Fancy Guppy Fry

R

ravenqueen

Registered Member
Nov 25, 2008
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I'm having issues with some guppies and need some advice. I'm sure this is a basic and boring topic and I searched in the forums about it but didn't want to steal another thread.

I have an 8 gallon biorb that I wanted to cycle. I bought three fancy male guppies because the lady at the aquarium told me they would be hardy and get the cycle going for me.

About a month into having them, I suddenly had about 15 fry in the tank. I read somewhere that ghost shrimp would take care of them, so I left it alone, since at that point I had three shrimp. Well, at this point, I've had a SECOND batch of fry and can't find my shrimp. The only other animals in the tank are some mystery snails that were keeping my algae population under control.

So, what would be the best thing to do? I'm trying to find somewhere to take the female and maybe the fry, but I'm also not opposed to getting another fish that will eat them. Also, does anyone have any thoughts as to why my ghost shrimp died? I would like to get more shrimp and more variety of fish, but I'm really not sure where to start.

Like I said, my tank is 8 gallons, it's been cycling for about 3 months and the water tests come back within acceptable ranges. I can test and give specifics about the water if anyone thinks it will help in giving me advice.

Thanks in advance!
 
8 gal is really limiting... almost anything will eat guppy fry. Problem is finding a fish that will be happy without a group, but doesn't get that big.

ghost shrimp can be a bit sensitive to water conditions.

A betta would probably eat your guppy fry, but it might kill your guppies, too.

Same for a dwarf gourami.
 
Id just get rid of the female and the fry.
However, males can nip at one another and gourami males will nip at guppies
 
You may have lost the shrimp do to the cycle. They are much more sensitive to water parameters than guppies. With the additional fry it is almost certain you had a mini cycle in a tank that small. I would recommend getting rid of all of the fry and any possible females. I am clueless to how you wound up with fry if all of your guppies are males. This leads me to the conclusion that you have at least one female if not more my now. As far as fish that would eat them the problem is that any fish that would eat them that does not need a shoal, or school would probably pick on the adults as well. If the tank was larger I would suggest a small school of barbs. Personally I would turn this tank into a cherry shrimp tank, or some other small interesting invert.
 
Sorry, I wasn't able to come back right away. Like I said, I was sold 3 "male" fancy guppies, but I can tell which one is the female...she does have a flashy tale, but her body is plain silver and she's not as pretty. Plus, she gets as big as a house when she's pregnant.

I stopped feeding them in the hopes that they would start cannibalizing each other, but I'm not having much luck with that. My snails are unhappy with the conditions in the tank and are dormant, so I'm starting to have a slight algae problem. I don't want to just blatantly kill them...I don't mind when aminals predate each other, but outright killing them bothers me.

Do you think it would be a good plan to catch the momma and the babies and take them back to the store? It was their fault in the first place that I ended up with the famale and the babies. They'd probably just kill them though.

I love african clawed frogs...if I get the population down to just a couple of male guppies, can I have one or two of the frogs and some shrimp in the 8 gallons? Or do they make poor tank mates?

Thanks for the help!
 
african DWARF frog will do well. african CLAWED frog will kill everything and get way too big.
 
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