Need advice, is it safe to move guppy?

*Robin*

Ok, so I'm in charge of my son's tropical fish. There's a very pregnant guppy being hassled non-stop by two males, so my son set up a second tank at lunchtime, with water from the main tank. The heater and filter have been on all afternoon, temp is at 26'. Son told me I could move the female this evening - unfortunately he won't be home until tomorrow.

I'm no expert so have done a bit of reading, which suggests I shouldn't put fish in the 'new' tank for a couple of weeks..

Help - is it safe to move the poor female away from the bully boys tonight or not?

Beckyy

I have no idea, and don't have any fish. But from an outside point of view (if they can be moved) I would be more inclined to move the males, as they're not pregnant.

rising_from_the_ashes

Even if you've used water from an established tank, the new tank needs time to "cycle" (run with filters etc) - something to do with bacteria, nitrates etc (ex used to be "into" fish).

There's a couple of good forums dedicated to tropical fish (do a quick search on Google) - it may be worth posting on there.

Have you any idea when she's "due" as you obviously want her to be in the new tank by then?

*Robin*

Thanks for replying, Beckyy and rising from the ashes.

I tried to register on what looks like the biggest tropical fish forum, but there's some kind of delay and it won't let me post straight away.

The idea of moving the female is that, apart from stopping the males hassling her, hopefully her babies will survive - shifting the boys won't stop the other inhabitants of the tank eating unwary new fry! She must be due to give birth within the next week.

At the moment the boys are isolated in an aquarium bag suspended in the big tank - I'll let them out when the light goes off, hopefully they'll be less active at night and leave Mum alone.

With any luck I'll be able to post on the fish forum tomorrow morning..

suki1964

You can buy a hatchery tank that attaches to the inside of the original tank. Pop the guppy in that

Jojo_the_Tightfisted

I would move her sooner rather than later, as the short time that she will be in there will not cause a problem - the water being used is already cycled and colonised by healthy bacteria and the stress from being hassled would be greater than that of being moved.

Paradigm

Needs plants or other cover for the fry or she will eat them.... nice!

Elle7

You'll definately need a tank hatchery - has your son got one ready?

Check on it regularly, too - our guppy had 45 babies once, but by two hours later, a bigger fish had got in and eaten them all. We were really upset

The males aren't likely to stop harassing her at night, or at all - what are his male/female ratios? If he gives birth into a tank with other fish in the young are not likely to survive.

*Robin*

Thank you for replying, Suki, Jojo, Paradigm and Elle.

Elle7 wrote: »

You'll definately need a tank hatchery - has your son got one ready?

Check on it regularly, too - our guppy had 45 babies once, but by two hours later, a bigger fish had got in and eaten them all. We were really upset

Yes we heard this can be a problem with the little plastic hatcheries that fit in the big tank, which is why my son got a separate tank - he just didn't notice Mum being hassled and get it ready earlier..

Elle7 wrote: »

The males aren't likely to stop harassing her at night, or at all - what are his male/female ratios? If he gives birth into a tank with other fish in the young are not likely to survive.

The ratio isn't great at the moment; my son gave away a couple of males recently to improve it, but the other three females are immature so the two adult males are ignoring them, chasing the one mature female.

Still, maybe I should go and get a plastic hatchery in the morning, and leave the nursery tank to cycle a bit longer?

The big tank has plenty of [plastic] weed for the fry to hide in, but it's true that very few survive unless he notices when Mum's about to give birth and moves her.

*Robin*

Update: Well, 'the event' was closer than I thought - saw a tiny baby in the big tank this morning so shifted Mum to the nursery tank at once. An hour later she's got two babies, but the one in the big tank has gone

Elle7

Has she had any more? Guppies usually have a large amount of young, although it does happen fast, so it's possible they are all in the big tank hiding, or that they have had unfortunate endings.

I'm glad you've managed to save some though. Remember to break up the fish flakes a bit with your fingers so it's easier for the babies to eat.

All the best x