How Small Of A Container Can I use To Raise Guppy Fry?

By Enrique Patiño

That is a good question! After we published a couple articles about the use of plants in the guppy aquarium in past issues, I started to use that method to raise the fry and adult guppies which I did not want to introduce in my recirculating system for various reasons. So I built a table, hung a lamp and place a bunch of containers underneath to catch my overflow of guppy fry.

 

Very quickly I ended up with a whole bunch of containers. Problem is that these I have to tend to individually, changing water by hand; pain in the rear!

Most of these containers have a couple of pairs, a drop of fry, or even a breeding group of 6 adult females and 2 males (Pinks from Europe), with about 30 2-week-old fry. It takes about 3-4 weeks for a container to "settle" in this setup. I do siphon (or simply slush and pour water and residues out) frequently, often making 99% water changes, but I do not scrub the bottom or walls of containers.

 

One day I picked up about 12 fry from a cross I wanted to keep F1's from. I had just finished a glass of iced tea and did not have any other container than the glass I was drinking from. What the heck I said. I'll just put them here, stick a piece of elodea and call it good.

 

So time went on... I fed them as I would feed other fry. I just cleaned the container by swirling the liquid to suspend solids and pouring water out. I started with 12 fry. Two died and I accidentally poured two out when doing water changes. I tried to keep the bottom as clean as possible, but uneaten food at this stage get covered up with algae rather quickly and seem to cause little problem. Now, sometime I only change water every other day. Temperature is about 23 Celsius.

This is a 3-week-old fry between two full-red strains. So, when it come right down to it, you do not need a lot of space to raise a few fry, but this week I should move this fish to a little larger container..So, I was only buying time. The fry at this age seem normal in size.