I have fish babies! What do I do?

L

litfish

Registered Member
Mar 21, 2007
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I just looked at my 10g QT tank and noticed that there were baby fish in it. On 5/15 I bought 3 male and 4 female guppies. On the 17th I noticed 2 had fin rot and 1 had fin rot and a fungus so I added Melafix and Pimafix to start treatment. I took out the carbon from the AC 20 and added the sponge that I keep in the 55g. I just came home for lunch and noticed that there were little fish swimming around:). So what do I do to help let them live? Should I quite treating the tank for fin rot? Also, I previously had 7 tetras in this tank that are now in my 55g tank. Is there a way to tell if the babies are guppies or tetras? They're about the size of a small air bubble right now, but look more colored in the front, and don't seem to have the strip that tetras do.

Tank parameters
Ph 8.3
ammonia 0
nitrate 0
nitrite 0

Thanks for the help
litfish
 
theyre more than likely guppies.. feed them powdered flake food for the first few weeks, and if you dont want them to get eaten, you can transfer them to a smaller QT tank. filtration is essential, as well as making sure they cant get sucked up into the filter.
 
We weren't actually prepared to have babies and don't have another tank or filter to use as a second quarantine tank (these were born in the quarantine tank just a few days after we got the guppies). Would it hurt to put the babies in a regular bowl? Any ideas for how to filter water in a regular mixing bowl? Or how to transfer the babies - won't they fit through a normal fish net?
Thanks for the suggestions,
litfish
 
Congrats!!!


My guppies just had fry and its the first time for me too!!


I don't have another tank set up either, so what I did is scooped all the babies that I could find and put them in a large net that I hung on the rim of the tank. I keep part of the net out of the water so the babies can't get out and big fish can't get in. I feed them flakes that I grind up and sprinkle into their net. I try to feed them 4-8 times a day.


I've managed to keep them alive for over a week now, which isn't a real feat but I'm still happy about it anyway.


Good Luck!!
 
You could always buy a a breeding net and keep them in there for now?

Or a small tank (2 1/2, 5, 10 gallon) is your best bet and are all about $10-$15 new
 
My female platy has babies about 4 weeks ago, there are 5 alive currently and they eat wheenver I feed all my fish. I never did anything special to keep them alive. She just had another batch a couple days ago and I've counted 5 of them so far and seen them come out for feeding too. I am starting to get concerned that my tank is going to be overrun with platies in no time at this rate hehe.
 
Congratualations on your babies - given the options of guppy vs tetra - it's mostly like guppies that you have - they breed often and deliver on the go - mine gave birth while i was switching them between tanks (they were in a smaller tank for a few days while i set up their new larger home and while pulling them out i noticed fry!).
As for a set-up - you're gonna need a sponge filter - most AC's will suck them up - food can be any flake that's crushed to a near-powder - i fed mine HBH colour-growth - that's what their parents eat.
Good luck
 
Breeding guppies.

Ive achived to breed guppies many times in a biorb. So if i can do it in this anyone with a normal tank wont have a problem. The Babys are born live therefore are guppies and not tetra.(livebearers). Keep them in a breeding tank until they obtain a small dot of colour on there tail. This is when other tank mates can tell that they are fellow fish, not food. Feed them with "liquid fry for livebearers" found at any good store. Alternativly crushed flake food. One problem with feeding flakefood to new fry is that if its not eaten it goes moldey Which is a bad thing in a small breading tank.
Hope this helps.

Oh and one more thing.

Guppy females store sperm.If a guppie has had a baby you can guarentee she will have more without anymore sexual activity. Keep an eye on her black spot. And she will eat them the second they are released as will any other fish!
 
Denzil said:
And she will eat them the second they are released as will any other fish!
Click to expand...

Off topic- I will never understand this, especially when egg layers eat their fry. Its like whats the point of the parents protecting the eggs if they just gobble them up as soon as the babies are free swimming?? :duh:

Good thing humans don't do this =)
 
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