guppies showing

14 posts • Page 1 of 2

Discuss all topics related to freshwater and planted tanks.


kelbri
 
Posts: 118
Joined: Tue Dec 02, 2008 9:24 pm

guppies showing

by kelbri

Well, we set up our 5 gallon in my sons room, with a couple guppies in it. 2 males and 2 females. Long story short, we lost one of the males to bullying, got another, and that one then bullied the original one to death. So we decided to let him alone with the two females. Now, a couple days later, we're seeing that one of the females is definitly prego, and the second one is starting to show a bit too.

We were hoping for some babies, and my wife wanted to do guppies. We're not going to do anything special though, just let nature take it's course. If they survive, they survive. We're not taking the adults out of the tank. Hopefully everyone doesn't think we're cruel this way, but we don't need a population boom in our guppies. The ones that do survive, I think we're gonna give to one of the local shops (if they want them).

We are pretty excited, as we have never been fish parents before. We really want to set up our 29 g as a cichlid tank and try breeding some of those. My wife didn't know that some of them are mouth brooders, so she's excited to see how that works.


Burgerking7679
 
Posts: 112
Joined: Thu Nov 20, 2008 10:53 pm

by Burgerking7679

Guppies are best kept 1 m to 2f anyways. If you would like a few babies to survive put a sponge over the filter intake(cut a hole and slide it over, easy peasy) and they wont get sucked up, but will still be at risk of getting eaten. But guppies are like bunnies, they dont stop!!!!!

I wish I uploaded my pics onto photobucket, my comp got a virus and everything got cleared off, including the pics I had of pregnant mommas, I had a few nice ones.


adehaan86
 
Posts: 140
Joined: Thu Dec 11, 2008 2:38 am

by adehaan86

Another thing you can do is go to a petstore and they have a breeding holding thing that hangs over the side of the tank. It allows the female to get away from other other fish and it has a small section then the fry(babies) can even get away from momma. Just make sure not to put her in there too early.


jweb
 
Posts: 318
Joined: Wed Feb 04, 2009 6:45 am

by jweb

yea the contraption adehaan86 is talking about hangs on the side of the tank and has slits in the bottom for the babies to drop down into, then the mother cant get to them. they are like $5-10.

Cichlids are a little harder to breed, at least in my opinion. They also take a while to get large. You have to make sure you have a large enough tank. I have a 29 gallon with 3 yellow labs and 3 kenyi's. 1 male of each. They seem to do okay, but are still a bit young for breeding I think. I have had them for about 6 months. I think they take years to reach full size though.


Burgerking7679
 
Posts: 112
Joined: Thu Nov 20, 2008 10:53 pm

by Burgerking7679

The problem I have with the breeding boxes that hang on the tank is IME, not very many babies make it out in comparison to leaving them in the tank with full grown fish.

And Jweb, your 29g wont be big enough for long, Kenyi's get to be +6", plus the color similarities between yellow labs and male kenyi's are really similar which will lead to increased aggression. Once they reach 1.5-2" they should start breeding, assuming the M/F ratios are in fact correct.


kelbri
 
Posts: 118
Joined: Tue Dec 02, 2008 9:24 pm

by kelbri

Yeah, we have one of those breeding traps, but have decided to go au natural for this first batch. Seeing as they are in the 5 gallon, we don't want/need a huge population boom at the moment. I'm gonna call around to the different stores in town to see if anybody will even take guppies, or if they have a steady enough stream. Thanks everyone. I will try and get some pics of the mom who is definitly prego soon.


jweb
 
Posts: 318
Joined: Wed Feb 04, 2009 6:45 am

by jweb

Burgerking, They are pretty aggressive towards eachother, but they are handling it okay for now. The female kenyi is the largest and most aggressive in the tank. She is about 3-4". my labs are maybe 3".


Burgerking7679
 
Posts: 112
Joined: Thu Nov 20, 2008 10:53 pm

by Burgerking7679

Kelbri; most LFSs will accept community fish. You also could give them to friends that are thinking about getting into the hobby.

J web; in your picture I only see three female kenyis, males would have transitioned by now and turned yellow. Unless that is a really old photo, you have 3 females.


jweb
 
Posts: 318
Joined: Wed Feb 04, 2009 6:45 am

by jweb

well, here is how it is...

There is one kenyi that i suspect is a male, because he is not a blueish color, he is pinkish/yellowish. He has stripes that look like tiger stripes and they fade in and out, im guessing when he wants to be dominant or aggressive? The other two kenyi's I have I am 90% sure they are female. I also have 3 labs in there 1 I know is a male.

Originally there was 3 females to each male, but the smallest of each got killed in battle...


Burgerking7679
 
Posts: 112
Joined: Thu Nov 20, 2008 10:53 pm

by Burgerking7679

Sorry to steal the thread there kelbri, but it looks like you know what you want to do now.

The pinkish/yellow one would probably be the male, but why he hasnt colored up fully yet is beyond me, I had kenyi's 1.5" long change color. If the male yellow lab is more dominant than the kenyi that could be the reason the kenyi isnt more colorful. Also, I've seen(and kept) females that have taken on male coloration. It's more common among Mel. Auratus to have a female show male coloration but it does happed with all sorts of mbuna.

Kenyi are a beautiful fish that arent given a chance by enough hobbyists because of their aggression, but it'll be worth it for you once they reach full size.

guppies showing

14 posts • Page 1 of 2

12
Display posts from previous: Sort by: