What To Do With Unwanted Guppy Fry

There are a few reasons that you may be left with unwanted guppy fry. You may just like your tank the way it is, don’t know how to breed them or don’t have the space available.

There are many things that you can do with unwanted guppy fry such as, Give them away to friends, feed them to other fish, breed them, and much more that I will cover below.

Guppy are live breeders and will therefore give birth to live fry instead of eggs and can produce up to 200 at any given time. They are well-known for being able to breed very quickly and this can soon lead to an overcrowded tank. Let’s have a look at what you can do.

What To Do With Unwanted Guppy Fry

Are You Looking To Keep Guppies? If yes check out our care guide here

Leave them alone

If you think that leaving guppy fry alone will mean they’ll be well cared for by their parents then think again! They are animals that enjoy filial cannibalism which means that they eat their own babies and therefore reduce their own population.

Even though it may sound odd, this can be the natural way of controlling your guppy population. It is worth nothing, however, that some are likely to survive as they will hide in plant growth until they are big enough to not be seen as food.

This isn’t a sure fire method, especially if you have guppy that breed frequently. They will naturally reduce the amount of fish in their tank. If you suddenly have a lot of fry to deal with but don’t mind some surviving them you can just let nature take its course.

This method can also be good at getting rid of any weaker guppy which may not grow up to be strong. This is due to them being more likely to be eaten if they have any deformities. Any guppy that are left will be strong and able to thrive in your tank.

Give them away

You always have the option to simply give your guppy away. You may have friends who have a tank already or perhaps those who are interested in starting one. You can help to share the love and give them away if you think others would benefit from them.

If you’re going to do this then you’ll probably want to let the guppy fry thrive first by separating them from the adult fish in the aquarium. You’re then free to give them away but make sure that you do so in a manner that won’t stress them too much.

Feed them to other fish

If you have another aquarium that has carnivorous fish then they’ll love being able to feed off baby guppy. Many people love keeping the likes of angelfish and betta fish which are both known to eat small guppy.

We mentioned previously possibly giving them away to friends and this is another reason to do so. Baby guppy can be a good food source for many species of fish. If you didn’t want your guppy fry then this is one way of doing it while respecting the circle of life.

Become a breeder

You always have the option of embracing your new guppy and breeding them for profit. There are plenty of online marketplaces where you will often be able to sell them for around $5 each or more if you have an attractive pair.

There is even more of a market if you are able to breed guppy that are unique in their pattern or color. If you have a large brood of guppy then all of these sales could add up to something quite significant with a healthy profit.

This is also a particularly tempting option as raising guppy is quite easy. They don’t need a huge deal of care and can also be kept in small aquariums. If you have guppy then it’s likely that you already know how to raise them in a thriving environment.

Once you have established a reputation online for selling them it will become a lot easier and you could be left with a nice little business. Competition may be quite tough, however, so it’s not going to be a sure success.

If you’re happy to let your guppy fry grow into established adult guppy then you need to take steps to ensure their safety.

Separate tank – A separate breeding tank is one of the easiest ways to ensure the safety of guppy fry. You need to create a tank with the same conditions as your main tank. Place your pregnant guppy in there and once it gives birth, move it back to the main tank. After about two weeks the guppy fry will be grown and able to be with the adult population.

Breeding box – Another method of protecting guppy fry is with a breeding box. This is a holed box which sits inside your normal tank and keeps the guppy fry locked and protected inside. Once the guppy fry have reached a safe size then they can be released.

How to work out the sex of the guppy?

If you wanted to separate the males and females in the tank then you need to be able to tell them apart. Once you find out this you can keep them apart to prevent them from breeding. You could also give them away to have just either males or females in the tank.

One way to work out the difference is male guppies have larger tail fins than their female counterparts. Despite that, there are generally both slimmer and shorter. Males are also often more colorful. Finally, male guppies have a more pronounced anal fin.

Of course, one of the easiest ways to find out is if a female guppy becomes pregnant. Many people prefer to keep the male of the species as they are usually more colorful.

Final thoughts

If you don’t want to keep your guppy fry then there are plenty of things that you’re going to be able to do to keep them under control. It could be, however, that you may want to let them grow to either give them away or sell them. Whatever the future of your guppy try, there are plenty of options out there.

jbarr3tt1979

Hello, I'm Jason. I'm the guy behind HelpUsFish.com. I volunteer at my local fish shop and I created this site to offer tips and advice on the fish I care for.

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