I might want to put a male and female guppy in a 20, hoping the female gets pregnant. I will put her in a breeding box when she is close to giving birth. Could I then feed them to my juvenile JD.
Could I feed my JD guppy fry?
- Thread starter Chaseg03
- Start date
Yes it would be so much better than any store brought feeders raising your own means you know the health of the feeders.
I raise my own for my cichlids. The 20 is the perfect size for the guppies, mine are in a 20 long and are doing great. I wouldn't get a breeder box, it can stress the females too much and can give them problems while dropping the fry. Just get a simple air pump powered sponge filter, that way the fry can't get sucked in. I'm running one and my regular filter is also in there with a net over the intakes.
Also, to produce enough guppy fry you should get 1 male per 2 or 3 females. This will reduce aggression from the males as well, they can stress a female from too much mating. I have about 30 in mine, waiting for the second generation to start pumping out babies too before I start feeding the cichlids again. Also, most likely the females will be pregnant at the store so you may get a ton of fry quickly. They drop a bunch every month, and in order to get them to be a good size for your JD I would wait at least 2 months for the fry to get big enough. Feed them 3-5 times per day with a good diet high in protein and veggie matter and they will grow fast and be super healthy compared to the feeders at the fish store. Live plants will also be a great addition to the tank. Get floaters like hornwort and anacharis, they will protect the fry, I've seen guppies occasionally eat their own babies.
Remember the guppies should only be a treat maybe once a week, your JD will still need a regular diet.
Also, to produce enough guppy fry you should get 1 male per 2 or 3 females. This will reduce aggression from the males as well, they can stress a female from too much mating. I have about 30 in mine, waiting for the second generation to start pumping out babies too before I start feeding the cichlids again. Also, most likely the females will be pregnant at the store so you may get a ton of fry quickly. They drop a bunch every month, and in order to get them to be a good size for your JD I would wait at least 2 months for the fry to get big enough. Feed them 3-5 times per day with a good diet high in protein and veggie matter and they will grow fast and be super healthy compared to the feeders at the fish store. Live plants will also be a great addition to the tank. Get floaters like hornwort and anacharis, they will protect the fry, I've seen guppies occasionally eat their own babies.
Remember the guppies should only be a treat maybe once a week, your JD will still need a regular diet.
Yes, and I believe that JD's are found in Mexico alongside swordtails and other live bearers - so you would be re-creating their natural diet a little bit. But as said above - you should have a quality pellet food as a staple and give the feeders as a treat. Even in the wild I doubt a JD's diet is 100% fish. They probably eat insects, snails, worms - whatever they can catch...
If you like feeding fish to fish- if that's your thing go for it I guess. You won't produce enough fry in a 20 to produce anything but a VERY quick snack. I grow mine in a pond during the spring and summer and it's still a drop in the bucket. My adult JD could make a swarm of 100's of fry disappear overnight. She can eat probably 6 adults in an hour if I let her and kill the rest before they can breed. I have attempted to breed live bearers to feed to my fish and very quickly decided it was a waste of time. Perhaps in a 90 gallon or more you might be able to pull it off with swordtails or mollies but in a smaller space they will not out breed your fishes appetites.
If u want a bunch of snacks a egg laying fish will produce more fry
In nature live bearer fry seem to be a normal part of a JDs diet, and it helps control the population of the live bearers, and weed out the weak. But I have watched them miss normally 9 out of ten times, that probably wouldn't happen in a tank.
Video of JDs in nature below.
Eden2 - YouTube
Video of JDs in nature below.
Eden2 - YouTube
True story. My cichlids have domesticated the corydoras actually.
They eat omlettes almost every weekend it seems. The cories follow them around and lay eggs on the glass in front of them.