How to Care for Baby Guppies

from wikiHow - The How to Manual That You Can Edit

Guppies are beautiful friendly freshwater fish that reproduce very easily. Their fry are very easy to take care of if you know what you are doing.

Steps

Survey your tank setup: Guppy fry are an excellent food source for most types of fish (even their parents). Separate fry from adult fish if possible. Placing them in their own separate tank is best, but if you do not have an extra aquarium you'll need to get a mesh "breeding tank". These devices go inside your existing aquarium, and serve as a holding pen for the fry or the adults. If you are going to keep the fry in this container, make sure it is mesh, otherwise they might swim out.

1. Check the Water quality: Guppy fry will grow fast when their water quality is good. To keep it pristine conditions use a test kit and test for ammonia, nitrite, and nitrate. Keep ammonia at 0 ppm., nitrite at 0 ppm., and nitrate at less than 10 ppm. Keep doing weekly water exchanges, but exercise caution not to suck up any fry.
   
2. Be sure you feed them well: Baby guppies need high quality foods to grow and be healthy. When they are first born use fry food or finely crushed flake food. As they get bigger keep using flake food.
   
3. Use a sponge filter or a very low power mechanical filter to keep water clean. Make sure the filter has some kind of protective sponge over the intake to prevent small fry from being sucked in.
   
4. Keep the water temperature at 75-80F. Do not let the water temperature get outside this range.
   
5. Check for illnesses: Diseased fry have a very low chance of surviving. Remove any sick fry immediately. Do not medicate a tank with fry in it, as it is too difficult for a regular fish keeper to use the right dosage.
   
6. Watch them grow: Monitor their growth, and place them back into the main aquarium once they are big enough not to be eaten. Make sure they are all growing fairly uniformly. Once they are all big enough, release them and watch them interact with their expanded world.
   

Tips

• Breeding guppies is fairly easy, though you might want to setup a breeding tank and keep a male and a female in it. Once the female becomes pregnant, remove the male. Once the female gives birth, remove the female.
  
• Fry are not in any way reliant on their parents. In fact, the parents will eat their newborns if given the chance.
  

Warnings

• Don't keep babies with parents or other fish; they will eat them
  
• If using a mechanical filter make sure it is very weak or has something covering the intake so the fry don't get sucked up.
  

Related wikiHows

• How to Keep Guppies Healthy
  
• How to Breed Guppies
  
• How to Know Which Fish to Put Together in a Tank
  

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Learn to Properly Feed Baby Guppy Fish!

Learn to Properly Feed Baby Guppy Fish!

By Johnathan Thomas

Guppies are so prolific that many people buy a pair with the hopes of breeding them for fun or profit. Some beginners, unfortunately, think that because a single female will have anywhere from 30 to 60 babies every four weeks they can just raise the baby guppy fish haphazardly and hope for the best. If the group of fry (newborn fish) dies because of neglect, there is only a short period of time to wait before the next attempt can be made.

This isn't the ideal way to learn how to raise guppies. The overall goal should be to grow healthy adult fish that people might actually want to keep in their home aquariums. If this is not done, then a beginner fish keeper's aquarium can become overrun with poor quality fish - leading to disappointment. There are a few tips about the proper baby guppy diet that can help anyone raise healthy adults!

1 -- Feed a variety of foods. In nature, fish eat whatever they can find that they can digest. This means that they are often eating something they haven't actually ingested recently. This is a clear advantage since no two foods have the identical nutritional value. A variety of foods fed to a baby guppy group will mimic this natural instinct. Some foods to consider are microworms, daphnia, and grindal worms.

2 -- Feed often. The best tip to improve growth of your guppies is to feed them regularly. Feeding up to 6 times per day can ensure that their bellies are almost always full. A full stomach means nutrients and energy are always being taken in and converted to muscle mass and other organs/tissues!

3 -- Choose your foods wisely. Young fish are attracted by foods that move. Their attention is grabbed when flake food floats by. Live foods do this job even better! Fish that are fed live foods have to swim after their meals - developing stronger muscles. Flake foods are still an important aspect of any baby guppy diet though so don't rely solely on live foods!

In case you are interested in other information about fish, John has written a lot of information about such topics. His most recent venture is a website about custom fish tanks. One topic that might be of interest is the custom aquarium which can be perfect for small guppies!

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Johnathan_Thomas

http://EzineArticles.com/?Learn-to-Properly-Feed-Baby-Guppy-Fish!&id=3086624

Keeping and Breeding Guppies

Author: WaterWorks Aquatics

There are not many fish capable of brightening up a drab home aquarium quite as well as the guppy (Poeacilia reticulata) . There exceptional range of colour variations and stunningly long tail extensions have made them the most popular aquarium fish throughout the world.

Guppies are hardy little fish living a good 2-3 years in a well maintained aquarium. They grow no more than 2.3cm in size and are very peaceful towards other fish in the aquarium. Guppies will feed on most good brand flake foods but will benefit from frozen foods being used once or twice a week.Guppies do great in water of ph around 7.5 and fairly hard. Although they will acclimatise well to other conditions. Contrary to popular belief, guppies must be kept in warm tropical water at around 24 degrees c. This is critical to their well being and will encourage the fish to be active, colourful and healthy.Breeding guppies is relatively easy. They are live bearers, meaning they give birth to live young and do not lay eggs. If you are considering keeping guppies you should ideally buy all the same strain, or colour variant, and have at least 2 females to every male. This ensures that the females do not become stressed by over breeding. After mating the females will be pregnant for up to 30 days. Once the young are born you have two choices. They can be born in the aquarium and run the risk of being predated on by other fish, including their parents. Or you can buy a breeding trap that allows you to keep the fry (baby fish) separate from the rest of the tank until they are large enough to look after themselves. Fry should be fed a mixture of powdered flake food and frozen daphnia.

All in all keeping guppies can be extremely rewarding whether you keep them, to breed or just to brighten up those dull winter days.

Article Source: http://www.articlesbase.com/pets-articles/keeping-and-breeding-guppies-3858242.html

About the Author

Aquarium and Pond Supplies

How to Care for a Pregnant Guppy

How to Care for a Pregnant Guppy
by Darran Mansfield

Caring for guppies is usually really easy to do, but when it comes to caring for a pregnant guppy, that is very different. Certain considerations and adjustments need to be made to help her to give birth to healthy guppy fry with minimal stress.

A pregnant guppy can cause a fish keeper a great deal of stress, but it needn't be like that, as it's really not that hard to deal with. Most people think it's all going to go wrong, especially if they are new to it, but the truth is that guppies have been breeding successfully for hundreds of year on their own. Plus, since they are living in a nice clean warm tank with no predators apart from each other, they should be pretty much ok.

With all the above being said about guppies having babies on their own with no problems, that was in reference to wild guppies. However, we very rarely have a chance to buy wild ones anymore and they are all captive bred fish that have kind of had their wild instincts bred right out of them instead of importing them from the wild waters that are their natural homes.

Keeping tank born guppies does have its advantages over the wild ones if you look into it. For one thing, they don't have to endure a terribly stressful journey to the fish shop that will sell them. They are also a lot hardier and can deal with a few mistakes that the new in-experienced keeper may make.
The thing that you will notice with a pregnant guppy is that she doesn't really act any different from any of the other fish that are not even pregnant. She just goes about scouting around for food just like the rest of her tank mates.

The only time when a pregnant guppy will change her behavior is just before she is about to drop her babies, which are born live because guppies are livebearers. You will notice that she will start hiding more and more and it could take you a little detective work to try to find her. The reason a pregnant guppy will start hiding is because she is preparing to give birth to her babies within a day or two. She is hiding to try and help protect the babies and help bring up their survival rate from other fish that may be in the tank that may want to eat them.

Even though she goes to all this trouble in trying to protect her offspring, even she will eat the young herself! One way this can be prevented is to provide plenty of hiding places and make sure the female is well-fed throughout the whole pregnancy.

So, there you have it. A pregnant guppy isn't really that stressful to deal with when you simply take a step back and think about it. Things may be a bit bumpy during the first couple of births, but as time goes by you will get the hang of it and have lots of little guppies swimming around.

Darran has been writing articles online for nearly 3 years now. Not only does he specialize in Bonsai Trees, Portable BBQ's and Cooking but he also has a tremendous passion for Keeping Guppy Fish and raising tons of Poecilia Reticulata for many years. Goarticles.com

Guppy breeding guides

Very few people who are not fascinated by this interesting, and decided to keep and breed high-quality guppies. The Guppy are often found in beginner aquariums and is one of the most popular live bearers . Many Guppy loose interest when they switch to the more delicate species of fish, but Some even started producing guppies Guppy show for competition. Guppies are very far from robust, no-nonsense Guppy sold to beginner with the name "Common Guppy" most fish stores.

Through many generations of selective breeding, the wild Guppies evolved into what we now refer to as "fancy Guppy." Guppies reproduce happily in custody, but if you want to create high-quality strains of guppies you have to devote much time and energy to this project.

This how to make breeding guppies tips.

Preparation

To start with, make sure that you have high-quality fish to start with. If you walk into your local fish store and buy some guppies cheap enough that they offer you a beginner aquarium will most likely end up guppies not so good. Guppies can serve as excellent pets for novice fish keepers, but they are not a good basis for high-quality strains of guppies. Should also be noted that many fish stores sell "Guppy spouse" where the fish come from completely different strains. The best way to get high quality suitable for breeding purposes Guppy is to contact breeders reputation and purchase high-quality specimens from him. This will save much time and effort as you will have the main specimen from the beginning. If you fail to find a good local auction there are several reputable breeders Guppy can be found online that will provide fish by mail order.

Once you find a reputable breeder, buy a young couple. Disability risk increases if you let the old breed Guppies. Guppies old men also have been known to reproduce the problem.

Plan
Before you perform selective breeding, it is important to develop a plan. Many misguided breeding program in the hands of aquarists falter. Set a goal to start with, such as increasing the size and add color. Then decided to breed a number of generations to focus on size, before shifting to focus on color. If you have decided to focus on the size, do not suddenly choose fish, small fish as a parent just because it shows a nice color. If you really can not stand the idea of not proliferating, colorful fish, it is advisable to make a separate spawning aquarium where you can focus on perfecting the color without affecting your first breeding program.

Housing
Crowding can cause stunted growth. Do not store more than 8-12 guppies in a 10 gallon (approx. 40 L) aquarium. Unless you have lots of friends to dismantle the guppies, you will be forced to choose each batch of fish to keep the number below.

Water Quality
Ideally do small water changes once a day, instead of one big weekly. Maintain water quality and at the same time avoiding rapid changes as desired.

Temperature
Standard recommendations for Guppies is 65-68 degrees F (18-20 degrees C), but spawning in the aquarium you must increase the temperature to 74-78 degrees F (23-25 degrees F).

Food
Guppies really young micro worms and can be fed newly hatched shrimp brine. Young will appreciate the brine shrimp are larger and live feed.

You better give several small servings of fish per day from one or two big. If you want your Guppies to grow larger as possible, it is important to feed them a lot during the first few months of their lives because this is when they go through a period of rapid growth.

Choose wisely for every generation of parents
Do not let your Guppies breed randomly. Choose your male and female best and only allows them to breed. Harem breeding is not recommended. Collect the best specimens of batches 1-2, and then move to the next generation.

Guppy Choosing the right Male
Some breeders Guppy automatically allow the first male with a maturity to breed, but this is not recommended. The first male is not likely to be the best one, and it is also true that the first Guppy reach sexual maturity rarely grow as large as males mature more slowly.

Choosing the right Female Guppy
The woman who was not necessarily the best looking women, because you need women who will produce offspring that large - including the big boys. Any Breed your various women for good men the same and increase the different batches separately. In this way, you will know the kind of woman that you should choose for future generations. Use the type of females that produce male Guppies best.

Related strains
It is advisable to store related strains Guppies. Too much interbreeding can be dangerous for the tense, because it was a good idea to occasionally cross the two related strains. We recommend using Guppy strains associated with the same color. Interbreeding will produce a high percentage of fish with disabilities, such as hernias or fish with crooked spines. Low fertility rate is also a warning sign of too much interbreeding.

With time and patience the mulberry leaf becomes silk
If you want to breed Guppies highest quality, you must be patient. Improving the quality of strain is a slow and gradual process, and sometimes can easily forget the long series of small improvements have been achieved from generation to generation. (Photographing is a good way to remember!) Roughly speaking, you can not expect more than 50-10 percent of every batch has the potential to be even better than their parents. Choosing the right fish for the future development and provide you with a heart Guppies ideal is therefore very important.Source http://www.aquaticcommunity.com/livebearer/notso.php

Guppy fry development

Perhaps, before your female Guppy giving birth, you should consider what would you do with the fry. You must decide several things. Do you want to be associated with many seeds are born monthly? If not, consider talking with local stores to see if they will take Guppy fry. In the U.S., it customery for Local Fish shop to take a good fry for trade or monetary payment. Pet supply stores do not take for trade or for monetary payment. Infact, they will take your cooking, but only as a donation from your side. So, check your local phone book for Aquarium stores and check first. Many other countries require you to have a license to sell fish, so check with your area of law.

If you decide to raise the young fry, trying to make a few tanks to let the fry begin to grow in and out of each tank immediately, before young people come so the tank can cycle before fish are added. Do this ride "fishless" either by ammonia cycling (adding 3 drops of ammonia per day until nitrite forms), or by taking water from the existing tank and filling the new tank with all siphoned debris and water. debris from ammonia which started cycling, and any water provided from the existing tank will have some nitrifying bacteria already in it providing a quick start for the nitrogen cycle. If possible, exchange filtration m media from an existing tank to a new tank so the process would be accelerated.

In a frying tank, you must close any suction device with a material to stop the seeds from being sucked to filtration. I suggest you find some fine bridal tulle or netting and cut a piece to cover suction tube and hold in place with rubber bands. Some suggest using nylon stockings, which you can use until you find the net, but I do not recommend using all the time because it will interfere with filtration process. Fry tank can be a simple tank, meaning all you have to provide is filtration, heating and lighting. I do not have any type of gravel in my fry tanks as this allows very easy cleaning of the tank. Like fry mature and are separated, then I place gravel and plants in a larger tank for them to continue to grow. Set the temperature to 80F if possible to allow maturation and then as the age of fries, you can reduce the temp back to 78F.

After the new tank cycling when the level is zero ammonia, zero nitrite, and nitrate is 40ppm or less, then you can add the fry. You should feed fry several times per day. If possible during the first four weeks feed them as often as time will allow. Some feed fry 5 times per day. The first four weeks of their lives into the body building and muscle. Tropical flake food grinding powder to feed the fry. That would be great if you are able to hatch brine shrimp to feed fry several times per week. The baby brine shrimp provide a source of nutrition to enhance fry color. Do not use color as an increase shale shale does not provide correct vitamins the seed needs to grow well.

At the end of the first four weeks, cooking began to develop into sexual guppies male or female. At the age of six weeks, they become sexually active. So, between four and six weeks, you may want to consider separating the fry into groups of women, men. Do this by taking one fish out at the time and put in small containers with water from the tank and with a magnifying glass to see whether gonopodium or places still buried. More often it is better to see the place of the pregnant female. Mix ups can happen and not to worry because the fish will be chosen out put into the correct group. This is only a little less to worry about what you would do with the seed of all the young females if you decide to separate them.

Between the ages of six weeks and six months, you should consider putting some of the seed bed because of defects in some fry. This is a procedure called culling which means to take the bad fish. Most shops will take the seed be destroyed from your hand, but do not expect anything in return, because they are doing you. See pages about putting fish to sleep.

At the age of six months which was then considered an adult guppies. So, you still have to find someone to take them. A donation on your part at this age is considered highly recommended, but think about all the effort you put into improving frying. If the local fish stores will not trade or pay for your efforts, consider asking that their distributors and get names and phone numbers. Distributor Check to see if they'll take you fishing.

Distributors pay more money for bigger fish. That is, if the week four cooking too much to handle, the distributor will carry them, but probably only for a few dollars. But if you wait til they are six months, you will probably get 50 cents per fish. Same applies to trade or receive payment from a local fish store. The bigger the better. Remember to check with your area of law. Reference http://www.aquariumhobbyist.com/guppies/fry.html

Additional information and knowledge about Guppies

Many people ask how to control the population Guppy. There are few easy solutions; Using a divider, separating female from male guppy (meant as keep them in two different fish tank), a local shop selling fish to your pet, using as a fish feeder Guppies, introducing natural predators that will eat cooking, or give to someone who Guppies save, say, a fish Oscar, Jack Dempsey Cichlids, fish heaven or so.

As Guppies are not very good jumpers, it is impossible to find them on the carpet or floor, but still people ask how long the water can get out alive Guppy. More people, more answers. Some specimens may live 10 minutes, while others are only five, and some could make it to one hour. The problem is that the longer Guppy is out of the water, causing more damage. It can last 10 minutes, but you never know whether the fish will make it through the following night. In terms of my experience up to 5-6 minutes to be safe.

People also ask how much water do you need a Guppy. There is no right answer, but still a Guppy per one liter is not good. I recommend a minimum of five liters per Guppy.