# New Babies in the house...



## 1fish2fish (Sep 10, 2009)

Since I can't feasibly breed bettas right now I decided to undertake a much easier species to breed... Guppies!

Before everyone gets super gushy. My main motive for raising guppies is live food for my bettas. What I don't feed will be given away to the LFS for store credit or on craigslist as feeders.

I rescued a male off craigslist (actually the owner just gave him to me after I agreed to take in her unwanted bettas) and got two females from the pet store. Unfortunately the male died (most likely due to old age) but my two females are happy and healthy.

My first female dropped her first batch today. 13 little fry. This batch I will be keeping and raising to adulthood before giving away.. purely for the experience of raising them.









Bottom female is the mother of these fry.










I'll try to update with pics of these guys. Since there are 13 what I'll probably do is go ahead and cull half and raise the other half, then do the same with the other female's first drop.


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## vilmarisv (Apr 17, 2010)

Best of luck, Jackie. 
It's a great idea which I tried once in the past but my bettas at the time wouldn't eat the guppies. It was the only live food I had ever presented them with so it might've something to do with that.


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## 1fish2fish (Sep 10, 2009)

Thanks  I'm already looking into getting a quality trio after the new year.. If I'm gonna raise some to adulthood they might as well be quality :-D

I'm mainly trying this out for my giant boy because their is some speculation that dried foods aren't good for them and lead to shortened lifespan. So this is an easy alternative to soley frozen foods. If they don't take to them I'll probably scrap the whole project. Millions of guppy fry are the last things I want.
_Posted via Mobile Device_


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## vaygirl (Sep 10, 2009)

AWESOME! Love guppy babies. <3

And let me say again, your females are so pretty! What a great find.


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## SDragon (Sep 26, 2011)

They are super cute! I would like to get some guppies but I dont have room or money as I am currently saving up for Glofish.


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## Curlyfatbottom (Sep 29, 2011)

guppies 
with the right temperature,light , space/hiding spot with fatty food.
just 5 female and two male you can end with 500+ fish within a year.


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## Pitluvs (Jun 22, 2011)

My Swordtails breed like Guppies, which breed like rabbits lol I'd love to have a few guppies, might get some females for my 29g. Good luck with your adventure!


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## 1fish2fish (Sep 10, 2009)

That won't be an issue. These will be regularly removed and sold/culled as I see them.


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## Pitluvs (Jun 22, 2011)

Curlyfatbottom said:


> guppies
> with the right temperature,light , space/hiding spot with fatty food.
> just 5 female and two male you can end with 500+ fish within a year.


Friend of mine started off with 5 in March, she's giving guppies away by the bucket full now


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## Curlyfatbottom (Sep 29, 2011)

that sound about right.
just with a trio.
the two female can produce 40-100 fish every month.
about half of that will be female.
which those female can start giving birth as early as 3 month.
soon you will realize that there no point of catching the babies.
you will still end up with to many fish to keep.


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## TorchwoodMindfreak (Mar 12, 2010)

Bettas will eat guppy fry? Is it good for them? I'm getting some males at christmas and one of my 10 gallons is full of guppies. I've given probably a hundred or so to the only LFS around here , he only gave me $15 for them and 5 serpae tetras :O, so if I can use them as treats for my soon to be bettas that would be a bonus.


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## Curlyfatbottom (Sep 29, 2011)

some adult betta will eat new born to 2 week old guppy fry.
i think so.
been doing it for awhile.
never have a problem.


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## 1fish2fish (Sep 10, 2009)

Curlyfatbottom said:


> that sound about right.
> just with a trio.
> the two female can produce 40-100 fish every month.
> about half of that will be female.
> ...


Like I said.. won't be an issue. These will be out of the tank and either fed or dead before they're even old enough to show color, much less breed.


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## bettalover2033 (Feb 17, 2010)

Ah this is pretty interesting! I'd love to get a few to try this out as well. I loved guppies when I was at the beginner stage of fish keeping, now I see that they are really pretty fish and they are just swimming rodents when it comes to spawning.

I love all fry pictures so, these are even cute, before they are culled, sold, ect. I think guppies are easier to handle than a lot of other fish. Even though they do breed like rats.


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## LittleBettas (Jul 23, 2011)

When I had Oscars and Cichlids I bred swordtails, mollies and platies, about 3 of each in a 30 gallon by theirselves, I let them do their thing, majority of the babies were eaten by the parents or other fish, then I would take some out to feed the others, I think I had 5 or 6 babies become adults that I rehomed..... but I was just letting who ever survived survive, they ended up being beautiful and I scrapped the project shortly after due to the time of year (ice was causing constant electrical failures, I ended up loosing one of my oscars and both of my cichlids from power failures) def. worth doing, cheap, fun, and they enjoyed it (though since my fish were larger than bettas I still had to suplement feeder fish for the oscars and both with pellets)


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## 1fish2fish (Sep 10, 2009)

The guppies will be 2 weeks old on Friday. All of them are doing good and growing well.

I took one out to try and feed Smiley, a new HM I got a few days after the fry were dropped, because he was not eating. It's been over a week and that fry is still living with Smiley in his 2.5 gallon tank SMH. I'm just going to leave him in there.. either he'll get eaten or he'll live. Right now Smiley pretty much ignores him. 

I've named the fry Smiley Junior :-D I'm not totally sure but I think it is a male and if so I'll probably keep him (since my original male died). That is if Smiley doesn't get hungry LOL

The other female hasn't dropped yet but I think she's getting close.


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## bettalover2033 (Feb 17, 2010)

This does seem pretty fun in the meantime while just having fish down to a controlled period and still able sustain your school work, work, life in general, ect.


Hehe, *Smiley Junior.*


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## Sweeda88 (Dec 6, 2010)

I do this with my Platy fry. =) Sequin loves them. Good luck with your guppies!


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