new to guppies ... help please

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petcrazy213

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Nov 26, 2003
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Michigan
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Hi,

I have several other tanks and thought that in my extra 10 gal I'd start a colony of guppies ... they're pretty, they're suppose to be easy to breed, adn they are good feeders for Oscars (ocasionally of course). Anyway, I started off with 2 males and 2 females. After about 2 weeks I decided to add another male and 2 more females. They all occupy the 10 gal with a betta and 4 tiny corys and 2 dwarf frogs. I lost one of the males a couple weeks after adding the 3 last guppies ... for some reason he was suicidal and jumped out of the tank. One of the females died shortly after that but since then everyone has been fine.

I've had them in there now for about 4 months and have seen NO fry or baby fish. How long does it take for them to start breeding? I thought I saw a couple of the females with dark spots on their tummies (which I thought were fry) but never anything more. I know that the parents can eat the fry but I figured with a 10 gal (and I have a bunch of plants and java moss in there) there'd be at least a couple survivors to grow out.

Am I doint something wrong? Are they just not old enough / have I not waited long enough? Could they be breeding and having babies and everyone just gets eaten before I get a chance to see them and scoop them out? Should I get a couple more?
 
There is a good chance that babies did come and you missed them before the other fish (especially a betta) ate them all. I wouldn't add anymore fish to that tank, it is already quite well stocked. You really want to have a ratio of 3 females per male. This seems to be best for breeding.
 
petcrazy213 said:
Hi,
Am I doint something wrong? Are they just not old enough / have I not waited long enough? Could they be breeding and having babies and everyone just gets eaten before I get a chance to see them and scoop them out? Should I get a couple more?
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The odds on your problem is highlighted in bold below.

They all occupy the 10 gal with a betta and 4 tiny corys and 2 dwarf frogs. I lost one of the males a couple weeks after adding the 3 last guppies
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I am sure if there are any fry in this tank those dwarf frogs are gobbling them down. These critters tend to be relentless when it comes to food.
The best thing to do if you want to breed guppies is to keep them in a Species only tank with lots of floating plants. Once you do this and change your water every week, you will get yourself some really nice fat females that are popping babies on a regular basis.
 
The best thing to do if you want to breed guppies is to keep them in a Species only tank with lots of floating plants. Once you do this and change your water every week, you will get yourself some really nice fat females that are popping babies on a regular basis.
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Fully agreed, guppies only if you want to raise feeders. between the beatta and the frogs, the chance of survival is low. I don't even keep cories in my guppy breeder tanks. If you want a cleanup crew use common ramshorns (oscars love them for snacks) or pond snails. The females will get huge before giving birth, You should be able to tell when they are pregnant pretty easily. As a rule, mine get so big I start to wonder if they are going to be hurt, and then one day they are thin again and there a bunch of tiny fish swimming around.they generally only stay thin for two or three days before they start to expand with another litter.
dave
 
thanks

Thanks for the advice! I had a feeling there was some munching going on. Wasn't aware that the frogs could be to blame, thought they only liked their pellets and bloodworms.

Anyhow, I have an extra 5.5 gal around here so I think I'll relocate the Betta and the 2 frogs to that tank. Would the cories be ok to leave in with the guppies or should they be moved as well? I hate to cram them in the 5.5 gal with the Betta and frogs.

Also, wanted to ask about the plants ... is it better to have floating plants or plants that are in the gravel? Or should there be a bit of both?

Thanks again for the info. I will be instituting those changes tomorrow.
 
The cories will probably be fine. The guppy babies should be able to swim away from them pretty fast and they will not do well in the 5 gallon tank. The betta and frogs should do fine but watch out that you do good water changes for them.

As for plants I would use both planted and free floating. Water Sprite is a good choice as it grows well both ways and tends to grow fairly fast. Java moss is nice for fry as well, but it does tend to be a slow grower.
 
petcrazy213 said:
Also, wanted to ask about the plants ... is it better to have floating plants or plants that are in the gravel? Or should there be a bit of both?

Thanks again for the info. I will be instituting those changes tomorrow.
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A great plant I love using in my live bearer tanks is Hornwort. This is a nice floating plant that the fry will dart inside and hide from the adults. Its pretty cheap and accessible from most pet stores in the United States.
hornwort.jpg
Submerged1.jpg
 
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