They always come when you least expect it...

[gulp]

Went to the shop to purchase 2 more lovely guppies and upon my return noticed 1 little fry swimming in the tank. I AM NOT PREPARED! Was very exciting, but I didnt have anywhere to put them and they were being chased by the others who were wanting fast food! I quickly grabbed a container and managed to scoop one fry up. Couldnt find a damn net! (I think the cats have been hiding things on me again)

Had to make a little house for all the fry as I dont even have a breeder tank, so I cut the bottom off juice bottle and put holes in it and stuck it to the side of the tank

I have 7 that I have found so far.

Now to feed them, have just ground up a bit of the flakes for now and will give them some egg soon.

What I am trying to figure out is - who is the mum? My smallest female, who didnt even appear pregnant, was acting very strange today, and looks a bit exhausted, so I am guessing she is the mum. The others are just bulging, yet she was the one that gave birth, strange

Anyway, I will see how they go, if they live they live, if not, thats life. Will pick up more breeding supplies next week so should be well prepared for the next drop

Jane

Edited April 22, 2010 by gulp

[Anasfire]

Hey Jane,

Congratulations on your miracle fry! A batch of 7 fry (if that's all there was) isn't going to make any female look all that pregnant I don't think! Most of my females that really look pregnant, usually drop around 20-25 fry so a drop of 7 really isn't that grand. It might just be due to her size? I'm assuming from what you wrote that they are small guppy's , possibly juvies? They can start getting pregnant at like 4 weeks of age, if i remember correctly, and understandably their first drops will be small due to their size restrictions lol.

If you are after some fry foods for them I sell cultures and dry foods, eg fry poweder and grindal worms. I've found my guppy fry love the fry powder and go crazy over the wriggling grindals. You can find a link to my classifieds post here. I post Australia Wide.

Good luck with the little blessings, in next to no time you'll be begging people to take some off your hands!

[gulp]

Yeah she looked the youngest of the lot but gee what a surprise!

I am sure a few of the betta breeders here might like some feeder fish when it gets to the stage of too many :(

[fighter boy]

look for whih fish is missing its gravid spot behind the belly.

A young female will not have a huge batch. Batch size depends further on age and number of batches prior to the current one.

Congrats on the fry. I would suggest just feeding ground flake and finley chopped blood worm instead of egg yolk. It is messy and if used then use it sparingly. Even better if you could get some micro worm to feed for the first week or some grindal worm.

another note on identifying the female that gae birth. Even if you wait for the fry to grow and in hope they turn out like the female you suspect. There is no definate way to be sure as im considering that these guppies are mutts and cross bred?

If so then there will be no way possinle to identify the parents. Females can store sperm cells from a single male in one sitting for the next 5 - 7 births. The father could be a male back at the pet shop for all you know.

congrats again and when they grow up ill be looing for some.

take care.

[gulp]

Thanks, the female I suspect is the mum never looked like she even had gravid spots, but I noticed what looked like a small opening under her was a little elongated.

Will try to get some blood worm or something asap

Cheers

[littleangel]

congrats!

just keep an eye on the tank for more babys.

when we had our guppys they would spawn and we were never ready. so the mad rush to get the birthing tank, and get her in there. then we would spend 20 minutes catching the ones she dropped around the tank.... even a couple of days later weve found some.

good luck. hopefully you find a couple more

[gulp]

The mum died I really think she was too young, she struggled alot with them. I have a few more big mums in their that have gotta be close! Too bad I am gunna be so busy this weekend, I think the babies might become snacks.

[Becki]

In my experience with guppies if you have plants in the tank and places for the babies to hide they will survive.

I had 4 guppies(3 girls 1 boy) and now have 20+ in two tanks (after i rehomed some) and they share their homes with bettas and a greedy molly and still the babies survive.

[gulp]

Yeah, later on when I have plenty I might just let nature take its course and see how they go. The parents are just so pretty so I want to try keep all the first batches in hope they are as pretty as the others. I am sure I am going to have plenty *lol*

[Terribletegs]

I never separated my parents from fry and I always had more fry than I could handle keeping. Just make your tank densely planted and you're fine. A lot of breeders also wait for impregnation (a couple days just to make sure) then remove the male(s), then wait until all females have dropped (~30 days later) and remove the females, leaving only fry. That's usually in a bare-bottomed tank though. In a planted tank, I wouldn't worry.