What Do You Do With Too Many Guppies? (fry!)

Ok, so we have 13 'adult' guppies - 4 male, 9 female. We now have 15 fry ranging from under 1cm to about 1.5cm. All but 1 of the fry (its the biggest and roaming free) are in a breeder net.

I'm not really keen on 30+ guppies, as I would like other fish in there too. Obviously, I'll need to separate the males at some point to stop the cycle after the females have used up any stored sperm.

But, what do you do with fry or juvenile guppies that you can't really keep? Should I just go around to LFS till I find one that will trade or even just take them for free? I'm in Australia, for reference sake.

I really don't want to keep them for months and let my young daughters get attached (name them!) only for me to have to remove some.

-G

 

LFS's are a decent idea. Might be able to drop them off for free or get some credit.

Posting on Craigslist (is that a thing in Australia?), or whatever your equivalent is may help get rid of a few.

 

Ok. Will hit several LFSs this weekend and see who takes/trades and at what age. Might be able to trade the fry towards some of the other fish I want to get.

We have Gumtree here in Aus. Have just found someone that is saying they'll buy 'community fish' (at least the advert says so)... so will contact them.

-G

 

This may sound cruel to some but if you are not prepared to raise the fry it is better to just leave them in the tank instead of keeping them in a breeder net.

In the natural world fish eat fish and some will get eaten but you can give them a fighting chance by having plenty of plants, either real or fake, and in the end only the strongest will survive.

 

That's also a good point. Leaving the fry in the tank will significantly decrease how many fry you have.

 

This may sound cruel to some but if you are not prepared to raise the fry it is better to just leave them in the tank instead of keeping them in a breeder net.

In the natural world fish eat fish and some will get eaten but you can give them a fighting chance by having plenty of plants, either real or fake, and in the end only the strongest will survive.

I don't disagree... considering there are now 14 fry in the breeder net... I am going to release them all this weekend and see how they go... There are more than enough plants and #2 (we number them till we know if we'll keep them) is the biggest and it has always roamed free - and obviously survived.

-G

 

I don't disagree... considering there are now 14 fry in the breeder net... I am going to release them all this weekend and see how they go... There are more than enough plants and #2 (we number them till we know if we'll keep them) is the biggest and it has always roamed free - and obviously survived.

-G

When I decided to add mollys to my tank I went into it knowing that I wasn't going to go to any extra effort to keep the fry that I knew would come. Miss Molly surprised me with 3 fry about a week after I got her. 2 are still alive and well. A danio got the one that is gone. I will just play it by ear and if I start to get over run I will remove and re-home as needed.

I am sure your guppies will continue to produce fry and unless you have an outlet for them it is best to just let nature take its course and hope you don't get over run by too many.

as always, just my humble opinion

 

Your options are:

• sell them
• sell/donate to a LFS
• let the parents eat the fry
• let another animal eat them

Personally I do all four and I still had enough to donate to the university, lol.

 

I used to trade like 20 of mine for 1-2 new males to keep introducing new blood to keep the inbreeding down. If the lfs didnt want them at that time my oscar ate well.

 

Well, it seems I missed 3 of the 10 new fry this morning, and my wife now things 2 of those 3 have been eaten as she can't find them... I feel terrible about kicking all of them out of the net...but it is probably the best thing... would be terrible if they ALL got eaten.

-G

 

Well, it seems I missed 3 of the 10 new fry this morning, and my wife now things 2 of those 3 have been eaten as she can't find them... I feel terrible about kicking all of them out of the net...but it is probably the best thing... would be terrible if they ALL got eaten.

-G

Those babies can hide really really well It would really surprise me if they all turned into food.

 

We got to 21 fry and I convinced my daughters that we should release them from the nursery.

There was initial approval, followed by pandemonium as one of the smallest adult females started chasing all the fry she could find. The nursery was reconstructed and actually submerged with the fry section set to maximum. 2 of the smallest fry were placed it in before I again convinced them that none had (yet) been eaten and it's better for them to roam free.

So no there are in theory... 20 free swimming fry... but it also makes it harder for the girls to notice a missing fry.

-G

 

We got to 21 fry and I convinced my daughters that we should release them from the nursery.

There was initial approval, followed by pandemonium as one of the smallest adult females started chasing all the fry she could find. The nursery was reconstructed and actually submerged with the fry section set to maximum. 2 of the smallest fry were placed it in before I again convinced them that none had (yet) been eaten and it's better for them to roam free.

So no there are in theory... 20 free swimming fry... but it also makes it harder for the girls to notice a missing fry.

-G

smart tactic. if they suspect one is missing, just act concerned & insist they count every one.... mwuaaahaaaaahaaa.

 

For me its not a problem, I know some will not agree with my method and that's OK, but baby guppy's are food for my cichlids.

 

One option not mentioned is BUY MORE TANKS!!!

Unfortunately I have 2 20 gallon tanks full of fry from just 4 females and a male. Probably 60 total from 4-10 weeks, and a couple are ready to pop again.

And I rehomed 7 of the female fry to my wife’s 46. They survived well from a 4 hour commute.

Those tanks were purchased to breed eggs layers; corys, cherry barbs and honey gouramis. That is on hold for now.