Maybe someone else here will have better ideas.

One more thing - never ever take advice or ask suggestions of pet store employees. Mostly they just want your money, and know little to nothing about the fish they sell.

 

Barbrella is right, you can't put anymore fish in there without taking some out first. One other thing, if you do decide to get rid of some of the livebearers. Do not put an Angel fish in with them. It will eat the smaller fish (Once it is larger). I know from experience when I first began keeping fish. At first they were all getting along fine and then all of a sudden when my Angelfish was larger all of my guppies and neons were gone. If you don't want fry the only thing you can do is make sure you only have males or females. You can't mix the two. As mean as it sounds when I have too many fry, I put them in my other tank with an Angelfish, Gold Gourami, and Rainbow Shark. They eventually take care of them. I am like you and just can't deal with that many fry. That is one option if you are wanting to keep all of your adult fish. Get another tank and put more aggressive fish in it and use your fry as feeder fish.
Hope everything works out.

 

Thanks for the responses. I found a home for the adult Mollies and the Fancy Guppy. I'm going to see if I can find a home for the Platties and look to pick up a single Angelfish that will hopefully take care of the remaining fry over time. I'd love to get additional, larger tanks and I've been very tempted but I know I don't have the room or the time at the moment.

Barbrella, here is a picture of the tank. Excuse the poor quality, it was taken with my phone. I'll be sharing more pictures (I've got a good one of my dog and cats lined up staring at the tank) once the dwarf baby tears get a chance to grow. I'm also considering a Christmas moss wall after seeing some of the pictures here.

 

You could give the fry to someone with an aquatic turtle or something. they're ALWAYS looking for cheap snacks.

 

great looking tank..and good pic from a cell phone!! goodluck!

 

I love the tank, beautiful plants

 

Yup.. that's a great looking tank.