Hi everyone, I’m very new to fishkeeping and I could really use some guidance.
I set up my tank about 12 days ago, and yesterday I added my first fish (guppies). Today I noticed baby guppies in the tank — at first I saw two, then later I saw two more, so at least four fry so far.
I’m in a bit of a confusing situation and have a few questions:
• How long do guppies usually give birth?
I’m not sure if the mother is still giving birth, if she already stopped, or if I should expect more babies.
• I honestly can’t tell which guppy is the mother.
Is there a way to identify her after she’s already given birth?
• What should I do right now to keep the baby guppies alive?
They’re currently in the main tank with the adults.
• Since the tank is still pretty new and I wasn’t planning for fry, is there anything specific I should watch out for (feeding, water changes, filtration, etc.)?
I wasn’t expecting this at all — I literally got the fish yesterday and woke up to babies today — so any beginner-friendly advice would really help. Thanks in advance
Posted by Big_Neighborhood9713
7 Comments
They will need some ground up food to eat….and to hide from the other guppies as guppies can eat their young- also if possible, turn down filtration -seems a bit strong for them
You’re going to want to invest in a bigger tank. They are going to multiply
Congratulations on your millionfish, you’ll probably have a bunch of babies every 2-3 weeks now 😩🤣
Welcome to guppies, they never stop breeding. The females are livebearers so unlike fish that drop their eggs they have live birth and they will often because the females can hold sperm and the males are constantly .. you know. They’ll chase the females often, nearly constantly so it’s important to have a balance of them. At first I was SO cautious to raise the fry but after a certain point I just stopped caring about going above and beyond. Finely crush up some food for them because they have teeny mouths and they’ll hide amongst the plants or near the surface. Make sure any filter intakes have a prefilter sponge if the holes are bigger than them and you’ll be golden.
The females are the ones swimming with the fuller bellies and black gravid spot near their “butt” which means they are pregnant.
• What should I do right now to keep the baby guppies alive?
So it depends on whether you want to raise all of them. I have had guppies give birth, first few times I separated the babies into its own tank and about 30 (out of possibly 50 to 100?) survived into adulthood.
The last few times I didn’t bother separating them and only 4 or 6 ended up living into adulthood. Fish will generally eat anything that fits into its mouth, and that includes babies.
If you don’t want your tank to be overcrowded soon you’re gonna have to remove all the females
I tried guppies and after about ten litters of fry moved all the males into a different tank. They’re adorable fish but I can’t deal with taking a bucket full to the store every few weeks. 🙁