Advertisements
Aquatic Avenue Banner Tropica Shop Banner Fishy Business Banner
Results 1 to 14 of 14

Thread: Guppy as food is it possible to breed

  1. #1
    Join Date
    Jun 2015
    Posts
    8
    Feedback Score
    0
    Country
    Singapore

    Guppy as food is it possible to breed

    Advertisements
    Fresh n Marine aQuarium Banner

    Advertise here

    Advertise here
    Came from C328, saw they sell small bags of assorted guppies, but quality is not good, they sell it as food for bigger fishes. Since price is really cheap, planning to use this as starting point as pet and can breed the female, is it advisable? Saw those guppies have nipped tails, but still colorfull. Not bad if I can choose the best among the group say 10 out of 30 guppies. What is your opinion? Are they sick fish?

  2. #2
    Join Date
    Nov 2002
    Location
    Singapore
    Posts
    1,677
    Feedback Score
    1 (100%)
    Images
    1
    Country
    Singapore

    Re: Guppy as food is it possible to breed

    what is your ultimate objective of keeping feeder guppies?
    you can try choosing the females and let them give birth.. my advice will be better spend a little more and choose from the tank that sell guppies for $0.50 or $1 .

  3. #3
    Join Date
    Jun 2015
    Posts
    8
    Feedback Score
    0
    Country
    Singapore

    Re: Guppy as food is it possible to breed

    As this is my first guppy, I want to test first if my water and plant setup are stable enough, and to know if my tank is capable of supporting guppy breeding. Just trial and error phase.

  4. #4
    Join Date
    Feb 2012
    Location
    Central
    Posts
    1,954
    Feedback Score
    0
    Images
    5
    Country
    Singapore

    Re: Guppy as food is it possible to breed

    Quote Originally Posted by Sandy View Post
    As this is my first guppy, I want to test first if my water and plant setup are stable enough, and to know if my tank is capable of supporting guppy breeding. Just trial and error phase.
    A cheap packet of fish is the ideal thing for beginners to learn the ropes in this hobby. I often see beginners buy beautiful and expensive fish, usually when they can afford to splurge. But that is bad for the fish, because they will suffer. Using those packets of fish is okay because they would be fed to big fish as food anyway.
    LIFE IS UNBEARABLE WITHOUT A FISH TANK!!!

  5. #5
    Join Date
    Jun 2015
    Posts
    8
    Feedback Score
    0
    Country
    Singapore

    Re: Guppy as food is it possible to breed

    Quote Originally Posted by tetrakid View Post
    A cheap packet of fish is the ideal thing for beginners to learn the ropes in this hobby. I often see beginners buy beautiful and expensive fish, usually when they can afford to splurge. But that is bad for the fish, because they will suffer. Using those packets of fish is okay because they would be fed to big fish as food anyway.
    Indeed, the weekend has ben eventfulll, 99% of the feeder guppy I bought slowly died, learned that I uave to turn on thr aeration almost whole day, then until left with 1 female and 1 young , the 2nd morning, surprise the female guppy gave birth to 5 fries! But the mother guppy almost dying now,
    now challenge is to keep the fries alive, and hopefully can grow fully.

  6. #6
    Join Date
    Feb 2012
    Location
    Central
    Posts
    1,954
    Feedback Score
    0
    Images
    5
    Country
    Singapore

    Re: Guppy as food is it possible to breed

    Quote Originally Posted by Sandy View Post
    Indeed, the weekend has ben eventfulll, 99% of the feeder guppy I bought slowly died, learned that I uave to turn on thr aeration almost whole day, then until left with 1 female and 1 young , the 2nd morning, surprise the female guppy gave birth to 5 fries! But the mother guppy almost dying now,
    now challenge is to keep the fries alive, and hopefully can grow fully.
    That's a good start 😂

    Once you have lost all the fish, just get another packet.

    Continue to do so after losing more fish. Only after you have managed to acquire sufficient knowledge and is able to keep a packet of fish thriving for st least 6 monthss should you start to acquire better fish. But there are also many cheap fish which you can consider getting if you have no patience to live out the learning curve.
    LIFE IS UNBEARABLE WITHOUT A FISH TANK!!!

  7. #7

    Re: Guppy as food is it possible to breed

    It's not about the money. Cheap or expensive we should treat them with utmost care. The guppy doesn't know it's cheap or expensive. Best is not to keep too many of them at once. And do more research

    Sent from my SM-N910G using Tapatalk

  8. #8
    Join Date
    Nov 2012
    Posts
    7,120
    Feedback Score
    4 (100%)
    Country
    Singapore

    Re: Guppy as food is it possible to breed

    Quote Originally Posted by Sandy View Post
    Indeed, the weekend has ben eventfulll, 99% of the feeder guppy I bought slowly died, learned that I uave to turn on thr aeration almost whole day, then until left with 1 female and 1 young , the 2nd morning, surprise the female guppy gave birth to 5 fries! But the mother guppy almost dying now,
    now challenge is to keep the fries alive, and hopefully can grow fully.
    Part of the reason why the feeder guppies died is usually due to the handling and storage in those small pre-packed bags, the extended time they spend crowded in those small bags render most of them sick or ill by the time they are brought home, so they are mostly in terrible condition to begin with.

    In addition, if you put a whole bag of many feeder guppies into a brand new small tank without sufficient filtration or aeration, it will further create toxic spikes in parameters and oxygen deficiency which gradually kill them off. So its a combination of all those factors.

    Hopefully, the remaining ones that survives can stay alive long enough to adapt to the new water conditions.

    In the future, try to make sure the tank is fully cycled first, only introduce healthy fishes in small batches progressively in stages and don't overstock the tank.
    :: Urban Aquaria ::
    www.urbanaquaria.com

  9. #9
    Join Date
    Nov 2002
    Location
    Singapore
    Posts
    1,677
    Feedback Score
    1 (100%)
    Images
    1
    Country
    Singapore

    Re: Guppy as food is it possible to breed

    Don't forget these fish might come with disease... adding them to the tank will add disease to the tank too and in future if get nicer fish, the fish might get disease...

    Quote Originally Posted by tetrakid View Post
    A cheap packet of fish is the ideal thing for beginners to learn the ropes in this hobby. I often see beginners buy beautiful and expensive fish, usually when they can afford to splurge. But that is bad for the fish, because they will suffer. Using those packets of fish is okay because they would be fed to big fish as food anyway.

  10. #10
    Join Date
    Jun 2015
    Posts
    8
    Feedback Score
    0
    Country
    Singapore

    Re: Guppy as food is it possible to breed

    Thank you all for the advice.
    My tank was setup more than a month ago, to ensure complete cycle and plant growth, I even notice some tiny white worms (planaria?) And also tiny bugs (copepods?), are these live food compatible for guppy fries? should I put in otocatfish to cleanup the little creatures.?

  11. #11
    Join Date
    Nov 2012
    Posts
    7,120
    Feedback Score
    4 (100%)
    Country
    Singapore

    Re: Guppy as food is it possible to breed

    Just curious, did you cycle the tank with aquarium soil that release ammonia to grow the beneficial bacteria? Or just inert substrate?

    And did you use a test kit to measure the ammonia, nitrite and nitrate levels? Or just assume the tank is cycled without doing any tests?

    Anyways, most of the small worms and copepods will usually be eaten by the fishes and fry, so they can act as a source of live food.

    Otocinclus mainly eat soft algae and fish foods, they don't really hunt worms and bugs though... unless once in a while they happen to graze upon an odd critter. Its considered more of an algae eater.
    :: Urban Aquaria ::
    www.urbanaquaria.com

  12. #12
    Join Date
    Feb 2012
    Location
    Central
    Posts
    1,954
    Feedback Score
    0
    Images
    5
    Country
    Singapore

    Re: Guppy as food is it possible to breed

    Quote Originally Posted by fireblade View Post
    Don't forget these fish might come with disease... adding them to the tank will add disease to the tank too and in future if get nicer fish, the fish might get disease...
    Usually, one can check the fish in the packets and buy only good quality ones. After buying fish that look good and lively, one must then follow the usual procedure of handling and introducing the fish to the tank, and doing the quarantine thing. Buying cheap fish does not mean one can forgo all the necessary precautions. Cheap fish also require the same care. It's just that if the fish die due to inexperience, one will not lose much.

    Fishkeeping requires a lot of knowledge for it to be lasting and successful. It is not an easy hobby to master.
    Last edited by tetrakid; 1st Aug 2016 at 23:16.
    LIFE IS UNBEARABLE WITHOUT A FISH TANK!!!

  13. #13
    Join Date
    Jun 2015
    Posts
    8
    Feedback Score
    0
    Country
    Singapore

    Re: Guppy as food is it possible to breed

    I use combination of Gex soil and sand. So worms and bugs came from the soil?
    I don't use test kit. I just use observation, and small increments, like after all plants grows consistently, I added a nerite snail, then otocatfish, though later died due to starvation coz I don't give fish food, just relied on algae which was alrdy wiped out after a month. Thought oto will eat live food.

  14. #14
    Join Date
    Nov 2012
    Posts
    7,120
    Feedback Score
    4 (100%)
    Country
    Singapore

    Re: Guppy as food is it possible to breed

    Quote Originally Posted by Sandy View Post
    I use combination of Gex soil and sand. So worms and bugs came from the soil?
    I don't use test kit. I just use observation, and small increments, like after all plants grows consistently, I added a nerite snail, then otocatfish, though later died due to starvation coz I don't give fish food, just relied on algae which was alrdy wiped out after a month. Thought oto will eat live food.
    Usually the worms and bugs hitchhike in with live plants (especially if you didn't treat or quarantine the plants from LFS beforehand, just add in immediately after purchase).

    As for the tank cycle, unfortunately you can't determine if a tank is actually cycled just by observing and looking at it, the only way to know for sure is to do parameter measurements with a proper test kit (ie API Freshwater Master Test Kit). Otherwise you'll just be wild guessing and the tank could still be in the middle of cycling while livestock are introduced. Those cycling effects probably contributed more to the deaths of the snail and fishes (rather than due to starvation).

    If you still think that test kits are not worth it and continue relying on just observation, then just have to keep an eye on the existing livestock and do more water changes to help reduce the toxic levels and spikes. Hopefully when the tank is eventually cycled and stable, the remaining livestock will still be healthy.

    Btw, this cycling method is called the "fish-in" technique, basically buy fishes and add into tank, when they die, keep buying and adding more and more fishes (like how many of us as primary school kids did last time when first starting a tank)... until one day they somehow stop dying, then assume the tank is cycled.
    :: Urban Aquaria ::
    www.urbanaquaria.com

Bookmarks

Posting Permissions

  • You may not post new threads
  • You may not post replies
  • You may not post attachments
  • You may not edit your posts
  •