# Guppy Fry Care???



## turtle10 (Dec 30, 2010)

Hi sorry for posting in the betta section but I feel I will get more responses this way, it is important.


As with betta care sites, many of the guppy sites have conflicting info when it comes to fry care. Are there any betta lovers out there that have *knowledge* and *experience* with guppy breeding?

I have no males, my females were already hit when I got them lol. I have one in a separate 10 g filled halfway who looks like she is going to give birth any time. She has squared off a bit I think and I can see the babies eyes in her. 


Once the babies come, what am I supposed to do? 

I would love to hear of your experiences when breeding and raising fry.


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## coolcucumber (Jan 16, 2011)

They are usually born with a yolk sac, so i dont feed mine for 1-2days. I start then to be on the safe side. mine always love crushed really small freeze-dried bloodworms, only once a week because it's unhealthy too often  Then i just feed normal tropical fish flakes, and you can feed them bbs if you have some.


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## turtle10 (Dec 30, 2010)

coolcucumber said:


> They are usually born with a yolk sac, so i dont feed mine for 1-2days. I start then to be on the safe side. mine always love crushed really small freeze-dried bloodworms, only once a week because it's unhealthy too often  Then i just feed normal tropical fish flakes, and you can feed them bbs if you have some.


These are all the foods I have:

Nutrafin Tropical Fish Flakes
Hikari Freeze Dried Brine Shrimp 
The san francisco brand frozen brine shrimp 
a microworm culture


Could I use any of these? 

I feel like such a newbie when it comes to guppies!


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## coolcucumber (Jan 16, 2011)

Those are all fine. Many people raise their guppies on flakes crushed really small alone, so anything else will definatly help them grow faster  Livebearers are generally the easiest when it comes to baby fish, since they are born free-swimming. the biggest danger is having the babies gulped before you can do anything xD Make sure you have something for the babies to hide in. Java moss works well.


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## turtle10 (Dec 30, 2010)

Okay, I have Java Moss, hornwort, anacharis, some plastic plants, and some other type of moss in the fry tank.


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## coolcucumber (Jan 16, 2011)

That should be fine. Good luck with your guppies


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## turtle10 (Dec 30, 2010)

Thanks!


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## indjo (Jun 6, 2010)

Livebearers are the easiest to care for. The problem is (as stated above) spotting the female before she gives birth and separating her from others to reduce the chances of fry being eaten. If seen from above, her belly usually looks more round than oval (not always). From below, her anal should be much wider than usual.

You can feed fry any small food (natural or crushed). I usually use live tubefix to power grow them until they begin to show their fins and color. Then I use small pellets. And I prefer to use a tank that has algae (don't know the name or type - definitely not hair/thread algae) on the floor and sides so they can snack on them between feedings.

Good Luck.


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## turtle10 (Dec 30, 2010)

I have algae wafers that don't disintegrate for longer than a day. They are hikari brand algae wafers, would this be okay to use instead of algae? There isn't any algae in the 10g where the soon to be mama is.


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## coolcucumber (Jan 16, 2011)

You could try it. I used to give my bristlenose algae, but my mollies and guppies would eat it all. i'd try a small piece to see if they like it.


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## turtle10 (Dec 30, 2010)

Yeah my guppies like them also, so hopefully their babies will too!


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## indjo (Jun 6, 2010)

IME they are not picky on food. Unlike bettas, they will literally eat anything. When I'm out of fish food, I would simply toss in a small piece of bread. Just make sure that you do wc accordingly.


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## MrVampire181 (May 12, 2009)

Great info...I want to expand to guppies, mollies, and endlers really soon but I need to get some more tanks first and jars for all my bettas.


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## turtle10 (Dec 30, 2010)

*Do guppies have contractions when giving birth?*

I think my pregnant guppy is having contractions!


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## mand (Nov 19, 2010)

Yes they do have contractions.
Some signs to watch for
1. Not eating, usually the female will stop eating just before going into labour.
2. Staying by herself, mine usually hang around the heater when giving birth.
3. going up and down the sides of the tank over and over again.
4. More vibrant colour, the colours on my females tails usually seem richer a day or so before giving birth.


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## turtle10 (Dec 30, 2010)

My female has all of those except I put her in a 10g filled half way up to about 78 degrees, but she is hanging out by the heater. Every know and then she will slowly swim around, sometimes going up and hangs out by the bubbler (probably getting oxygen?). 


Wait.. nvm now she is down at the bottom towards the front … nvm again lol she is slowly going to the right side…. now up to the surface again.

I read somewhere that movement helps with the birth, do you think that is what is happening?


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## mand (Nov 19, 2010)

Mine usually go from top to bottom to top to bottom untill they go to the heater pop out a fry and then start top to bottom again.


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## bettalover2033 (Feb 17, 2010)

Yes BBS is the best way to go for feeding any fry! My guppy fry that i have right now are all very healthy and happy with portions of BBS.


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## turtle10 (Dec 30, 2010)

I don't have Baby Brine Shrimp, just frozen and freeze dried adult brine shrimp. I also have microworms. Would this suffice?


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## Sweeda88 (Dec 6, 2010)

Microworms sound like they would be fine. I don't see why the wouldn't be.


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## Oldfishlady (Mar 1, 2010)

Plain finely crushed flake fish food that you feed the adults will be fine for guppy fry food...they are not picky and will eat most anything given...they are fully formed and ready to eat within hours of being dropped.

Some female guppies will eat the fry as fast as they are dropped and other will not eat any or just a few

By providing both upper level and lower level hiding places in the form of floating and rooted plants and moss- will help increase chances of more fry survive-either the mother or other fish eating them.
The more volume of water the better, I recommended a full tank to give the fry more space to get out of the mothers way and/or line of site to increase odds of more surviving.

Be careful over stressing the mother-this can cause her to abort or premature drops and the fry usually will not survive

Even without a male-she should have roughly 4-6 sperm packets stored and should drop fry every 28-31 days for the next 4-6 months.....

Livebearer fry are one of the easiest fry to tend to in my experience-easiest to feed and grow out...most tolerant of ranges of water temps but tend to do best in harder water.


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## turtle10 (Dec 30, 2010)

Today while messing around with my community tank I notice a guppy fry! The guppy finally gave birth after I put her back with the others. I found a total of three guppy fry. They are now in my cherry shrimp and snails only 10g. It is cycled and I am slowly raising it to 78-79 from the original temp of 76. I am now making a hardboiled egg yolk paste thing. I will try to find some microworms small enough for them tomorrow. I am also going to prepare a bbs hatchery tonight. 

So excited! I'm a grandma now


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## mand (Nov 19, 2010)

Just crush up flakes really small. Guppy fry will eat anything, lol.


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## vaygirl (Sep 10, 2009)

I used to feed mine this fry food that came in a tube. I got it at the fish store. They ate it up like crazy.


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## turtle10 (Dec 30, 2010)

Okay so they are eating well so far. I made them a mixture of crushed flakes, pellets, and crushed microworms. They really like it so far. Also, one small corner of the tank gets direct sunlight everyday so there are infusorians for them. They look like little specks of dust randomly darting everywhere. They were only born yesterday (I think) and I can already see the whites of their eyes and their little organs


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