Guppy Breeding- Should I remove the adults??

[thecowman]

In my attempt to breed guppies, I currently have a trio of fancy guppies in a 5 gallon tank. I am using a sponge filter to ensure that the fry are not sucked in to any filter intakes. The tank currently has one plastic plant and a large, dense clump of hornwort. The hornwort is very thick, and I'm quite sure that the adult fish could not swim through it without a good deal of difficulty. What I'm wondering is, once a female gives birth (assuming one does hehe), should I remove the adults as some websites recommend in order to ensure that they are not eaten by the parents? Would the fry be able to survive in the tank with 3 adult guppies, or would they become lunch if I left them in there together? Thanks for any advice! :)

[TKOS]

If the guppies are well feed then you should be okay with minimal adult munchies. So it all depends how many you want to have survive.

[thecowman]

Thanks. I think I will try to just leave everything alone and see what happens. It's not as if this will be the only time they breed. Having a great deal of fry does not really concern me, as long as I get a decent number of them and they're healthy, I'll be happy with that.

[Tightdog1]

best results come with the fry being taken out or the parents. cusae family feeding does occur even if you dont see it. the parents always seem to eat lots of my fry thats y i heavily plant the tank and normally take out the fry when i can.

[elgecko]

I had some adult guppies that would not eat the fry, and I had some adults that would. I usually let them have the babies in the tank. I have Hornwort that grows to the top of my tank and makes a dense mat. I catch the babies and place them in a trap for a few weeks till they get bigger. Then I release them back in the tank with no problems.

[thecowman]

How easy are the babies to catch? could I just scoop them up in a container, or would i have to use a net with very fine mesh? If moving the fry to another tank, what precautions should I take to make sure they do not go into shock from possible differences in water conditions? should I treat them as though they were new fish from the store, or just dump them in? or should I try to keep them in a container withing the aquarium such as a trap?

[Dangerdoll]

IMO, you could leave the parents in because of the dense hornwort you've got. Sure, you might lose a few of the fry but low and behold, there will surely be lots of fry to follow. Soon enough you will have more fry than you can handle.

[thecowman]

Alright. At what point should I start feeding the fry, and what should I feed them? Would competition with the adults lead them to become malnourished? I have heard that for the first days of life, fry can survive off the micro organisms that live in the plants and after that they can be fed the same food as adults so long as it is ground to a powder. Anything else that people would recommend feeding them?

[elgecko]

I just use a net to catch them.
If you are going to move them to another tank, treat them as new fish. I myself would not move the fry. It would probably be to much of a shock for the little guys.
The flake food you feed the adults would be fine. Make it really fine ant put some in the dense Hornwort, the babies would be able to swim through it to get to the food.
I have some food called Fry Bites, supposed to be nutrient-packed, and vitamin enriched for rapid growth. Does it work any better the regular flake food, who knows? Just some more variety in the food I give them.