Tropical Fish Keeping banner

Platy/Molly/Guppy fry growing slowly...

31K views 24 replies 12 participants last post by  TexasTanker 
#1 ·
Hey guys,

I'm just wondering, I should know this, but how long does it take livebearer fry to reach their full size? (I thought about 4-5 months) I have some from 2-3 months ago that are only about 1/2 an inch... It just seems like they are not growing much at all. It seem they've been the same size forever...

I have them in my 44g tank. I change the water maybe 30% a week. About 10-15 gallons. (I'd like to do 50% a day as I know this is best for growing fry, but it's just not possible since it takes me about 45 minutes to change 30% already at LEAST)

I feel them once in the morning, and once at night.

The tank is bare bottom with a ton of java moss.

Also, it seems a lot have died. I don't find bodies, but the amount I have is reducing as time goes on. Is this normal? Or am I doing something wrong?

I just dunno. I'm just worried their slow (maybe its not slow) growth is going to affect their health negatively. I'm not impatient for them to grow. That's not why I ask.

Thanks!
 
See less See more
#2 ·
my fry are decreasing by the week i had 57 in total from 3 births in january febuary and march but now i have 39 ....but i have had fry in the past reach full size (bout 2inch for males and 2.5inch for female) in about 5-6 months :):):)
 
#4 ·
i have fry now that are around 1/2 inch and there 3 month old
 
#5 ·
You hit on it yourself, you need to be doing massive water changes to force growth, plus many small feedings or a constant in tank supply of food.

Why does it take you so long to do water changes? You need to rethink you methods. Try larger buckets or wider siphons. You can but hose in different sizes by the foot at hardware stores very cheap, get enought to reach a door or wndow and that will save you a step too.
Posted via Mobile Device
 
#6 ·
Hmmmm, good idea herbwin. It takes me so long, because I can't lift even 5 gallon buckets easily. :/ I'm weak lol.

But there is a french door right beside the tank so maybe I can get a longer hose....

Filling it up is sort of time consuming as well. Any ideas how to make that go quicker?



Btw, I don't care to make them grow extremely fast. I just don't want them growing so slow/stunting their growth that it is unhealthy for them.
 
#7 · (Edited)
I am new to this, myself... and mostly have just read online how to care for fry, and it seemed that I should be feeding the fry about 3 times a day, maybe 4. And then everyone was saying the same thing for the fry as we say for the adult fish: to only feed the fry as much as they can consume in 2-3 minutes.

My first experience with fry was just a month ago. There were 23 of them and I fed 4 times a day, just enough for them to eat it all in 3 minutes. I had 2 or 3 fry die each day. Sometimes they were just missing, and sometimes I had to net them out. I also noticed that the majority of them were getting the s-shaped body, and later read that that may happen due to malnutrition... either not a good quality food, or not being fed enough food.

So! This month I had 4 fry from one mom (Mom had them in the main tank, and I only found 4) and 44 fry from another one.

I feed them 5-6 times a day. They are oinkers. And I've seen a big difference in their growth rate already, compared to the last go at it. The 4 that are 2 1/2 weeks old are already very close to 1/2 an inch. And the others aren't far behind.

Also, no s-shape to them whatsoever.

I personally think they need to eat more and more often than what some suggest, but you do have to clean out more often as well.

Maybe you can just siphon up the bottom of the tank daily, to pick up the obvious residue, and see if that makes a difference as well?
 
#9 ·
Maybe I will set up my brine shrimp hatchery again. It's not too hard but can never get enough shrimp.

None of my fish have the s shaped body. Maybe ONE guppy, he has a bend in his body which is odd. I thought maybe that was a fluke since he's the only one out of all my fish with it.

I am going to try to change the water every 3-4 days now. I can't do it daily. Even with siphoning straight outside, to fill up the tank it takes me way too long. I want to be careful and not blow the fish away. It is also a PAIN siphoning cus the baby fish always get in the way and it's hard not to suck them up...

Some babies are from january 31st and they are larger than when they were born, but still small enough I can add new fish and have no problems with them trying to eat them (after 3 months shouldnt they be near full grown!?) :( Been trying to feed them more food, about 3 times a day now. We'll see how it goes, thanks guys.. :)

Is it possible to permanently stunt fry's growth? Or do some just grow very slow?
 
#12 ·
I have netting all over the intake. But I've had this happen in other tanks so I know what you mean.

Also, hopefully I haven't permanently stunted them! Dx I don't want them to become food.... feeding them more I think will solve most of the problem. I think 2 times a day was not enough and I don't think I was feeding enough at a time. The ones I keep in a breeder box in my 29g tank (experimenting if they grow faster or not) and I feed them lots, and they are plump and look to be growing more, so I'm going to try more food. :)
 
#13 ·
There is an item you can get that speeds up water changing, it is a plastic "T" shaped connector that goes on a kitchen sink or faucet. You hook your siphon hose to it, in one position it uses the faucet water pressure to siphon the tank, in the other it fills the tank with water from the faucet. You might find it at petstores, but also at hardware stores or Walmart, it is sold mainly for waterbeds.

As far as sucking up the fry, netting over the end will help. For very small fry you might try cheesecloth. If you don't have a gravel cleanng siphon, attach a cut plastic soda bottle to the end and net that. The wider opening will decrease the intake strength and will be less likely to disturb the fry.

Fish can recover from stunting, but it often takes a long time. Much better to avoid it the first time around :)
Posted via Mobile Device
 
#14 ·
i did that before but the fry got stuck to the netting. Dx and I think it killed a few before. I use a gravel siphon end and it usually works, but more complicated than id like.

How do you treat the water coming out of the faucet like that? :S
 
#15 ·
If there is a large difference between the PH/chemistry of the tap water and desired tank water, this may not be an ideal method. Otherwise, you would just add your dechlor/conditioner as you fill. If there is a large temp diff, fill slowly (but keep an eye on it to avoid overflow).

If the netting over the gravel cleaning siphon still sucks fry, increase the diameter by using soda bottles, keep going larger until you find a size that works for you. You will not be able to clean gravel using this method, that would have to be done seperately.
Posted via Mobile Device
 
#16 ·
sry if this doesnt help but my fry r gonna be 4 months on the 16th of may and the males r 1/2 inch and the female is just slightly bigger
 
#17 · (Edited)
Just thought I'd share my admittedly brief experience, as I've raised about 50 livebearer fry (mollies, platies, and guppies) and have yet to have a death with my current setup.

I have a 26 gallon main tank that is almost exclusively livebearers (aside from some snails and otocinclus) and a 5.5 gallon tank I've set up for the fry. The 5.5 gallon has its own 100GPH HOB filter (with a prefilter sponge on the intake to keep the fry from being sucked up), 6 inch bubble wall, fairly thin layer of sand substrate, some rocks for decoration/shelter and a lot of Anacharis plants left free floating (they started out as a single batch and have grown considerably).

I feed 2 to 3 times per day, usually Hikari First Bites but I supplement that with crushed flake food, crushed freeze dried blood worms, and freeze dried brine shrimp. I've started feeding frozen blood worms recently, and they seem to like that as well. The latter foods seem more important as the fry grow larger, the younger fry generally don't go for it. I heavily overfeed relative to the size/number of fry. There is pretty much always some food in the tank. But I think the amount is still low enough that my filter (which at 100GPH is somewhat overkill for a 5.5 gallon tank) has no trouble cleaning up the ammonia from the excess food.

I change about 40% of the water every 5 days to 1 week. With water changes I use Prime for my water conditioner, add aquarium salt, and add Tetra FloraPride for the plants. I've also used API's StressZyme, but I really don't know how much difference, if any, that has made. My water is fairly alkaline out of the tap, the PH at 8. With my first batch of fry I was worried about the PH being too high and I mixed that with some bottled spring water, but I've since switched entirely to tap water and the fry seem fine either way. My ammonia and nitrite levels are nonexistent and the nitrate seems almost nonexistent too (maybe thanks to the Anacharis), though I don't monitor these regularly as long as everything seems healthy. I also have a single snail in the tank. I'm not sure where he came from, but he helps with the algae. :-D
 
#19 ·
A trick for siphoning out water and not babies.... use the net breeder box. Hang it inside the tank. place the siphon hose in that. It will pull only water out, no debris, but it will keep babies outta the house.
 
#21 ·
how fast do yours grow with that setup?
 
#22 ·
Little Fry Help :)

Advise = when feeding the fry of live bearers such as guppies swordtails and mollies. I have used Hikari fry food with great success. Add algae tabs once every three days and feed them live newly hatch brine shrimp every other day. I've currently got 4 week old red velvet swordtail fry that are close to an inch long.If you seem to be losing fry then purchase a siphon filter, keep your temp around 78 to 80 degrees and limit them to 10 hours of light per day.I allow my fry to stay in thier own planted tank for 2 weeks then transfer to the community tank the ones i want to keep. With proper cover an feeding they will thrive with the big guys I promise. Keep in mind that nature uses natural selection to eliminate the fry that wont make it, so dont be discouraged if you loose a few babies.
 
#23 ·
i have some 3 week old tomorrow velvet wag fry about 3/4 of an inch:)) i've been feeding them crushed up flake food and crushed freeze dried shrimp. they seem t be doind really well and i thought i might share this advice. i havent done any water changes! out of 26 fry none have died in the 3 weeks of life they've had:)
 
This is an older thread, you may not receive a response, and could be reviving an old thread. Please consider creating a new thread.
Top