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Guppy Birthing day, my first save!

5K views 12 replies 9 participants last post by  MonsiuerPercy1 
#1 ·
Well, today 4 of my female guppies, decided to give birth. I was woken up by children yelling, Daddy there's babies....So I jump out of bed, run downstairs and sure enough there's babies coming out. Then I notice the momma eating them upon arrival, so much for snuggling. I mean they didn't even have a chance to get on her nerves yet. I think 2 of them missed the parenting classes, where you are supposed to give your little ones a chance first and then tell them " I brought you into this world I'll take you out". Nope no lectures here. So now my kids are yelling daddy catch, them you can do it. So I grab my little net and the breeder box, and off to save the fry I go....or so I thought. I soon find myself chasing little fry around the tank, and almost every time they swim back towards momma and in one swell gulp they were gone. The kids now think that it's the same fry that's coming out the back, and going in the front like it's a fry through guppy. This lasts for about a half hour of me chasing the fry around and the kids yelling daddy there's that baby again. Well now momma number 2 and 3 decided to do the same thing. So the first fry comes out and here's daddy to the rescue, only this time the fry was coming out of one momma and going into the other and vice versa. (the kids still think it's the same one fry).
So I thought I'll just put momma 2 in the the breeder tank and let her have her fry there. This turned out to be a buffet for her. give birth eat...repeat. Well now the kids realize that each momma is giving birth but they fry keep swimming through them. Then my wife comes in and and now there are 4 faces pressed up to the tank looking for fry, I take momma 2 out of the breeder tank and put her back in near the vegetation. Momma 2 and 3 and are done with their snack, Daddy saves 0. Then my wife sees momma # 4 at the end of the spray bar, behind a plant. My last attempt to save a fry, it's an intense stand off between momma and my net, I don't know how many she had already but the kids see a fry swim into her mouth, and they say daddy just wait it's gonna come back out get ready, My wife at this point realizes what the kids are thinking and now stares at me, ( because I haven't told them otherwise I'm assuming) Well we wait, and watch then it happens, the momma moves out just in front of the spray bar and sure enough the fry swims out, gets caught in the turbulence of the spray bar and into my waiting net. My cheer squad goes crazy, and I place the fry safely into the breeder box. So out of I don't know how many fry, I saved 1 ( I don't normally name fish, I call this fry, Houdini).
I'm sorry for the long post, but i'm sure some of you have had the same or even better attempt at saving fry, I thought you would enjoy my story. No I still haven't told the kids (they think he's the only fry that was born today he just kept swimming through each fish). Houdini is doing fine, my wife is still laughing at me.
 
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#2 ·
Haha, such a cute story. I have had a bit more luck with past Mollies, saving 20+ fry at a time. I feed them to my other fish a lot of the time, though. Houdini is such a cute name. I hope he grows to be beautiful. I'll be buying guppies soon. I'd like to see pictures of mama's 1-4 and daddy as well as little Houdini. :)
 
#4 · (Edited)
Great story thanks for posting it. I do not use breeder boxes anymore. They stress the momma out. I put alot of plants in the tank plastic and real. at all levels of the tank. It's also good to put little cave hide outs or place rocks on top of each other to make like a cave. This way the babies can hide. This setup is good if you want the surviving babies to live in the tank with the other fish.When I notice alot of babies I take out the moms or other fish and net all the babies that I would like to save. I move them into a smaller tank. 2.5 gal. works nice or a 3 gal. with filter and heater. I have them in their til they are big enough not to be eatten. I feed the babies crushed flake food ground into a powder. I put a toothpick in the container of food. Dip one end into the water and into the powdered food then into the tank to feed the babies. With baby fish you will need to do partial water changes a few times a week. I feed mine twice a day. Depending on how many females you have you will have hundreds of babies. It's fun to save some of them to watch them grow and develop color in 6-9 weeks. Good luck!
 
#5 ·
Glad it made you smile! There are some pictures under my aquarium and my profile of some parents, I will get one during feeding when they are more grouped together. I'll post one of Houdini in the morning, when I get home from work.
 
#9 ·
Your story really cracked me up. Made me smile. It's always exciting when your fish have babies.

I now leave my fry in with the parents. At first I bought a breeder box but I found that it stressed out the momma and sometimes she would stop giving birth. So then, instead of putting the momma in there to give birth I tried catching the babies and putting them in the breeder box for a couple weeks until they were larger. But I found that the ones who were in the breeder box grew slower and seemed weaker than the ones that got left in the main tank. So I just loaded up the tank with lots of plants including short bushy ones and floating ones for the fry to hide in. I also feed my guppies twice a day (my other tanks only get fed once a day). I think if you keep the parents well fed they are less likely to eat their fry. Also, if you have multiple females like I do you will eventually have fry coming out of your ears. I remember the first month after I got my guppies waiting and waiting for that first batch to arrive only to my horror to see them get eaten. One or two did survive. Right now I have 15-20 or so at various ages swimming around. I do have to thin them out occasionally. I give some away and others go into my other tanks for a snack for my larger fish.
 
#13 ·
Very nice. Congragulations on saving that little one. Make sure to check the gravel of the tank very well, as the fry will hide in it or just above it for weeks. That is just what I have noticed so I thought I would pass that along...
 
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