welcome to the world of feeder guppy breeding. first things first, i agree with claw, i think his name is, make sure feeders are bagged seperately. second, the tank that you have must be enormous and be filtered by some sort of trickle filter, sump, etc to have maximum filtration possible. picture your setup for 50 feeders as raising 2 silver aros for life. what would you use? why do i say this you ask?!
feeders (rosy reds) are small, ranging from 1-1.5 inches and are extremely active. because of the intense activity level there is a great amount of waste produced. the usual reason that feeders have difficulty with spawning in great numbers is that the fry aren't capable of surviving the high ammonia, nitrite, and nitrate levels at birth (a few key in freshwater tanks that is commonly overlooked) next, once the tank is cycled and has sufficient biological filtration for 50 breeders, start with 20-25! NOT 50!
ideal set up for 20-25 feeder guppy breeding program
first things first, because feeders are so highly inbred, you must get feeders from various sources! this may not seem important, but it is, because if you continue to breed livestock from one source, you will further increase the screwed up inbred bloodline. instead grab 5 feeders from DEFINITE DIFFERENT SOURCES--meaning check with what company is shipping out the stores feeders.
next combine breeders, i recommend in the same tank/bag/container and divide them at random into smaller groups.
and ideal tank for 20-25 feeders would be a 55g planted tank with a good deal of tough plants on the bottom. let them do their thing. healthy feeder females will give spawns up to ~50 fry each and it is important that once couples pair off and spawn, each group of fry should be immediately removed from the aquarium and put into a separate container, 10 gallons will be suitable until the reach the .5 inch mark. this cycle can be repeated and you should use 2nd generation fry as feeders when they reach adequate size for feedings.
for more details, email me with questions. i've done this numerous times and is not difficult as long as you have sufficient space
side notes**
*feeder fish from teh store should not be used as feeders because they usually are malnourished so they hold no nutritional value for fish. they can also carry parasites, which can be treated with time in the home aquarium and are not transmitted to the fry. treat with medicines for internal and external parasites to avoid this.
*the responsibility of breeding feeders is very space consuming, but barely time consuming, you just have to pay attention when the time is right
*you can make your fry super healthy and super fat and make them adequate feeders. spawning the groups will eventually lead to inbreeding again, but by then you will usually get bored and stop breeding them
good luck with your ventures!
feeders (rosy reds) are small, ranging from 1-1.5 inches and are extremely active. because of the intense activity level there is a great amount of waste produced. the usual reason that feeders have difficulty with spawning in great numbers is that the fry aren't capable of surviving the high ammonia, nitrite, and nitrate levels at birth (a few key in freshwater tanks that is commonly overlooked) next, once the tank is cycled and has sufficient biological filtration for 50 breeders, start with 20-25! NOT 50!
ideal set up for 20-25 feeder guppy breeding program
first things first, because feeders are so highly inbred, you must get feeders from various sources! this may not seem important, but it is, because if you continue to breed livestock from one source, you will further increase the screwed up inbred bloodline. instead grab 5 feeders from DEFINITE DIFFERENT SOURCES--meaning check with what company is shipping out the stores feeders.
next combine breeders, i recommend in the same tank/bag/container and divide them at random into smaller groups.
and ideal tank for 20-25 feeders would be a 55g planted tank with a good deal of tough plants on the bottom. let them do their thing. healthy feeder females will give spawns up to ~50 fry each and it is important that once couples pair off and spawn, each group of fry should be immediately removed from the aquarium and put into a separate container, 10 gallons will be suitable until the reach the .5 inch mark. this cycle can be repeated and you should use 2nd generation fry as feeders when they reach adequate size for feedings.
for more details, email me with questions. i've done this numerous times and is not difficult as long as you have sufficient space
side notes**
*feeder fish from teh store should not be used as feeders because they usually are malnourished so they hold no nutritional value for fish. they can also carry parasites, which can be treated with time in the home aquarium and are not transmitted to the fry. treat with medicines for internal and external parasites to avoid this.
*the responsibility of breeding feeders is very space consuming, but barely time consuming, you just have to pay attention when the time is right
*you can make your fry super healthy and super fat and make them adequate feeders. spawning the groups will eventually lead to inbreeding again, but by then you will usually get bored and stop breeding them
good luck with your ventures!
