some prob daft questions...

ok, not sure if this should be in the guppy or breeding section as its about breeding guppies...feel free to move it.....

I have another fry! a couple of weeks ago I had 1 fry and tried to hide it from the bigger fish, but it got gobbled :. so this time I have tried even harder to hide it...luckily plants are bigger now, so got some broken bits and they float. its in the same place as the last one is. where the filter is its on an angle and provides a little pocket of water above it in the corner where the big fish can't fit, so put the floating stems with leaves there wedged in place behind the filter and hopefully the big fish won't find him. i've pulled the filter a bit higher too so there's in effect 3 solid walls where it can't excape and then the plant acts like a gate which should deter him getting out and the others getting in. now, i've been feeding him crushed flakes as often as I remember (every few hours when i'm home....have poorly child, so in all day at mo anyway, obviously nothing overnight). I read somewhere the yolk from a hard boiled egg is good for fry. anyone else tried this? don't want to polute the water and don't want the smell to attract the bigger fish. also at how old will he be safe swimming with the big fish. I have lots of hiding places among plants etc, but its all at the bottom of the tank whereas he and the fry that got gobbled seem to stay at the surface where there is less plant coverage just now. would the fry be eaten in the other tanks I have (see signiture). would he be safer if I moved him?
if I had a big batch of fry (60+) i'd split the batch between the 3 tanks and see which one works best, but I only have 1 fry! should have more soon as all my guppies are still heavily preg.
do all guppy fry go to the surface, or do they sometimes take refuge at the bottom?

 

I don't know the answers to your questions but good luck with your baby! I want to get some guppies, but I don't know if they would be ok with my silver dollars. ???

 

mmmm, i'm afraid I don't know much about silver dollars other than they eat plants!!! guppies won't attack anything, but I don't know what s.dollars are like temperament wise!! as I have plants I haven't read up on them!!

 

mmmm, i'm afraid I don't know much about silver dollars other than they eat plants!!! guppies won't attack anything, but I don't know what s.dollars are like temperament wise!! as I have plants I haven't read up on them!!

silver dollars r very shy and peaceful, they love to be in a group of 4 or 5, they grow up to 6-7 inches

 

First Silver Dollars would love guppy fry for lunch
Guppy fry come to the top right after birth and can eat crushed flakes immediately if their hungry. That's why floating plants are so great. at night they tend to sink to the bottom to sleep like their parents so plants on the bottom are good also. In my experience all egg yolk does is pollute your water and boy does it stink. Whew!
My guppy fry come up and eat with their parents. Hope that helps
Carol

 

thanks carol! good job I didnt try the egg yolk thing then!!! only read it in one place so was a bit wary!! he seemed to eat the flakes. what I did was shake the plastic pot with flakes in and the static made the fine grains stick to the lid, so wiped my finger over the lid so they stuck to my finger then rubbed them off finger into the tank. they were really fine! anyway, my efforts were wasted... that fry must've got gobbled too : ! I must get some more plant coverage for the top of the tank. seems pointless me buying guppies for my other tank when I have potential fry! if only I could keep them alive more than a few days! it would help if more than 1 was born at any one time! - maybe a few more which were eaten, but not many more as my guppies are all STILL round and ready to pop. its ridiculous. they just won't give birth! shame you can't induce fish like you can with humans!!! anyway, that's 2 fry which have gone to that corner, so I'll get more plants to go in that corner. if they stayed low they'd be fine!!! daft fry!!! failing that, I'll have to get that 45 gal fixed in the garage and get heater and filter and that can be a guppy fry tank. bit big for the job, but it'll do! I'll just half fill it and leave it fairly bare so I can find them in there. bit wrong way round....babies in big tank, community in the little one, but i'm not moving the others anymore !! they've moved more than enough already. the 45 gal will be just for temp use (sick fish or fry) until I have enough cash to get decors and plants aand gravel etc for it! its 15 deg C here and very warm and sunny, so if it's like that tomorrow....perfect tank fixing weather!!! my son's ill sleeping a lot (chicken pox) so should a get a couple of hours to do it in! I just prefer the survival of the fittest rather than survival of all if that makes sense :-\. not that i'm cruel, but i'd rather the weaker ones that will prob die anyway of deformities etc died sooner, rather than suffer first and then die later. mmmmmmmmmm choices choices!!! : tan

 

Sorry you lost him/her. Looks like I'll be getting some guppies now that all my tiger barbs have died. :-\
-Brianna

 

Sorry you lost him/her. Looks like I'll be getting some guppies now that all my tiger barbs have died. :-\
-Brianna

can I just say, mine may have died due to the shop and myself having very diff pH's. just a theory, we will never know for certain, but its the most likely explanation (long story on another thread!), so please make sure you acclimate them REALLY slowly. I did my first batch really slowly and 2 out of 5 died, then with my recent batch 4 out of 5 died. with my girls however all 5 survived with no illness or anything. odd ???. I did the same for all of them except the last batch my sister tipped them in the tank sooner than prefered. they'd still had a fair amount of acclimatisation though. i'm sure you know this already, but it seems guppies are particularly prone to perishing when purchased as susitna-flower had similar problems and shes an experienced fish keeper . might be worth checking before you buy them if they're under warranty. mine died within a week. good luck!! guppies are beautiful fish and very peaceful and I hope to have lots of baby guppies soon ;D

 

Best option if you want to have the fry live is put them in their own tank, but if you can't do that, then make sure they have hiding places, which it seems like you do. Don't know about the egg yoke. They will sometimes go to the bottom to look around, and sometimes it means that they get eaten, but as long as they have enough plants to hide in, they should eat flakes when they keep getting them. good luck!

 

thanks wolfman21! I have a 45 gal tank in the garage awaiting repair :still. if the weather is good this weekend I'll repair that, and get a filter and heater for it and get that going for some fry I think. doesn't need any decor does it? I was just thinking maybe a bit of gravel for the nitrifying bacteria to colonise in (which I have spare anyway) and that'l do? I know the tank is a bit big for the job, but why go and buy a tank if I already have one? I can't possibly buy any more tanks !!!! my family will think I have some OCD with tank buying!!!! loL! how big do fry need to be before the big fish will see them as friends not food?
tan

 

You may want to put some plants in the gravel in the 45 gal. tank just so the fry can swim around there, because they will swim near the bottom once they realize that there are no big fish there that are going to eat them. When they get bigger than the size of the biggest fish's mouth, then they will realize that they aren't food, simply because they can't eat them, otherwise they will try. They do like live food.

 

You may want to put some plants in the gravel in the 45 gal. tank just so the fry can swim around there, because they will swim near the bottom once they realize that there are no big fish there that are going to eat them. When they get bigger than the size of the biggest fish's mouth, then they will realize that they aren't food, simply because they can't eat them, otherwise they will try. They do like live food.

Ok thanks wolfman! just need a sunny day to get tank out of garage and fix it! oh, and I kinda need my guppie to give birth. they have the longest pregs ever!!! :

 

yeah they do take long to give birth, but some of them, when they do give birth, they really give birth-my last one had about 60 fry.

 

yeah they do take long to give birth, but some of them, when they do give birth, they really give birth-my last one had about 60 fry.

I think there must be a lot of babies in there as the spot is really big and black and the fish are so round! hopefully more than they can eat so I get to rescue a few!

 

Every time my guppy has babies, except the last time, 6 have survived out of however many were born. The 1st time she had few fry, the second time she had about 60, and I made sure a lot of them got eaten by the other fish to give them a little treat, and the 3rd time I kept all of them (about 60) so I could grow them up a little and them feed them to one of my friends' perch and crappies-they love them. Sounds pretty bad, but what am I going to do with 60 fry?