Guppy babies

[Kerry1968]

I'm a mummy! (again!) My guppy has had 20 babies! This was quite a surprise as I didn't know she was pregnant, I have only had the guppies for 2 weeks. I am raising the babies as feeder fish for my axies, but the baby guppies are so cute I don't know how I'm going to feed them to the axies! Does anyone else have experience of rearing guppies for feeder fish? How big should they be before you put them in with the axolotls? Do you know how long it takes for them to get to a reasonable size for a meal? I don't know yet if my axies will be able to catch them to eat, they're darn fast!! It's all new to me and my two axies! They're used to being hand fed earthworms, these will be a whole new challenge! Kerry.

 

[Bellabelloo]

I tend to leave the guppy fry in their tank for a few weeks to become more of an axolotl snack size. Unfortunately I then have to deal with two problems. Firstly the fry develope different colourations to their parents so I have the over wheming urge to keep them , then secondly just catching them is a trial. I wouldn't worry too much about your axolotl being able to catch them, the longest the guppies have survived in with the axolotl is 3 days..they become lean mean hunting machines!!

 

[Michael2266]

Are guppies really good for Axolotls? that's cool, it's a non messy food, that looks pretty and natural in your tank! So it is okay to house fish with axolotls if you plan to feed them to it? Can you put snails in there without worry?

 

[ianclick]

Hi Micheal,

Have a look at www.axolotl.org at the mixing species disasters page.

Its ok to mix some species but as you will see there are heaps of times where it isn't

 

[Kerry1968]

Michael,
I just wanted to say, I don't have the guppies in with my axolotls they're in a separate tank to breed and for the babies to grow. I will just add the babies into the tank when they're bigger a couple at a time for a 'treat' for my axies, just wanted to clarify that! Kerry.

 

[gr33neyes]

Kerry have you separated the baby guppies from their parents as the parents will eat them.
You should be able to tell quite easily if your female guppies are pregnant as they develop a blackish spot on their bellies ( a gravid spot).

 

[Kerry1968]

I haven't got a spare tank at the moment so all the guppies are in together! The parents haven't eaten them yet, I tried to suspend a net from the top of the tank but the holes were too big and the babies were escaping! Anyway, this is just the first batch so if any survive it'll be a bonus! They kind of took me by surprise as I didn't think the female was pregnant! So for the next batch I'll hopefully be a bit more organised, if this lot don't make it! Thanks for the information Becky, from Kerry.

 

[gr33neyes]

If you have any, java moss is excellent for the babies to hide in, or even some dense floating plants. This will help provide some protection for the babies from being eaten by their parents. Do you have the right food for the babies. You will need fry food. If you get stuck you can also give them cooked dried egg yolk.

 

[Urgh]

One of my girls dropped 14, of which 13 are still living(I was cleaning the tank, the baby got into the breeder box I was holding the mums in.... Alice decided babies were good food...). Some will become Duchess food. My bubs are almost 2 weeks old, and already starting to get colour, and grow big.... they're about this big now |____|
Might not seem huge, but for 2 weeks, they're huuuuuge!!! And fat, my god, they're fat!!!
As far as feeding them to Duchess, I'm going to wait untill they're about double the size they are at the moment, then put one in, and see how Duchess goes. If she catches it, great, she gets a treat every so often(as if she needs it), if not, and the guppy gets nippy, it gets thrown into my community tank. If it doesn't get nippy, and Duchess is happy to have a tank mate, great. But I doubt it will go that way!!

 

[Kerry1968]

Becky, thanks again for your advice.
I have a type of artificial fern in the tank that the babies hide in occasionally, they seem to want to take their chances in the open water most the time though!
I read up about breeding guppies online and saw that you can use crushed tropical fish flakes for them, so that's what I've been doing. I also read about the egg yolk, so I might try that, if they look like they're not thriving on the flakes. I still have about 17 babies (one accidently got thrown out when I changed the gravel for sand!) So I'm not losing many to the parents!
I think I have another pregnant female now, they say 'safety in numbers' don't they? Thanks, Kerry.

 

[Bellabelloo]

I put a layer of marbles on the bottom of the tank and the fry happily hide amongst them , some do get eaten by the parents. I find despite that I still have plenty grow up to be fed to the axolotl.