Am I too softhearted for this hobby?

I made the mistake of letting my wife move the guppies to the 37g tank I was setting up to try my hand at a planted tank. Started off with 6 adults and 2 fry that had survived for a week in the 55. Now I have the 6 adults the 2 large fry and about 35 or so small fry in there and all 3 females are getting big again. And now my wife wont let me put anything in there to eat them. Thats ok though I have a secret plan to give them to a couple of friends. One has 2 giant oscars and the other just got a needle nose gar r something like that, which will only eat live food.

Now I just have to see which of the egg layers spawned in the 55 and see if I can save a few of them.
 
anybody thought of adding a banjo catfish or a doradid or a woodcat without telling who wants to save the fry that you bought it, anyway you will never see the catfish again, then if you spot fry you tell whoever wants to save the fry you'll get them out in the morning but you know they won't be there in the morning
 
I really need to get rid of some of them, I'm going to force myself to put a few into the "big" tank and let the angels take care of them. Actually, my betta would probably love them. I seriously don't want to end up with hundreds of fry. I must "grow a pair" and let nature do her thing!
 
My dad is like that. "Why there is less fish in your tank? What did you do to them?" Wll, Dad your Oscars liked them. :))
 
It's survival of the fittest in my tanks. I have 1 baby platy swimming around the bottom of the tank in the plants. I must admit though that if I get a beautiful female I will try and save some fry just in case she bred with one of her own. I did that recently with a glass tail female in hopes that she'd accidentally bred with a glass tail male before she got to the store. lol

If you want healthy guppies it's actually good to keep a few that are born in your tank. Guppies don't live that long and the ones we get from the store aren't that great healthwise. The few babies you save will be much stronger and healthier.

When I first started with fish I kept guppies. Was just fascinated by the birth process and watching the transformation of the fry. I'd grow them out and take them to the store. I lost all of my gups during a columnaris outbreak and began keeping other fish but my sister brought me over some of her gups so here I go again. I'm not as nuts about it as I was at the beginning. What I don't see won't hurt me. Most of them are eaten as they drop and don't even know what hit them.
 
I don't try to save them. It is bad enough that they start overcrowding without saving them. There are always a couple that manage to survive and then they start breeding. The compounding effect with livebearers is much like rabbits.
 
Now I don't feel so bad for what happened to some of my Endler fry. But now I wish I would have held on to one female for a humane science project my son and I will be doing for next school year.
 
Personally I couldn't deal with letting fry die or trying to find homes for their exponentially increasing numbers, so I avoid keeping livebearers...at least, the female ones anyway. I like the looks of guppies and platies, but I can't deal with these kinds of dilemmas.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
AquariaCentral.com
Top Bottom