Question: Guppy fry in an axolotl tank?

[ted22]

Hello all, Juts a quick one! I have 5 pregnant guppies (could burst at any moment!) and 1 male in my old 60ltr and as Im aware that guppies will eat their fry I will need to separate them when they are born. My question is would it be an idea to move the fry into my axie tank to grow up abit? Im pretty certain gomez wont be bothered by something as small as a guppy fry (doubt he'll try eating anything that small!) and have lots of hiding places for em! its just to keep them away from theyre parents for the first couple of weeks and i feel theyre survival rate would be higher with gomez. Also in the axie tank I have 5 mountian minnows (that gomez is yet to catch), Im guessing if they dont eat theyre own fry they shouldnt go after guppy fry?

I realise that feeding guppy fry can be messy but im quite good at containing messy things in the tank so shouldnt be a problem, If someone could let me know if this is a good idea, plausible or not recommended please let me know otherwise im guessing my only option is a breeding net. Just wanted to do it abit more natural for them as cant imagine a baby guppy would be too happy spending the first few weeks of its life in a net, what do ya think guys????!

>ed<

 

[Mac Myers]

Mine would eat the fry unless they were very smart fry. My Wild GFP has become especially adept at positioning himself in the Java Moss near the glass (often where animals encounter the corner tank glass). He will remain motionless. Then he snaps at anything that moves or swims by. Some (13 out of 38) of the Shrimp are too smart and too fast. Guppies, due to their schooling behavior have no chance. He'd snap at em' and he'd get them.

 

[callina]

I only can tell you what I would do, but my axies are very good hunter and they love guppy babies for a meal.

I for myself would leave the babies in the tank with their parents as long as there are many, many, many hiding places like plants, logs, rocks etc. in the tank. My personal experiences are that only a few babies will be eaten, the most will survive.

Or, if there aren´t enough hiding places in the tank, I would put them into the breeding net, for some days.

Do you have a big box/container in which you can keep the babies in? This would be a third option.

 

[ted22]

So from what you guys are saying im better off just leaving them in the parents tank for more success, fair enough! just wanting a few survivors from each batch of fry as only using them as occasional treats for gomez just need enough to keep the population ticking over. I wouldnt have thought a guppy fry would be of any interest to a big-ish axolotl he just doesnt seem intrested in anything smaller than a large woodlouse (or roly poly, whatever you americans call em?!) he doesnt go for bloodworm anymore my guess was theyre too small to bother with, he may just have gone off em i guess?

Ive found a funky looking fully integrated bubbles, light and filter 2 hexagonal acrylic tanks joined by a tube style aquarium looks to me around 10-15gal was £90 down to £50 in my local shop just thought with the 2 joined tank setup would be easy to separate fry from the mothers and theyd have plenty of space compared to a breeding net could even be good to separate males from females if things got abit out of control!

cant find a pic but its a cheaper version of this type of thing

anyone think it may be a waste of time?

Do you think its worth getting it or do you think the small scale breeding in my 60ltr (providing all the fry dont get eaten) will be adequate?

Just thinking ......... my other tank can then be used to breed shrimpy's........ no Ed you're getting carried away! Gotta stop spoiling this bloody axolotl! haha!


(edit) bloody hell diddnt realise that pic was so big, sorry!

 

[Mac Myers]

I think you have to use one of those hatchery nets or the fry will get munched up.