Questions on guppy breeding

[weegotfish]

I know breeding guppies is extremely easy, but I'm having some trouble and would really appreciate some help.

I have a 10 gallon tank with live plants. Two male guppies, two female. I also have a snail and a fiddler crab, and everyone gets along. My water levels are great and the fish seem to be doing really well.

Over the past 5 months that I've had this particular setup, I've only seen 2 fry total. One of them escaped the breeding tank, but the other one is doing fine. The females were both noticeable pregnant when I bought them, and they always seem to have a very dark (practically black) gravid spot, so I would assume there would be more fry. I've tried putting one of the females in a breeder tank, but she gets really stressed and stops eating. I assume she also aborts her fry.

What would you guys recommend I do? I don't want to stress out the female by placing her in a different tank, but I want my fry to be protected overnight. Is it more likely that the fry are being eaten, or that the female just isn't dropping any? I would appreciate any advice. Thank you!

 

[DojosWithMojo]

I would suggest more females. A good rule of thumb is 2-4 females for every male.

 

[oscarfishguy]

I know breeding guppies is extremely easy, but I'm having some trouble and would really appreciate some help.

I have a 10 gallon tank with live plants. Two male guppies, two female. I also have a snail and a fiddler crab, and everyone gets along. My water levels are great and the fish seem to be doing really well.

Over the past 5 months that I've had this particular setup, I've only seen 2 fry total. One of them escaped the breeding tank, but the other one is doing fine. The females were both noticeable pregnant when I bought them, and they always seem to have a very dark (practically black) gravid spot, so I would assume there would be more fry. I've tried putting one of the females in a breeder tank, but she gets really stressed and stops eating. I assume she also aborts her fry.

What would you guys recommend I do? I don't want to stress out the female by placing her in a different tank, but I want my fry to be protected overnight. Is it more likely that the fry are being eaten, or that the female just isn't dropping any? I would appreciate any advice. Thank you!

You are in good shape if you've already seen the fry. Unfortunately the fry are most likely being eaten. If the breeder nets aren't working, try putting plants in the tank. It gives the fry a chance to hide until they are large enough to escape being a quick meal. Good luck!

 

[weegotfish]

Thanks for the advice! Would you recommend moving the female to another tank until I see some fry? Or will the female still manage to eat all of her fry over night?

 

[oscarfishguy]

Thanks for the advice! Would you recommend moving the female to another tank until I see some fry? Or will the female still manage to eat all of her fry over night?

Yes, if you have another tank that will work. You should still use plants though because she might eat them as well. If you don't like the live plant idea you can use fake plants and/or rocks that provide shelter as well.

 

[swervo513]

wont the crab eat the fry?

 

[weegotfish]

wont the crab eat the fry?

He mostly sits on a basking log above the water. He may eat them I guess, but he's usually too busy doing his mating dance to notice what's going on in the water, haha.

 

[knifegill]

I have had good luck with moving females, but wait until she squares up and starts to hide as that's when she'll be too close to dropping the fry to consider reabsorbing them in response to the stress of the move.

A large water change will also trigger fry dropping if you think she's been holding too long.

Also, depending on what kind of snail you have and how attached to the plants you are, you might take your water to slight brackish (1.002-1.004-ish) as my guppies and mollies never did better than when I reared them in that salinity and higher hardness. They will get bigger and have better color as well. Fiddlers are brackish crabs anyway, it's just the plants and snail you'll have to do the reading on.

As for the mechanics of fry survival, java moss hits it on the nose. The more java moss, the more fry. But if you really want numbers, have mama drop in a different tank and then move her back.