baby guppies!!

[Sarahs]

the other day I found 4 baby guppies swimming around my tank, and i put two f guppys that were due soon in my breeder box.. she's having babies like crazy.. i have the other 4 plus like 15.. yikes.. I have them in a separate net..... the only prob is I have 1 more f guppy due, i'd like to keep the babys.... but it is only a 10 gal..... whats a fast way to cycle a tank if i go and get a grow out tank? like 2.5 gals...?

Sarah

[CACAdmin]

Congrats on the baby guppies! To jump start the cycle use filter media and gravel from an existing tank... lots of good bacteria there.

[Sarahs]

thanks! :D I'll be going shopping later to get a tank from walmart:P

Sarah

[Melody]

:pompom:Congrat's! I love Guppies!

Time to look into the future! Each female will give birth to an average of 25 fry every 30-45 days. Within three months or so, their daughters will be breeding. You'll have around a hundred fry within the month, if not more. Within the three months you could have 400! You're going to need a big tank to raise just your first round of babies. 2.5G's won't house one female's fry for more than a couple of weeks. I don't want to rain on your parade, but you might as well get something bigger rather than have them grow out of it right away.:yes: You can get some awesome deals on used tanks.

Breeder traps are very stressful to the female, leaving them more open to post partum infections. You may want to try leaving the females in the tank and provide lots of cover. That way the weakest of the bunch will get eaten. You'll have some population control and be left with the biggest & strongest.

You could join BC Guppy (http://www.bcguppy.com) and Guppy Designer (http://www.guppydesigner.com) for expert advice & information. We'll be happy to help too of course. :smile:

Have fun!

[Sarahs]

thanks for giving me the head's up on how much fry i'll have. maybe i'll look into a 10 gallon ..... my local LFS will take them for store credit so I just have to raise them until they are big enough. Unfortunitly a week or so ago my male got sick and died;( I am limited for space but maybe my hubby will let me get a bigger tank. :) Im an advid craigslist user.. thats where i got my 55gal + stand for 100$ :D

Sarah

[Melody]

The females will give birth for up to six months without a male and could still be spitting out fry from a store mating if you haven't had them long. Sorry to hear that you lost your male.

I have a set of tanks up for $20 that includes a 10G, but you'd still need hoods & all that. I also have a friend that's selling a bunch of tanks, including new-in-the-box 10G kits, but I don't know his prices yet. I'm sure you'll do fine with them:smile: . You can always unload them privately when they're smaller too.

Any pic's of the parents?

[Sarahs]

Sorry took so long to reply, been busy being a mom of a 1 y/o!! lol.. mom guppy is dark with red/yellow in her tail fin. dad was a turquoise ... he's was a beauty.... I have a female expecting soon, and she's a turquoise as well, im pretty sure anyways, her fins glow a 'neon' color and her tail fin is triple the size of my other two 'fancy' female guppies.. so we'll see!!

Sarah

[CACAdmin]

They sound like real beauties. You ought to get some really pretty fry from them.
As for being busy as a mom of a one year old... that should keep you run off your feet... literally if the little one is into the walking/running stage. One minute they're just learning to take a few steps and before you know it they're in perpetual motion. :laugh: Glad you can manage to find the time to drop by.

[Melody]

Turquoise/green is one of my fave Guppy shades. :smile:

[Sarahs]

lol.. thank goodness my son still hasn't decided to walk yet !! Lol.. soon enough though:)

Sarah