Guppies Escaping ??

[mike83]

Hi

Ive started to use my old 2ft tank to breed guppies. Only problem I have so far is that the baby guppies get out of the breeder trap, you know the plastic tray you put the pregnant guppies in and they fall threw and are supposed to stay at the bottom?

I have noticed that they can get up to where the female guppy is and even get out all together. I brought the Aqua One breeder trap. Has any one had the same problem with the Baby guppies escaping?

At the moment I don't have any female guppies in my tank only two males and four baby guppies, two which have escaped and are swimming around in the tank. I'm not sure if the male guppies will eat them so far they haven't tried to. I got the babies from a friend who has guppies, I don't want to get any female ones until I have figured out how to get them to stay inside that breeder trap otherwise the fry will just get eaten.

Hope some one can help me solve this problem.

 

[IgotFrogs]

Hiya,
Yes i used to have the same problem with baby guppies and the breed traps ..... the only way i foound i could get around it was get some Nylon stocking and stick over the Holes on the INSIDE of the breed trap....because if you put it over the outside they tend to still work their way out the holes then get squished against the side of the trap .... so sticking Nylon on the inside i think would be the way to go ,,,, hope this helps ..... Kell

 

[mysnakesau]

I use to love breeding guppies. Except I didn't bother with the traps. I planted long, bushy plants so the babies could hide from the parents and made some little hidie holes - plastic cups upside down with holes just big enough for babies to get in but too small for the parents. A few may have got eaten but I was never short of them.

 

[mike83]

Hi

What was the best way to stick it inside the breeder trap ?? Did you just like stick it the bottom part sorry to sound stupid just trying to work out the best way to do it

 

[Poggle]

i found the best way to breed them was to just plant heaps of bushy weeds in tank and you will find the mother guppies will automatically go to weed to have bubs.. i had heaps like this

 

[mike83]

Thanks for all the tips guys if any one else has tips on breeding please do post on this thread I think I will have to get lots of bushy plants and put them in.

Also how long does it take for the fry to get bigger ?

 

[Poggle]

lol not ver y long...... watch them grow

How many bubs did she have?

 

[mike83]

Right now i don't have any female ones ill need to get lots of bushy plants and stuff .

I just have 2 males and 4 fry but I do want to breed them and get a good amount going so I can take them out on a regular basis and put them in with my turtles so if they get eaten I can just add more

 

[kupper]

Fry generally get big enough for te parents not to eat them at day three

Plenty of hiding spots or a seperate tank for mum

 

[cris]

The best way to get maximum survival is by putting the female/s in a net enclosure with large enough netting so the babies can get out have this in a tank or bucket with no adult fish. When they have given birth you can return the adult and you are left with a heap of babies already in a seperate raising tank. If you want more colourful ones this is better than just letting them hide in plants etc. as the more colourful ones seem to get eaten before those that camoflague better.

 

[mike83]

So basically best thing is a net enclosure how big are they and how much do they cost ?? I'm using a 2ft tank atm for the guppies any idea pest place maybe online to purchase a net enclosure ?

Thanks for all the advice as well guys.

 

[kupper]

about 12.50 from the aquarium

 

[Kitah]

I was breeding guppies at one stage I just had heaps and heaps of plants for the bubs to hide in, never used a breeding trap. I also made sure I had floating plants, and even floated some of the plastic "bio balls" on the top; the bubs like swimming and hiding amongst the plastic gaps etc in these.

 

[mike83]

Yeah i think over the weekend ill purchase some bushy plants and maybe some floating ones I'm not really bothered if the 2ft tank has all plants inside it i guess I'm really only using it to breed guppies and its in the spare room.

Mite still try using the breeding trap but I guess if they get out and i have allot of plants it mite not matter as long as they can hide

 

[snakelady-viper]

Dont waste your money on the mesh breeding trap as the fry just swim out ans are forever putting them back
Just get lots of plants for them to hide in

 

[mike83]

Yeah they are getting out of the plastic breeder trap as well I guess it mite be the same.

Once i get allot of plants ill have to get more guppies I only have 2 males 4 fry right now would purchasing maybe 15 or 20 females and say maybe 6 more males be all id ever need in adult guppies to keep a good supply of guppies ? Or is that to many females for the size of my tank

My saw shell catches them pretty easy well not as easy now that hes in a 4ft tank and they hide and swim threw the rocks and the ship to get away from him.

 

[Kitah]

I started off with just 10males and 10 females in my 2ft/40L tank, and boy did they breed quick. You'll find you don't need that many, they breed like mad and the bubs grow up pretty quick. I would have thought having that many females and males = high stocking density on the tank creating more wastes etc.. I'd personally stick with less.

I also forgot to mention; I had the majority of my plants along the left side of the tank, and kept it really dense, and then 3 plants on the other side. And as I mentioned, the floating bio balls were the bubs favourite spot; could ALWAYS find them in/around them, so I would recommend them

 

[mike83]

Cheers xshadowx when I'm in pet barn next which will prob be over the weekend heheh ill get a pack of the plastic bio balls.

The plants they can be the fake plastic ones hey I don't need to get real plants do I ?? So plants that are like long grass is good

Do u still have the set up mate ? If u do and its not to much trouble would love a pic to have a look at how yours was set up.

 

[Kitah]

I actually got my plants from Big W: the taller packet with the three 'types' in. It would have perhaps been better if they were a bit taller, so the bubs could stay sheltered when swimming between the plants and the bioballs. And yes, I just used plastic ones. With the bioballs, see if you can get a type similar to what I had, where the little tiny bubs can fit in/around them when the balls clump together along a side of the tank, like in the pictures. The balls also makes it easier to feed the bubs, cause you can feed the adults on the far side of the tank and sprinkle the food for the bubs above the bioballs. You'll also need to make sure youve got a decent filter on the tank to keep it clean, which I'm sure you'll already have.

Heres some old pics of my old tank, had no problems with producing bubs in this, was never low on guppies! I would recommend getting more plants than this though

one of my old breeder males

I no longer have this setup... well, I've still got the tank (divided it into 3 sections, now home to three happy betta boys/siamese fighters), but just no longer use it for guppies. Initially I used it to breed the guppies for my turtle, but when I brought turt up to townsville it was a bit hard to bring 2 cats, turtle, fridge, turtle tub, 2 fighters and heaps of other stuff up (on a trailer) as well as 30+ guppies!

 

[JAS101]

dont bother with breeding traps as there a waste of $$$ [ iv been there and done that] at one stage i had 8 breeding traps in 2 2ft tanks . [ they are a pain too clean and the babys would getout anyway]
i use bushy plants and that . at last count i had 70 odd guppies and sword tails . when i think its too high i kull them [ put them in the turtle ponds] . and the yabbies in the tanks take a couple everynow and again.