Controlling guppy fry. Can i keep only male guppies?

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dest

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Jul 3, 2005
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Oops, sorry, i really forgot the size :) Well, it is still on my plans actually, but i want to know as much as i can before really buying it and setting it up. It will be 30x30x70 cm tank (72 liters/20 gallons). I will keep about 6 bronze corys there (corydoras aeneus) and i want some action on my top/middle of the tank. I was considering having zebra danios or guppies.

If you guys keep males and females, what are the tips for controlling their breed? I dont want them to owercrowd my tank :)

Thank you for your informative replies!
 

Ms.Bubbles

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Sep 26, 2005
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You can't stop guppies from breeding!!!! All you can hope for is that the adult guppies eat the babies. Otherwise, they WILL overcrowd your tank, and you will end up with a ton of them, who will eventually reproduce with each other and create more fry, etc. etc.
 

dest

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Jul 3, 2005
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Thanks for your replies, i will consider buying other kind of fish for top of the tank. Maybe zebra danios? :)
 

Ulan

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Sep 22, 2006
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As I said, with ghost shrimp in the tank, guppy fry won't make it longer than a day or two.

But there are also some tetras that prefer the upper regions of the tank. And (marble) hatchets, but these are not really suitable for beginners, and the tank should be adapted.
 
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Chickieepooh2u

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Ulan said:
As I said, with ghost shrimp in the tank, guppy fry won't make it longer than a day or two.

But there are also some tetras that prefer the upper regions of the tank. And (marble) hatchets, but these are not really suitable for beginners, and the tank should be adapted.
Really? the ghosties eat your fry? I have a 5 gallon fry tank with 4 ghost shrimp in it. Haven't lost one to a shrimp yet. Also I have a larger yellow nose ghost in my guppy tank and well more fry than I can count in there too. Never had them eat any fry from any species yet.
 

Ulan

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Sep 22, 2006
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Chickieepooh2u said:
Really? the ghosties eat your fry? I have a 5 gallon fry tank with 4 ghost shrimp in it. Haven't lost one to a shrimp yet. Also I have a larger yellow nose ghost in my guppy tank and well more fry than I can count in there too. Never had them eat any fry from any species yet.
With ghost shrimp, you can meet all kinds of behavior. Some don't touch anything, and some will team up and eat your adult fish at night. It's always good to have a close eye on them.
 

amosf

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dest said:
It will be 30x30x70 cm tank (72 liters/20 gallons).
Sounds more like 60lt? But close enough...

I used to keep a lot of guppies (over 10 and under 20) in my 50lt. They kept their own numbers stable, although we rescued a few fry now and then...

tim
 

jyanagi

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Sep 5, 2006
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I have guppies and zebra danios. These guys are right when they say the guppies multiply. 2 females had 42, 45, 54, and 74 fry over 3 months. It was then that I bought a 28g tank to supplement the original 10g. 28g became the danio/female guppy tank, 10g the male tank.

There was very little aggression in the male tank. Only once did I see two in a face off, one of them ran and that was it (7 three month olds). Perhaps that was because they were still young?? I dunno.

Neither the male or female adult guppies would eat any of the fry. They would occasionally go after the movement, but back right off. The zebra danios, on the other hand, are my tanks' pirahnas. They demolished a good quantity of them. However, they have not gotten all of them. After a few days, they seemed pretty oblivious to them (although they would chase after them when they saw them - usually the ones on the top of the tank). But, I had many hanging out on the bottom (once had 40+).

Since the danios are pretty small themselves, I found that if they don't eat the fry within 2 weeks, they are going to be too large to eat. This is when I had to take some drastic steps. I fished out many of the fry and put them in a small plastic container. Insert a danio or two. Wait an hour or so, and the fry will all be gone.

Personally, I hated to have done such a thing. But, better than losing the whole tank to overpopulation.
 

vt_snowman87

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Feb 15, 2007
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fancy guppies

it's perfectly alright

i have a dozen fancy guppies in my tank (all males) and they look stunning with the driftwood and a few plants.. absolutely no problem, they're very friendly fishes..
 
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