Guppies

i'd go with heat over hiding. the little buggers are cold blooded remember. hell my babies jus tend to hang out initially on the bottom for a day or two living off the egg sack before they move to the top of the tank and near the corners. i don't have a lot for them to hide in either since i go into the tank and take out mama soon after birth. I do have a betta in there with the babies but he's so finicky he'll only eat red blood worms and nothing else.

fishisme said:

Ok i guess i will add heat. i will set it at 80?

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i try to keep mine about 75-78 80 just seems way to hot IMO. only my bettas get 80. i would not let it go below 75 though. also how often do you feed them when they are born? what are you feeding them?

i deal ratio i've read, is three females to every male. the little guys lke to sleep around. Last winter i had a power outtage that lasted for more than 24 hours and a lot of my females died. i've toyed with getting new fems but never did. i hope tha last batch are more female than male. One momma just gave me about 20 babies. <EEEEEEEEK>

The fry food powder does great for the first week, after that i tend to go to fine ground staples, <read the dregs of empty fish food containers>

you would not belieev the crap i went through at first with guppies...lol... now i have tone of them! If you are buying them from the store and not acclimating them right. Also, there are many times when after so many births female guppies may die, become bloated, etc. It is really hard on them. My tanks are kept anywhere from 76 to 82. Hiding places are needed, peace from males as well, which are what hiding places are for. Also, the rule is generally 3 females to 1 male. I did not do this... it eventually happened. The ones that come directly from pet stores are weaker anyway. You may want to see if a friend or local hobbist has one male you can borrow and buy a few females.
I started with 6 females and 2 males... one female lived with no babies... added two males from a breeding master and now i have too many... It is all about luck and.... nope only pure luck...

GL and dont give up... trust me once it starts it wont stop

i use my hosptal tank also as a deleivery tank, i'll catch mom and keep her in there when she's about due. I have a betta in the tank to keep it cyclled all the time as well. The betta is such a finicky eater he doesn't eat the fry cus only blood worms are good enough for his pallet.

i would not use a seperate tank... I put a breeder net in the tank and check in often. When the mom gives birth i catch the fry that has lived and put them into the breeder net. I bought a 2.5gal to move them to in a week, then to a ten gal in 4weeks. I would put lots of hiding places for the babies. The moving of mom can be bad sometimes... she can become stressed, bad for her and babies. This way you dont get an over abundance of fry and mom gets live food. Trust there will be a time when you hope that there weren't so many hiding places. Trust me.

icka said:

i would not use a seperate tank... I put a breeder net in the tank and check in often. When the mom gives birth i catch the fry that has lived and put them into the breeder net. I bought a 2.5gal to move them to in a week, then to a ten gal in 4weeks. I would put lots of hiding places for the babies. The moving of mom can be bad sometimes... she can become stressed, bad for her and babies. This way you dont get an over abundance of fry and mom gets live food. Trust there will be a time when you hope that there weren't so many hiding places. Trust me.

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well actually they are meant as food, the females, and for sale, the males i sell table top fountains with filtration and heating for bettas and guppies. so this summer i'm hoping to have a ton of males to sell of at the craft shows.

the females young uns once i have a good breeding stock will be live prey for my knife fish. so unitl the female populace is readily established i want as many as possible to live