# Guppy fry!!!



## liljj (Mar 1, 2006)

YAY!!! i just got some baby guppies....i just bought 3 female guppies and a male guppy 4 days ago so one of the females was probably already pregnant and just 
2 hours ago i saw little guppies hiding in the gravel and in plants....It was a dream come true. Now that i have sum fry is there anything special i should need to know how to take care of them and do guppies only have one batch of fry?




Thanx, liljj


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## Zoe (Feb 26, 2006)

Guppies are live bearing fish, they don't lay eggs. I believe they have a batch of babies every month or so.
If you leave the babies with the adults they may be eaten, so it might be best for you to put them in a seperate tank. My 'baby tank' is a 2gallon plastic thing. It has no filter of course so I have to do daily water changes - this also keeps the water oxygenated... Feed the babies powdered fish flakes (crumble between your fingers) and you can also get frozen or live baby brine shrimp. If you put some cover stuff (plastic plants) in the baby tank it will help them feel secure.
Unless you go with a 5+gal rearing tank you won't be able to heat the water adequately - and it should be around 79-82F. I use a regular lamp shining close to the water, it keeps the water warm and pretty steady, too.

Good luck!


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## emc7 (Jul 23, 2005)

Walmart has a tiny 25W? electric heater that I have used in 2.5 gallon tanks. The seem to quit working randomly after about 6 months, though.


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## Ben Mazur (Mar 21, 2006)

A good idea for the flake food is to crush it in a sandwich bag, dip a toothpick in water. Then dip the wet toothpick in the powdered food and then dip the toothpick back on the watr with powered food attached. Should work like a dandy.


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## Zoe (Feb 26, 2006)

I've never dared use a heater on anything less than 5 gallons, because of power surges. If the power surges in a 10gallon, the temperature may fluctuate by a degree or two - if it surges in a 2 gallon, the temperature could really spike and babies are delicate 

Be sure not to overfeed your babies, by the way; it's very easy to do. But anything uneaten will rot on the bottom and make the water smell after even just one day. When the babies are about a week or two old you can buy some small glass/ghost shrimp (a buck each or less) and they will help keep the tank tidy, so you can clean it only every second day, lol 

To clean the baby tank, this is the best way I've found to do it:
*CAREFULLY* syphon some water out of the tank through a CLEAN, soap-free cloth, into another container. About 20-30% of the water. (or if you're afraid to syphon one of the babies, just use a cup to take some water out)
Add some dechlorinated tap water of the same temperature until the container is nearly full.
Remove rocks, plants, etc from the baby tank.
With a small net, gently catch the babies and put them in the other container - be careful to get them IN the net and not just on the edge, the buggers can really jump!
When all the babies are moved, clean out the baby tank. If the temporary container you are using does not hold the same amount of water as the baby tank, add some dechlorinated water (same temperature as before) to the baby tank.
Put the plants and rocks back in.
Gently poor the container water (with the babies in it) into the baby tank. The babies will fall into the tank near the end of the pooring, so they won't fall far.
I like to put in a little bit of my fishtank water with the babies, too.

Hope this helps


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## liljj (Mar 1, 2006)

Thanx allot for the advice everyone...it helps allot....i hope they live to be raised to adults, that would be so cool.

Thanx again, liljj


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## Georgia Peach (Sep 23, 2005)

good luck with your babies!


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## IrishKittenOWar (Mar 19, 2006)

Congrats on the fry... i know what its like to see those tiny little babies swimming around in your tank.. if your tank filter has large holes in it you might want to invest in an Aqua Sponge that goes over the shaft of the filter to keep the babies from being sucked up into the filter. being that alot of them are so tiny it probably would be a good idea. Female guppuies has fry every 3 - 5 weeks. and they have 30 - 65 at a time. fry are really delicate and if your fish get sick and you have to treat them i would reccomend buying som e aquarium salt because salt is reccomended in the tank that live breeders are in. the salt also will help prevent ich being thatit doesnt like salt. i lost my last batch of fry to ich due to the medications.. that was before i learned about the salt method. saly is also good to treat because unlike the chemical method you can leave the filter in.

good luck with your fry


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## Ownager2004 (Apr 4, 2005)

I crush the flakes by rolling a chopstick over a pile of flakes on an index card. Then i fold the card in a V-shape and tap it until a little of the finely crushed flake goes into the tank. I feed them every two hours or so if i remember or am around... Flake isn't the best way to go so I suggest doing some internet searches for fry feeding if your serious about them.

I recommend a special fry tank if you want to keep a lot of them. I use a 2 gallon with a sponge filter. Room temp seems to be fine for survival, but i know its not optimum.

If you dont want to get another tank... The parents will eat the fry quickly if they dont have really good hiding spots. Also the point about the filter intake whoever made is very important. I used to lose whole batches of fry sometimes to my filter.

If you want to keep as many fry as possible next time I suggest putting the mom in the 2 gallon tank when she has about 1-2 weeks left in her pregnancy and covering the bottom couple inches with something that will be big enough for fry to hide in and small enough to keep mom out. Then when you see fry just move the mom out.

I hope this was helpful


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## IrishKittenOWar (Mar 19, 2006)

Java fern is a great way to keep babies safe. It's fast growing and VERY hardy. A large ammount can ususaly be gotten from a fish store for very cheap.


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