feeder fish breeding?

hmm... every where i go in melbourne sell guppy for $5-$6
i went to mentone, st kilda(barkly st), Victoria Market(Queen St) and Pet Wonderland(Chapel St)

i was wondering can u sell me some guppies, since your in melbourne too... which part of melbourne you live in?? i'm in caulfield
 
I use Subscape (Victoria St, Richmond), Boronia Aquarium (Boronia) (http://www.boroniaaquarium.com.au/a...Csid=3cb20f0180fbbf4dc7e7d87622b45bf8&x=0&y=0)
and Malvern Aquarium (on Glenferrie Road near Princes Hwy). Both Malvern and Subscapes have given me discounts when I've bought a bunch of stuff together and asked for it (though only gotten guppies through Subscape).

My friend actually breeds them for me and I have been getting them for free lately... I can ask her if she has spare and if she is willing to sell them to you. I am in Hawthorn so not far away from you :) I will PM you about it when she gets back from holidays in a few days.
 
hey, i went to Subscape today to search for guppy. they only have 2 male, $5 each and heaps of female for $4 but N.F.S
one of the staff say more guppy will be coming in later this week, so yeah... the cheapest is also not so cheap -.-"

i got 5 neon tetra today, as they were only $1.50 each and i got 2 frees
 
Ok damn :( Usually they have heaps and are cheaper. Maybe it is a bad time for guppies or something. Soz that it didn't work out.

Did you get my PM about my friend's guppies? I sent it a few days ago with more details so if you want to arrange to get some let me know :)
 
hello,

I'm a crazy fish hobbyist, been keeping aquariums for about 5 or 6 years now...

I'm in california in the US and That's a lot of money for feeder fish! Here you can get feeder goldfish for maybe 50 cents! sometimes cheeper... If you get them from a LFS you really only need to quarenteen them for two weeks or so, generally if they're tank bread they're safe, i don't quarenteen my freshwater fish if it comes from a reliable fish store as long as they look healthy...

anyways...

With guppy, tetras, goldfish or any other type of feeder (the silver fish the the spot on the end is probably a tetra or a guppy) it's best to have a sponge filter, these type of fish produce a lot of waste, but a regular filter will suck the fry into it. Water should be between 71 and 80 degrees F, a male ratio of 1:3 is perfect, males are highly aggressive in their breeding and will often kill the females. If you feed the fry live brine shrimp they will grow faster then if you feed them flake food, but either works :)

ALSO: you need to remove the parents from the fry.. they'll eat their babies... D:
 
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I'd like to try breeding with guppies again, both for fun and food for my axies. I tried it years ago, when I only had fish, and before I even knew about water quality etc, so all my fish probably never really were happy enough to breed. I was too naive and inexperienced to understand that even an aquarium needs more care then dayly feeding. (I'll save the stories about the disgusting state of the aquarium back then :p)

I am older and wiser now, and water quality is something I check very regularly, so that won't be an issue.

I currently have a small tank with small shrimp in it (neocaridina denticulata sinensis). I was thinking of adding the guppies in that tank, but I'm worried that the guppies might try to eat the shrimp. Since the shrimp were quite a pain to get, I don't want to take risks.
Anyone that knows if this combo is doable?
 
Besides Guppies

People have been citing guppies lack of tolerance for the cold temperatures axolotls prefer, but there is another option. Mosquitofish are also in the Poeciliidae family of livebearers, are just as prolific (if not more so) than guppies and can tolerate freezing temperatures. They are extremely hardy and don't take unkindly to overcrowding, as other fish do. Males can be distinguished from females by the presence of a gonopodium (a kind of long tube like fin) in place of a normal anal fin. Gestation time is only about 25 days, and can be sped up when the female is kept at higher temperatures. The best setup for breeding mosquitofish is to put a male and a female in a 10 gallon tank and wait. It's that easy. Mosquitofish can be acquired through a variety of dealers and petshops. Some examples of web suppliers of mosquitofish include Niles Biological and the Carolina Biological Supply Company.
 
Guppies are tolerant of cold temperatures actually, as mentioned at the beginning of this thread. I have kept guppies in temperatures of 14C, which is a good temperature for an axolotl (14-18C is ideal) They just prefer higher temperatures for breeding, which doesn't matter as you need to separate them for breeding purposes.

Have you been using them as feeder fish ivan? Just wondering about their nutritional value for axies. They appear to be very similar to guppies from what I have read?
 
Mosquitofish are very closely related to guppies, and have equivalent nutritional content (they're often mistakenly sold in petshops as guppy type feeder fish).
 
We are looking at breeding guppies (my partner & I) as feeders for the axies, in fact we're going to the petshop soon after this msg to get them. I was told at the aquarium that you can keep the babies in the tank with the adults as long as they have some thick grass up the top of the tank (wired or suspended) so that they can hide. Does this work alright or do you really need to seperate the fry from adults?
 
My friend keeps fry with the adult guppies. Apparently they can be eaten though so I guess if you want to be safe you can put in the grass. Though to be honest they breed so often that it probably doesn't matter if a few get eaten. Just make sure the adults are well fed and that should minimise the babies being eaten.

Though I can probably tell you a bit more in a few days... one of my feeder guppies has managed to live so long that she has just birthed 30 baby ones in my axie tank! :p My axolotl is in the fridge so if the babies start disappearing I will assume the parents are taking them...
 
lol looks like its baby month or something we bought the guppies today & the guy at the aquarium chucked us in a preggo mollie & 2 males so shes dispersing the babies at the top of the plastic floating grass at the top. Grats on your guppies Sarah!
 
Another option for breeding livebearers that works better than using floating vegetation is to use a slot breeder. These are fairly cheap and are available at most local fish stores, and can be hung over tanks to separate the female from the fry. Many species of livebearers prey heavily upon their young, so it is best to keep fry away from larger fish if you want a significant number to survive. Of course, if you can't use a slot breeder, floating plants can also provide a decent level of cover for the fry.
 
I'd like to give Mosquitofish as a feeder fish a go but have had a fruitless search for anywhere in the UK that sells them. Can anyone point me in the right direction? Thanks in advance.

Edit: Suddenly thought to check eBay and found some.

Edit again: I've just bought some "Heterandria formosa" rather than "Gambusia affinis" - both known as Mosquitofish. Have I just wasted my money? [Buy in haste, repent at leisure.:eek:]
 
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tyl3r said:
I'd like to give Mosquitofish as a feeder fish a go but have had a fruitless search for anywhere in the UK that sells them. Can anyone point me in the right direction? Thanks in advance.

Edit: Suddenly thought to check eBay and found some.

Edit again: I've just bought some "Heterandria formosa" rather than "Gambusia affinis" - both known as Mosquitofish. Have I just wasted my money? [Buy in haste, repent at leisure.:eek:]
Click to expand...

I've never heard of Heterandia formosa being called mosquito fish, they are usually known as least killifish. It's really a misnomer because they are very tiny livebearers (max length of 3.6cm or about 1.5 inches.) I think you'll be fine but H. formosa is a smaller fish. Gambusia affinis, the real mosquito fish, are actually pretty mean tempered little fish and might not be the best choice if your axie doesn't snarf them down immediately.
 
Thank you, Abrahm. They're on their way to me, so I'll see what they look like when I get them. Pictures of the two types seem quite distinct/different so identification shouldn't be a problem. Although, an established fish breeder doesn't seem to know the difference, so perhaps not... :rolleyes:

Either way, if/when I start feeding them I'll be sure to keep a very close eye on them.
 
I put in 20 danios for $20 AUS .They disappeared at a rate of about 1 a day which starts to add up.
The good thing is the remaining 4 "smart ones" have started breeding , but the parents have to be removed because they eat the fry.
 
Pretty sure I've got "Heterandria Formosa" as in the picture attached. After mistakenly getting 4 pairs of these little (and I mean little) fishes it seems they are far more suited (less aggressive) than the "Gambusia Affinis" that I was initially after.
 

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