Peaceful Fish That Will Eat Fry?

I know it’s sad, but I need to add a fish or a few to my tank that will eat any fry my swordtail may have.

I spent almost 2 years dealing with a nightmare of overcrowded tanks. Livebearers are not fun if you don’t want a lot of fish. The overcrowding and constant water changes... the stress and illness... I’m not going back!

Anyway, I found a fish sanctuary to take 200 of my fish a couple weeks ago. The answer to my prayers!

My 60 gallon now has only three male dalmatian mollies, and a male swordtail.
... or so I thought.

Ufortunately, a female swordtail had jumped up into one of my filters when we were getting all of the fish out of my tank. The filters were turned off to make the process easier. I didn’t know she was there until an hour later.
This sweet girl went through quite an ordeal and I honestly have become pretty attached to her, along with the other fish I have left. I would love to keep all of these fish. I just don’t want to go through what I went through before. So I need to make sure that the fry don’t survive.

I have removed all of my live plants and now only have a few logs my fish like to hide in.

Can someone please recommend some fish for me to add to my tank? The most important thing, is that they are peaceful and get along well with the fish I already have. I can’t stand aggression or fighting. I want calm and peaceful. Period.

They also need to be fish that will eat the babies. That’s a biggie!

Lastly, they can’t have babies of their own. I’m done with the never ending fish being born.

Does any such fish exist? Any advice or input would be greatly appreciated. Thank you

 

I hear you. I separated my male guppies from female. Since then I’ve had one batch of fry and have one more female going to give birth. My longfin leopard danio does an awesome job of keeping the fry eaten. As far as hubby can tell only one has survived. Waiting for it to come out of cover to see which tank it lives in. My danio is a super sweet fish. I wish I could get buddies for him. They need to be in a school. Like I said, the LF leopard danio is super peaceful. The giant danio is not. It belongs to hubby. Need to get him a tank all to himself.
Good luck with whatever fish you choose. And remember to post updates.

 

I hear you. I separated my male guppies from female. Since then I’ve had one batch of fry and have one more female going to give birth. My longfin leopard danio does an awesome job of keeping the fry eaten. As far as hubby can tell only one has survived. Waiting for it to come out of cover to see which tank it lives in. My danio is a super sweet fish. I wish I could get buddies for him. They need to be in a school. Like I said, the LF leopard danio is super peaceful. The giant danio is not. It belongs to hubby. Need to get him a tank all to himself.
Good luck with whatever fish you choose. And remember to post updates.

Thank you for your response. I will look into the long fin leopard danio. Is that also a live bearing fish? Do guppies have a lot of fry? I’ve had swordtails give birth to close to 100 babies at once. Other times, I was too stressed to even count.

At first, I had to save every single new fish. Those teeny tiny eyes... they get me every time. But after what I just went through, and how quickly a tank can become overstocked, I have to look the other way. It’s not going to be easy though. It goes against everything I stand for and my heart breaks for them. But the situation I got myself into by saving them, is no way for me or my fish to live.

So finding a fish to eat the babies is the only possible way I can keep both swordtails. Which I want to do more than anything. I have them eating out of my hand finally. It wasn’t easy. But now I can actually “pet” them. How awesome is that?

 

Guppies can have 2-200 from what I’ve read. Mine just had babies today. I can't count them all but a rough guess is 50-70 as I left the house and there were only 20 at that point. My girlfriend continued counting as she was having them. Most fish will eat fry as long as they fit in their mouth but maybe some others can give you fish specific recommendations.

 

That is super cool awesome!
My guppies average 40-60 fry. I’m hoping the pregnant one won’t have that many. Poor danio is still fat from the last batch! This girl is a juvie so anything is possible. I too became overrun. Like you I was all oh how darling! But within a few months I was taking them to the LFS. Not cool for me. And if you have a school of lf leopard danios you should have no problems. I can’t get more because my tank has m. Marinum.

Guppies can have 2-200 from what I’ve read. Mine just had babies today. I can't count them all but a rough guess is 50-70 as I left the house and there were only 20 at that point. My girlfriend continued counting as she was having them. Most fish will eat fry as long as they fit in their mouth but maybe some others can give you fish specific recommendations.

Alabama!

 

Yep guppies also can give birth to a ton of fry. I’ve typically only gotten 8 or less fry so far from a single batch but they are capable of birthing over 50 fry at once. In fact guppies are even easier to breed than swordtails, though they have a tendency to eat their own young. So maybe guppies can eat the swordtail babies if they are small enough? Not sure though. Though I will say if you get guppies and you want to guarantee no babies then get male guppies only. Female guppies are likely to already be pregnant even before you buy them.

 

That is super cool awesome!
My guppies average 40-60 fry. I’m hoping the pregnant one won’t have that many. Poor danio is still fat from the last batch! This girl is a juvie so anything is possible. I too became overrun. Like you I was all oh how darling! But within a few months I was taking them to the LFS. Not cool for me. And if you have a school of lf leopard danios you should have no problems. I can’t get more because my tank has m. Marinum.

I had a bunch of overstocked tanks because I refused to give any of my fish to local pet stores. The reason is because I’ve been to all of those stores. And the people working there are complete morons. Not trying to name call. I just don’t know a nicer way to say it. It’s the truth. They give horrible advice and don’t even let new fish keepers know that water needs to be to dechlorinated. The basics! It makes me so mad!!

I felt responsible for the fish I had and couldn’t give them to a store that would hand them to anyone who walked in. Because I knew they were likely going to be mistreated. I’m kind of a nut case that way. “Crazy” according to my family. Lol. But that’s how I feel. I can’t change that.

Anyway. I finally found a fish sanctuary to take my fish. But only after I made a very large donation with money I spent a long time saving. Worth it though! Because I know they have good homes now

 

You could do a medium cichlid like a firemouth or blue acara.

 

I used to have a betta with my guppies. I got him as a baby and he was very peaceful to adult fish. Fry, however, never lasted very long.

 

Guppies will eat the fry, at least the males. My girlfriend said she’s not as excited because the males were eating some. Also like posted stick with males as they won’t have babies also they are usually more colorful with bigger tails.

 

Well, I was going to say swordtails or mollies lol (mine will eat ALL of their fry if not put in a breeder box), but I have an even better solution for you COLD WATER! Unheated tank, as long as it's indoors, and they won't breed very often at all. I keep all my livebearers (not guppies though) in cold water and they do great. Cold water also slows down their lifecycle, so they'll live longer and their pregnancy duration will be much, much longer. You may even find they'll eat their own fry in cold water like mine do (not sure if it's just the individual fish, or if they get more hungry, but mine are very active will hunt anything that moves. Good luck

Guppies will eat the fry, at least the males. My girlfriend said she’s not as excited because the males were eating some. Also like posted stick with males as they won’t have babies also they are usually more colorful with bigger tails.

Guppies will *sometimes* eat their own fry, but not always, and they won't eat swordtail or molly fry as they're bigger and faster than guppy fry. Guppies are actually known as one of the few livebearers that are less likely to eat their own fry, so most people don't even separate them.

 

Well, I was going to say swordtails or mollies lol (mine will eat ALL of their fry if not put in a breeder box), but I have an even better solution for you COLD WATER! Unheated tank, as long as it's indoors, and they won't breed very often at all. I keep all my livebearers (not guppies though) in cold water and they do great. Cold water also slows down their lifecycle, so they'll live longer and their pregnancy duration will be much, much longer. You may even find they'll eat their own fry in cold water like mine do (not sure if it's just the individual fish, or if they get more hungry, but mine are very active will hunt anything that moves. Good luck

Mollies and swordtails are much happier in warm water. I wouldn’t want to do that to them just so my one swordtail doesn’t have fry. But thanks for the input. I appreciate any and all advice

 

Mollies and swordtails are much happier in warm water. I wouldn’t want to do that to them just so my one swordtail doesn’t have fry. But thanks for the input. I appreciate any and all advice

They actually do fine in cold water, some even do better (including mollies) -there's not really any difference except less fry and longer lifespan, but it's up to you of course. If you're worried though, you could gradually drop your heater temp to 22C instead of removing it all together, 22C is ideal for them (I'm not sure what temp you currently keep your heater at, but most people have them set to around 26 -28 for most fish, so I'm just assuming).