6 replies to this topic

[FirstChAoS]

Every once and a while I give my fishes live guppies for a snack and hunting enrichment. I usually give my sunfish 60 and my minnows and darters 20. Last time I gave both 60 as a treat.

 

Well, some survived. Two in my sunfish tank and a few in my minnow tank. The minnow tank ones are the problem.

 

You see they bred, that did not worry me at first as it meant more feeders. But some offspring survived, and bred, repeat a few times. Now the most common fish in my minnow and darter tank is guppy. Ever heard the term "Safety in Numbers?" well it seems the more guppies I get the less effective my minnows get at hunting them.

 

I am not sure what to do with my burgeoning feeder guppy population. 

[keepnatives]

Sounds like the sunfish get more.

[Betta132]

More sunfish food! 

Or set fish traps, separate the guppies out, and take them back to the LFS. LFS will probably take them for feeders, maybe give you a few bucks or a plant in return if you have a good rapport. 

[gzeiger]

There is no number of guppies that will establish a population in a sunfish tank.

[fundulus]

Don't underestimate guppies, as a local group they can learn how to behave around various predators. There's a huge literature on the subject, probably more than anyone really wants to read.

[smilingfrog]

That's kind of a funny problem from my point of view. Long long ago I tried raising guppies. If I didn't separate the fry in the first day or 2 they would all be eaten by the adults. Maybe I should get some of your guppies and try again.

[gzeiger]

I can't even keep snails alive in a tank with fish. Maybe I'm under-feeding the predators.