Guppy fry: how much grow and how to care for them?

To get strong and healthy guppies at home, you should take care of the young from the very moment of its birth. This species is interesting in that it is viviparous, that is, the females sweep the formed cubs. The fry are born already healthy and active, and it is important to maintain their condition until the moment when they can be released into a common aquarium.

At one time, the female gives birth to 15-60 fry, depending on the variety and age. The mother can eat part of the offspring during the birth process. When the babies are born, they look colorless or completely transparent, the youngest specimens are 2-4 mm long. Then the cubs begin to grow rapidly, and their growth rate is largely determined by the volume of the aquarium and the quality of the water.

Adult female usually has a length of 40-60 mm, male - 20-40 mm. Guppies reach such parameters in 4-5 months with proper care. By this age, the fish are already becoming sexually mature.

As the pups develop, they should be sorted. Already at the age of 2-4 weeks, some fry are able to give offspring. Sorting by gender is also necessary in order to avoid early pregnancy of females. For planting, the aquarist must prepare a separate container by adding water from the aquarium where guppies are grown.

To plant males and females, it is important to learn to distinguish between them. In males, an elongated and folded lower fin located near the anus can be observed. Gradually, it turns into gonopodia, and now it is even easier to determine the sex of young individuals. Also, after two weeks of age, sexual differences are noticeable in complexion: males are slimmer than their sisters, over time, they begin to turn bright. But females can be recognized by a well-fed abdomen and a dark spot near the anus.

In addition, such care is easier for the aquarist himself. Fish do not spend strength and health on pursuing each other.

Before you start feeding newborns, you need to know approximate daily serving. So, in the first two weeks of babies, guppies need to be fed a portion of 150-170% of the weight of the fish. Further, up to a month of age, enough food is equal to 80-100% of the mass of the cub. From one to two months, the recommended portion is up to 30%, and from two months to puberty, up to 15%. After full maturation, the daily portion should be no more than 10% of the weight of the individual.

Fry can eat anything, but for proper development they need to be fed with protein. As a rule, this important element is in the composition of live food. In addition, live food is mobile, it allows you to hunt for it, to develop a hunting instinct.

Starting dust can be live dust. - the so-called ciliates shoe. Its size does not exceed 0.25 mm. Artemia nauplii with a length of up to 0.6 mm can also serve as food in the first days of babies' life, however, it is important not to overdo it with this species - newborns may develop obesity due to it. An alternative to nauplii is a microworm with a size of 1.5x0.005 mm.

To grow these microorganisms in an aquarium, place a can of water in the sun. For the appearance of phytoplankton in water, a couple of days is enough. Then, through a syringe, enter blooming water into the aquarium. Refuse natural food from natural reservoirs, as parasites and infections can enter the aquarium along with food. You can disinfect the brought instance with ozone, but this method will not save you from toxins.

A common variant of natural food is considered daphnia, it is useful due to its protein, vitamins and trace elements. If the aquarist decided to feed the fry with mosquito larvae or worms, then they should first be crushed. You can feed with bloodworms, but only lively and densely red in color. It’s important to know in advance that in sliced ​​form, bloodworms can spoil water. Less in this regard, the coronetra is dangerous, but it contains very little protein, so this species is not suitable for constant feeding.

Before feeding the fry with a tubule, it is recommended to hold 100 g of the worm in 250 mg of multivitamins, then it will be even more enriched with benefits. Frozen food is allowed.

The most popular among aquarists are feed brands Tetra, Sera, JBL. For feeding guppy cubs no more than 10 mm long Tetra MicroMin, Sera Micron, JBL NovoTom, Tetra BioMin paste.

It is important to avoid completely replacing live food., since it is nevertheless defective for the development of fry. A temporary alternative may be purchased dry food, dry daphnia.

Aquarists also offer the following replacement options.

• Chicken Yolk. Before this, the egg is boiled, the yolk is removed, it is ground and mixed with aquarium water. Squeeze through the gauze through the tank.
• Milk powder. To prepare it, you need to evaporate milk in a water bath.
• Cottage cheese. To obtain a suitable product, it is customary to heat the yogurt until a lump forms. After that, the cottage cheese is washed and introduced into the aquarium through cheesecloth.
• Croup. Shredded oatmeal, corn, semolina will do.
• Vegetables and greens. Everything is pre-crushed.

Caring for newborn pets is not so difficult. As a rule, young animals are usually grown in a separate seedling with a volume of 20-40 liters. If the aquarist did not have time to acquire additional capacity, then for the first time it’s suitable ordinary three-liter jar with aerator spray. To make care as simple as possible, you can do without soil and scenery. The fry will feel comfortable in the presence of plants in the picker, but they are also optional for the maintenance of the baby.

Every day, the capacity for the offspring of guppies needs to change 30% of the water. Before pouring fresh water, stand for about a day. All parameters of the new and old water should be the same. The first weeks, maintain the temperature at 28 degrees, then gradually lower the indicators to 26 degrees. When the fry are several months old, the optimum temperature for them is 24 degrees.

Keeping fry in a common aquarium is undesirable. They have a lot of enemies among neighbors, even their own parents will not refuse to feast on their offspring. If there is nowhere to plant the baby, it is important to maximize the chances of the cubs to survive. For this, adult fish need to be well fed so that they are not interested in guppy fry, and place as many different shelters as possible on the bottom, where young fish will hide from adult relatives.

By the way you can feed the cubs right in the thicketso that they don’t have to swim out of their hiding place to the joy of the larger gluttonous relatives. If fry are grown in a separate container, then there is no need to keep them there for too long. It will be possible to transplant pets into a common aquarium within three months after birth, but not earlier.

In general, guppies are fairly hardy fish, but in children with immature immunity in conditions of illiterate content, problems can arise.

Most likely, death is provoked by the disease. The source of disease can be infected plants and other aquarium inhabitants or poor-quality feed. So, one of the worst diseases for guppy fry is tuberculosis or mycobacteriosis. Unfortunately, there is no cure for this disease yet, sick individuals have to be destroyed, and the entire infected container must be thoroughly disinfected.

Diseases that can be cured include trichodinia. It develops when the Trichodina Modesta parasitic infusoria enters the aquarium. Newborn fry and slightly grown individuals most often become victims of this disease, and infection leads to their death. Typically, drugs such as methylene blue, Tripaflavin, and common salt help cope with the disease.

Poor water quality can also lead to death. For example, you can’t keep guppies in an artificial reservoir enriched with chlorine.Water must be settled. To eliminate chlorine, you can also use the dechlorinator, which is available in pet stores.

Sometimes breeders notice that tails stick together in fry. This is an infrequent phenomenon, but it can also occur under inappropriate growing conditions. Noticing that the caudal fins stuck together in the cubs, we can assume that they are sick with boneosis or gyrodactyles. In addition, bone disease can be recognized by the pale protruding gills. It is possible to cure this disease at an early stage with malachite herbs or potassium permanganate baths of 10-15 minutes.

Gyrodactylysis is caused by parasites, and is treated in accordance with the general principles of the treatment of parasitic diseases. So, formalin, malachite green, table salt are considered recommended drugs.

To avoid all these problems, do not plant a new individual in the fry, if it has not passed the quarantine period, you can not plant just bought plants without their preliminary processing. Buy only good quality food for feeding, rinse thoroughly all decoration items that you plan to put in the aquarium.

In the next video, you can watch the birth of guppy fry.