POPULATION EXPLOSION

[Colleen]

Can anyone suggest a way to stop my guppies taking over the world! Is
there a fish that will eat the emerging young but leave the bigger ones
alone?
--
Colleen

[RedForeman ©®]

yeah, buy a large cichlid, and take a vacation for a couple days... come
back and you'll have a fat cichlid.... just kidding...

Take them to your LFS and give them away, you might get store credit...

--
RedForeman ©®




"Colleen" > wrote in message
...
> Can anyone suggest a way to stop my guppies taking over the world! Is
> there a fish that will eat the emerging young but leave the bigger ones
> alone?
> --
> Colleen

[Iain Miller]

"Colleen" > wrote in message
...
> Can anyone suggest a way to stop my guppies taking over the world! Is
> there a fish that will eat the emerging young but leave the bigger ones
> alone?
> --

If you have the tank space then Angel fish are pretty easy to keep and will
do the job just fine (!). Best kept in groups of at least two. 3 can end up
fighting if two of them pair off, so four or more is better.

rgds

I.

[coelacanth]

"Colleen" > wrote in message
...
> Can anyone suggest a way to stop my guppies taking over the world! Is
> there a fish that will eat the emerging young but leave the bigger ones
> alone?
> --
> Colleen

Now you know why an old name for guppies is
"millions fish"

See if your LFS will take them for credit or find a
nearby cichlid owner...

-coelacanth

[Colleen]

In message >, RedForeman ©®
> writes
>yeah, buy a large cichlid, and take a vacation for a couple days... come
>back and you'll have a fat cichlid.... just kidding...
>
>Take them to your LFS and give them away, you might get store credit...
>
>--
>RedForeman ©®
>
>
>
>
>"Colleen" > wrote in message
...
>> Can anyone suggest a way to stop my guppies taking over the world! Is
>> there a fish that will eat the emerging young but leave the bigger ones
>> alone?
>> --
>> Colleen
>
>
Unfortunately, they are not interested.

--
Colleen

[Dick]

On Thu, 29 Jan 2004 20:21:21 +0000, Colleen
> wrote:

>Can anyone suggest a way to stop my guppies taking over the world! Is
>there a fish that will eat the emerging young but leave the bigger ones
>alone?


I had a black molly that had a light area on her back. I always watch
mollies for ich. When I was a teenager that seemed to be a problem.
I haven't had a problem in this incarnation, but I still watch.
Anyway I moved her to my quarantine tank just in case. The next
morning the 10 gallon tank had over 50 fry. I live in a small town.
No LFS for 200 miles. Not many fish owners either. I started asking
and found a few. I did find a home for 10 of the mollies, but the
first batch of 5 dwindled to 1, they were too young the first time and
to appetizing. The last 5 seem to be large enough to survive. The
bottom line I still have 40 mollies that I spread over my 5 tanks. I
just hate the idea of killing even one of them on purpose.

I lost a breeding pair of angels when I moved them to their own 10
gallon tank. My tanks are so full I can't consider adding large
predators to keep the fry count down and spring is coming. I
definitely am going to cut back on my feeding when I spot future fry
and hope my medium size fish will take the hint.

[NetMax]

"Colleen" > wrote in message
...
> Can anyone suggest a way to stop my guppies taking over the world! Is
> there a fish that will eat the emerging young but leave the bigger ones
> alone?
> --
> Colleen

If it's a Guppy-only tank, then it probably looks very nice. Their
population might settle down somewhat if you leave them alone (though it
can settle on a high quantity, based on): The factors which increase
your rate of reproduction are the water temperature (warmer = more),
light (longer duration = more), food (protein % and frequency of feedings
= more), amount of shelter (fine leaved plants, marbles, etc = more), and
size/qty of predators.

It is important to have some level of predation with Guppies, as they
have a significant amount of 'defects' which should not be allowed to
live long enough to mate (or you get genetic problems appearing).
Guppies themselves will do some 'crowd control', but I find that it's
usually insufficient in anything but small or barren tanks.

One method of crowd control is to do it manually. This is called
culling, and is usually done by any breeder who sells fish, or just wants
to keep their bloodlines clean. It involves having a 2nd tank with a
predator (most medium sized cichlids will do). Piranhas might seem to be
an obvious choice, but they are imo, a terrible choice (they will need
more Guppies than you can probably supply, and they are messy eaters,
something you do not need to witness happening to your Guppies). Oscars
are tidy eaters of live food. They open their mouths and blast water
backwards through their gills, effectively vacuuming the prey, so that it
appears to vanish. With pellets, they are slobs. Note that owning an
Oscar is because you want a foot long fish as a pet, not as a Guppy
disposal system.

Alternately, you can keep your predator in with your Guppies. I have no
experience with this, but I'll offer some ideas. Many predators will
damage the tailfins of fish they almost caught, so you want something
which hunts by stealth, and swallows their prey. An Angelfish should do
this, but will eventually be large enough to go after your larger
Guppies, and might damage fins again. Another predator is a Betta. They
stay relatively small, and a female Betta would be less likely to after
your male Guppies. Another predator is the clawed African frog, which
would need to eventually get removed when he gets too large.

There are a number of fish which would do effective crowd control when
the fry are very small. Look for small fast swimmers. Check out the
danio and rainbowfish families. The Rainbowfish in particular come from
similar hard-water conditions as the Guppies. If your Guppies are in
soft water, then check out dwarf cichlids (Kribs, Rams, Apistos). They
have a typical cichlid territorialism, which a large enough tank would
easily accommodate. There are many carnivorous catfish which would trim
your population down. Research Pictus catfish, channel cats etc, noting
their eventual size. You might need to experiment a bit, keeping in mind
that a predator will have the same eye for color as you, so your
prettiest fish will be high up the scale of desirability ;~) :o(.

NetMax

[TYNK 7]

>Subject: POPULATION EXPLOSION
>From: Colleen
>Date: 1/29/2004 2:21 PM Central Standard Time
>Message-id: >
>
>Can anyone suggest a way to stop my guppies taking over the world! Is
>there a fish that will eat the emerging young but leave the bigger ones
>alone?
>--
>Colleen
>

Depending on other tank mates, a amale Betta would make an easy snack of them
and you'd never have this problem again.

[TYNK 7]

>ubject: Re: POPULATION EXPLOSION
>From: "Iain Miller"
>Date: 1/29/2004 4:39 PM Central Standard Time
>Message-id: >
>
>
>"Colleen" > wrote in message
...
>> Can anyone suggest a way to stop my guppies taking over the world! Is
>> there a fish that will eat the emerging young but leave the bigger ones
>> alone?
>> --
>
>If you have the tank space then Angel fish are pretty easy to keep and will
>do the job just fine (!). Best kept in groups of at least two. 3 can end up
>fighting if two of them pair off, so four or more is better.
>
>rgds
>

It really wouldn't matter how many other Angelfish you had..if 2 have paired
off....themated pair will fight off ALL ther others.

[Colleen]

In message >, NetMax
> writes
>
>"Colleen" > wrote in message
...
>> Can anyone suggest a way to stop my guppies taking over the world! Is
>> there a fish that will eat the emerging young but leave the bigger ones
>> alone?
>> --
>> Colleen
>
>If it's a Guppy-only tank, then it probably looks very nice. Their
>population might settle down somewhat if you leave them alone (though it
>can settle on a high quantity, based on): The factors which increase
>your rate of reproduction are the water temperature (warmer = more),
>light (longer duration = more), food (protein % and frequency of feedings
>= more), amount of shelter (fine leaved plants, marbles, etc = more), and
>size/qty of predators.

It is a guppy only tank. Well, apart from some Bristlenose Catfish.

>Alternately, you can keep your predator in with your Guppies. I have no
>experience with this, but I'll offer some ideas.
>There are a number of fish which would do effective crowd control when
>the fry are very small. Look for small fast swimmers. Check out the
>danio and rainbowfish families. The Rainbowfish in particular come from
>similar hard-water conditions as the Guppies. If your Guppies are in
>soft water, then check out dwarf cichlids (Kribs, Rams, Apistos).

>NetMax

I already have four Kribs in my main tank. I think I shall introduce
them to the guppy tank and see what happens.

Thanks to everyone for their suggestions.
--
Colleen

[NetMax]

"TYNK 7" > wrote in message
...
> >ubject: Re: POPULATION EXPLOSION
> >From: "Iain Miller"
> >Date: 1/29/2004 4:39 PM Central Standard Time
> >Message-id: >
> >
> >
> >"Colleen" > wrote in message
> ...
> >> Can anyone suggest a way to stop my guppies taking over the world!
Is
> >> there a fish that will eat the emerging young but leave the bigger
ones
> >> alone?
> >> --
> >
> >If you have the tank space then Angel fish are pretty easy to keep and
will
> >do the job just fine (!). Best kept in groups of at least two. 3 can
end up
> >fighting if two of them pair off, so four or more is better.
> >
> >rgds
> >
>
> It really wouldn't matter how many other Angelfish you had..if 2 have
paired
> off....themated pair will fight off ALL ther others.

And then the consequences of that will vary by the tank size, from a real
problem in a small tank, to a non-issue in a large tank (with mixed
results for everything in between). Isn't aquaria fun? Almost every
answer starts with "it depends" ;~)

NetMax

[John >]

NOT

I have 3 angels in my 120G. Two are mated and the third comes along and
eats the eggs. They all seem to be getting along fine.

JOhn ><>

"TYNK 7" > wrote in message
...
> >ubject: Re: POPULATION EXPLOSION
> >From: "Iain Miller"
> >Date: 1/29/2004 4:39 PM Central Standard Time
> >Message-id: >
> >
> >
> >"Colleen" > wrote in message
> ...
> >> Can anyone suggest a way to stop my guppies taking over the world! Is
> >> there a fish that will eat the emerging young but leave the bigger ones
> >> alone?
> >> --
> >
> >If you have the tank space then Angel fish are pretty easy to keep and
will
> >do the job just fine (!). Best kept in groups of at least two. 3 can end
up
> >fighting if two of them pair off, so four or more is better.
> >
> >rgds
> >
>
> It really wouldn't matter how many other Angelfish you had..if 2 have
paired
> off....themated pair will fight off ALL ther others.

[TYNK 7]

>Subject: Re: POPULATION EXPLOSION
>From: "NetMax"
>Date: 1/31/2004 11:42 AM Central Standard Time
>Message-id: >
>
>
>"TYNK 7" > wrote in message
...
>> >ubject: Re: POPULATION EXPLOSION
>> >From: "Iain Miller"
>> >Date: 1/29/2004 4:39 PM Central Standard Time
>> >Message-id: >
>> >
>> >
>> >"Colleen" > wrote in message
>> ...
>> >> Can anyone suggest a way to stop my guppies taking over the world!
>Is
>> >> there a fish that will eat the emerging young but leave the bigger
>ones
>> >> alone?
>> >> --
>> >
>> >If you have the tank space then Angel fish are pretty easy to keep and
>will
>> >do the job just fine (!). Best kept in groups of at least two. 3 can
>end up
>> >fighting if two of them pair off, so four or more is better.
>> >
>> >rgds
>> >
>>
>> It really wouldn't matter how many other Angelfish you had..if 2 have
>paired
>> off....themated pair will fight off ALL ther others.
>
>And then the consequences of that will vary by the tank size, from a real
>problem in a small tank, to a non-issue in a large tank (with mixed
>results for everything in between). Isn't aquaria fun? Almost every
>answer starts with "it depends" ;~)
>
>NetMax
>
>

No wonder so many newbies quit the first time they run into trouble.

[TYNK 7]

>Subject: Re: POPULATION EXPLOSION
>From: "John > \(\(\(\\\" <\(\(\(\\\">"
>
>Date: 1/31/2004 5:24 PM Central Standard Time
>Message-id: >
>
>NOT
>
OK, I guess because your 3 Angelfish have showed this behavior, that I, an
Angelfish fancier for almost 26 yrs,breeder for almost 13 years (took the last
6 yrs off to breed Bettas), specializing in Angelfish and Betta body language,
must know absolutely nothing.
LOL......








>I have 3 angels in my 120G. Two are mated and the third comes along and
>eats the eggs. They all seem to be getting along fine.
>
>JOhn ><>
>
>"TYNK 7" > wrote in message
...
>> >ubject: Re: POPULATION EXPLOSION
>> >From: "Iain Miller"
>> >Date: 1/29/2004 4:39 PM Central Standard Time
>> >Message-id: >
>> >
>> >
>> >"Colleen" > wrote in message
>> ...
>> >> Can anyone suggest a way to stop my guppies taking over the world! Is
>> >> there a fish that will eat the emerging young but leave the bigger ones
>> >> alone?
>> >> --
>> >
>> >If you have the tank space then Angel fish are pretty easy to keep and
>will
>> >do the job just fine (!). Best kept in groups of at least two. 3 can end
>up
>> >fighting if two of them pair off, so four or more is better.
>> >
>> >rgds
>> >
>>
>> It really wouldn't matter how many other Angelfish you had..if 2 have
>paired
>> off....themated pair will fight off ALL ther others.
>