Suggestions for an interesting cull eater?

AA79606

AA79606

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Jul 21, 2011
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Texas
Real Name
Amy
I have an abundance of "plain" blond guppies so I've been thinking about the possibility of getting something carnivorous to feed them to. I'd like to get something sort of unusual or beautiful or somehow different, so that we can enjoy it as a pet in its own right.

It would need to be something that will not outgrow a 29 gallon tank. If it will leave plants alone, that would be an extra bonus, as I'd like to also use this tank to grow out some plants if at all possible. It would also need to be big enough/able to eat an almost-full-grown guppy.

My first thought was maybe a crayfish, but I know nothing about them at the moment. I would appreciate any suggestions, experiences and advice anyone has to share.
 
I have a 20 gallon tank of guppys for my daughter and once they become over run, I feed them to my oscars. I was going to suggest an oscar because they are so personable, but a 29 gallon is much to small for one. I did see a fantastic looking blue cray, but I dont know about them.
 
a cray should work but you couldnt keep them with plants unless you want dwarf crays but they wont eat fish. a cray would also take a little while to eat them all.
 
Thanks for the quick responses!

The 29g is as big as I can go... I was lucky to be able to bring that one home, it's my 7th tank and my husband said "no more" 2 tanks ago! But the other day, I answered a CL ad for a 10g for $5 that I was gonna use as a QT tank, and when I got there it was a 29 gallon! So now I'm trying to figure out what to do with it.

So whatever I (eventually) get can have the tank to itself. If I'm not able to keep plants in there too, I'll be okay with that. I'm guessing most cichlids that would be big enough to eat a guppy would be too big for a 29 gallon?

What type of crayfish should I be looking for? I'm open to other suggestions as well... are there any other fish that would fit in a 29 gallon? What about a turtle?
 
I'm into oddball fish so I'd go with a Ctenopoma or an African Butterfly Fish.
 
AA79606 said:
What type of crayfish should I be looking for? I'm open to other suggestions as well... are there any other fish that would fit in a 29 gallon? What about a turtle?
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Crayfish tend to stay on the bottom, so any fish you want culling would have to come to him. Chances are, with how tall a 29 is, it'd probably take a while for it to actually catch the fish (most likely when they're sleeping). You could always just lower the water level, however.
 
AA79606 said:
Thanks for the quick responses!

The 29g is as big as I can go... I was lucky to be able to bring that one home, it's my 7th tank and my husband said "no more" 2 tanks ago! But the other day, I answered a CL ad for a 10g for $5 that I was gonna use as a QT tank, and when I got there it was a 29 gallon! So now I'm trying to figure out what to do with it.

So whatever I (eventually) get can have the tank to itself. If I'm not able to keep plants in there too, I'll be okay with that. I'm guessing most cichlids that would be big enough to eat a guppy would be too big for a 29 gallon?

An angelfish would help quite a bit, it wouldn't eat the larger ones, probably just kill them, but it would enjoy the live new babies coming out.

What type of crayfish should I be looking for? I'm open to other suggestions as well... are there any other fish that would fit in a 29 gallon? What about a turtle?
Click to expand...

I think I would go with the turtle AAF mentioned, but as he said, they'll probably need $15 land platform type of thing, and UV bulb, and heat lamp.

Vicious_Fish said:
I'm into oddball fish so I'd go with a Ctenopoma or an African Butterfly Fish.
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+1, i like african butterflys, but i don't think they can eat adult guppies

Jumko said:
Crayfish tend to stay on the bottom, so any fish you want culling would have to come to him. Chances are, with how tall a 29 is, it'd probably take a while for it to actually catch the fish (most likely when they're sleeping). You could always just lower the water level, however.
Click to expand...
yes, they do tend to stay at the bottom, but as you said, they'll catch the fish while they sleep, and this is true, except to a higher extent, as most crays IME are much more active at night, so they sort of feed during the night, so it should work out, and most guppies sleep on the bottom of the tank, so easy food.

my extra suggestion would be to sell them on CL as feeder fish for $0.50 each?
 
Eastern painted turtles are also good. They don't get bigger then 5 inches. The problem is that any turtle is likely to eat your plants. I don't know wether this is right or not... But you could do a pair of convicts or firemouths.
 
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