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Help, I'm overrun with baby guppies!

7 replies

TinyDancingHoofer · 05/09/2012 16:21

So i have 2 lady guppies and a very beautiful boy. With them is a bunch of ember tetra, a lonely rainbow rasbora, handful of corys and some dwarf chain loaches. The guppies started breeding a while back and it was okay at first as the loaches seemed quite happy to gobble the fry up with the few survivors being donated to my mum and a few friends. This seemed quite a natural method of population control and all was okay but now the tank is overrun with the things swimming all over the place and the loaches don't seem interested at all.

The largest fry went into the hospital tank today but really don't know what to do with them, it's too small for a permanent fix and there is still the small ones. Looked into the gumtree/local route but there seems to be quite a few breeders in the locality and even they don't seem to be able to give them away. So any ideas what i could do with them? Probably quite a common problem really but any ideas would be welcomed.

Long term i need a solution as well, is there a carnivorous fish that i could get but would leave the tetra alone? Realistically i know i should just split up the guppies but they were my first fish and seem so happy together. Shop never told me they would breed, just said to get two girls and a boy and i was slightly too relaxed about research before getting them Sad is there anything a plant or owt that would discourage them from breeding but keep them happy?

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whatkungfuthat · 05/09/2012 18:42

We had this problem with Mollies (sp?) we sold the young ones to the local aquarium for about a third of what they charge but in the end we got rid of the adults too as it was really fouling up the tank. Angel fish are nippy and would probably eat them, they may look nice but they are really aggressive. We have a couple who seem to both be males and are horrible gits but they leave our tetras alone.

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EauRouge · 05/09/2012 20:00

The only thing that would stop them is if you split them up. You can keep all males if you want, it's just that if you mix them you need a ratio of 2 females to 1 male to prevent harassment. Sounds like the people in the shop didn't fully get why those numbers are important.

There are plenty of fish that will eat the babies, you need something that's just big enough to eat the babies but not so big that it'll munch on the tetras too. A lot of fish are omnivorous and wouldn't turn down a fry if it swam right by them so there's plenty of choice.

What size tank do you have and what exactly do you have in there? Do you know the scientific name for your rasbora? Or can you describe it a bit?

You could take the fry to an aquatic store, they may sell them on or use them to feed larger fish.

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TinyDancingHoofer · 05/09/2012 21:15

DM has a couple of beautiful silver mollies, but yes they do always seem to be pooing.
Ah, thats two votes for the the local shop, i will have a chat next time i'm in.
Tank is probably too long and shallow for angels, beautiful as they are.

Bought as 95litres but i remember roughly measuring about 55litres of water going in, so i don't really know how much is in there reallyBlush. Hard water, at about 25C, soft sand substrate, 30% proper water change and 2x10% mini water changes a week. Bogwood, a bridge, fake green stuff, real green stuff.

11 ember tetra
5 chain loaches, i love these, so playful and nosey
3 panda cory
1 tail spot cory, he was a rescue i'm looking out for some friends.
1 sterbai cory (temporary foster placement, not mine, all his friends died so i am babysitting as he got a bit depressed on his own)
3 guppies
maybe 7 malaysian trumpet snails at last count
threadfin rainbow rasbora, noticed him the day after i put the tetras in. Shop said they used to keep these with the tetra and he must have been the last one left and snuck in Hmm He seems okay, feeds well, very alert but don't really know what to do with him.

They all seem happy, never any illnesses or unexplained deaths. The loaches and corys all sit on top of each other and feed together but i am hopefully gonna get a bigger tank quite soon. So couple more corys and loaches. I'm quite new at this really so welcome any help/suggestions Smile

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TinyDancingHoofer · 05/09/2012 21:18

Ah, someone has just suggested a small underwater frog? Never heard of these. Ummm...any thoughts on a frog Confused

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EauRouge · 05/09/2012 21:31

Nah, don't mix frogs and fish- bad idea.

Threadfin rainbow rasbora? Confused Do you mean one of these. If so, it's not a rasbora so that clears up that mystery- and you'll know what it is if you want to build up the shoal (it is a shoaling fish so needs to be in a group really).

If you know the measurements of the tank then you can work out the volume. It sounds a bit overcrowded but with 2 water changes a week you might be alright. I wouldn't add any other fish tbh, it might tip it over the edge. Tell your guppies to keep their legs crossed Grin.

Could you return them and the rainbow fish to the shop maybe and swap them for a cory or two?

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TinyDancingHoofer · 05/09/2012 22:08

Right no frogs, good. Erm, it's got that body shape with the colouring of a <a class="break-all" href="http://www.google.co.uk/imgres?q=galaxy+rasbora&num=10&um=1&hl=en&safe=off&client=safari&rls=en&biw=1440&bih=838&tbm=isch&tbnid=VCWfG-ac1lD68M:&imgrefurl=www.thinkfish.co.uk/fish/Galaxy_Rasbora.html&imgurl=www.thinkfish.co.uk/fishimages/2711_galaxy_rasbora.jpg&w=450&h=248&ei=77tHUKizNqmY0QWUn4DIDA&zoom=1&iact=hc&vpx=170&vpy=172&dur=2456&hovh=167&hovw=303&tx=212&ty=111&sig=103125049820658266065&sqi=2&page=1&tbnh=112&tbnw=203&start=0&ndsp=24&ved=1t:429,r:0,s:0,i:70" rel="nofollow noindex" target="_blank">galaxy rasbora But the fins near the tail are longish, though shorter thank your link, rather than triangular like these. Any ideas?
The shop had none of these threadfin things left and i haven't seen any since, so i don't really want to take him back. Do you think he'd be happy for a while if i plan to get a big tank and find some friends? He holds his own with the guppies and the tetras think he is one of them currently.
Not at home so will measure the tank tomorrow, can't believe that never occurred to me Blush
No more fish at the mo good idea. Too late to return to the shop though DM may have some space, i've have them a fair while so I'll have to have a think hard before saying bye to guppies (Dorian, Big Bertha and Winifred Sad)

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Marne · 06/09/2012 11:52

We have 3 tanks, one for females, one for males and one for fry. I put one male in with the 3 females if we want fry, if not i keep them seperate. We have 8 babbies at the moment and all 3 are pregnant. We are trying to breed blue guppies and i have people waiting to buy them, any that are left will be given away or kept.

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