Question: Guppies: Breeding + Food for Axolotls

I Got a few guppies for our red eared slider tank, it is a 55 gal, and they breed so much I have guppies all over the place! I have had to post them on Craigslist and have given them away by the bag full. My axie doesn't seem to be interested in his they have been sharing his tank for a few weeks. He seems to prefer worms. I put a female guppy in a separate container the other day to have her babies, just to see how many they have, and she had 32! That seems to be normal for my guppies. I would suggest you just put them in a tank and give it time. They are low maintenance and believe me, when they start breeding there's no stopping them! You'll have plenty of guppies soon. :D
 
Been feeding my axies guppy fry and white cloud minnows for awhile now,
Great food for axies, dont recommend keeping guppies and axies together for to long, Guppies love warm water(26degreesC.) In my reading, keeping axies at this temp for too long would stress them out beyond belief, How they love eating those fry though! White clouds however can tolerate lower temperatures, and with enough plant cover and population, should live in harmony and breed in the same tank as you're axies without too many of them going missing(Maybe, damm those axies can eat!). Great thread guys.

Redfoxloki:happy:.
 
To the people whom suggested Mollies or Platys as food, I personally would avoid those at all cost. I have a North Western Plains Garter Snake and I feed both her and my axolotls guppies, Mollies n Platys create an enzyme called Thiamine that causes a Vitamin B1 Deficiency that can kill snakes, and I wouldn't trust them to be any better for my Axolotls. :happy:
Best of luck breeding your guppies, I've got 2 males of different species one fancy tail that you normally find in pet stores and one that is smaller an looks more like a neon tetra, but is a guppy. I have one fancy tail female (Color matches the male its kinda neat) And have 3 plain looking females that came with the tiny neon guppy male. Currently have about 12 babies in a separate jar lol I only separate them cause my African Dwarf Frog will eat the fry.
 
doktordoris said:
Poor guppies!

I didn't realise that the axie that I will be the proud owner of next week can eat guppies.

One of my adult tropical fish tanks has about 200 guppies in it!

And they are clever fry, when they are born they always find a way into the sectioned off corner of the tank that holds the filter cylinder. I suppose I better steel myself so I can bear to feed them to my axie. *sniff*

If I do this can I dispense with all other foods, or should the guppies just be a dietary addition?

Thanks.
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I have found (as cruel as it is) that if I try to breed my own strain of guppies for certain colors/ look/tail shape. The ones that don't fit the profile criteria are much easier to part with.

---

A few months ago I got rid of all but 2 guppies one male one female. In a baby bio orb with a fakeplant in the middle and a little java moss and the chunky bioorb ceramic media. I only feed them every third day or so and don't go out if my way to save any babies and do a water change once a month or So... I know not ideal care, but I have restricted aquarium space and want a stronger strain... Only the strong survive mentality I have well over 30 fish now.

Before I get strung up, they will be moving(and splitting up males and females for more selective breeding) into a planted 10 gallon tank and a 20 gal shared with newts. Just as soon as my newts permanent enclosure is complete.

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redfoxloki said:
Been feeding my axies guppy fry and white cloud minnows for awhile now,
Great food for axies, dont recommend keeping guppies and axies together for to long, Guppies love warm water(26degreesC.) In my reading, keeping axies at this temp for too long would stress them out beyond belief, How they love eating those fry though! White clouds however can tolerate lower temperatures, and with enough plant cover and population, should live in harmony and breed in the same tank as you're axies without too many of them going missing(Maybe, damm those axies can eat!). Great thread guys.

Redfoxloki:happy:.
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Guppys can tolerate down to 18C, mine are currently at 22c happy and breeding.
 
If I were you, I woudnt feed my axies live fish because the sickness of marine bio organisms can be be transferred to our axies. A good example is fungus. axies aren't the only who can get fungus, fishes get it more frequently. There are also other diseases and viruses that can be transmitted so it would be best to be sure that our axies remain healthy I would suggest feeding axies blood worms considering they have a certain aroma that attracts the axies as well as there are no transmittable viruses in blood worms. If your axies have a large appetite I would suggest superworms but then again I would suggest first slicing the superworms in half.
 
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the best guppy i find to use as food is the gambusia, also known as the mosquito fish, they have more meat on them compared to the fancies( all body little tail) also cheaper .50-.90C, the best way to breed them is to establish a 10-20gal heavily planted bare bottom tank, temp about 74-78F, (higher temps speeds the growth) ph 7,5 - 8.5, you want to clump your plants and mosses on the side away from the filter intake, and leave the other side open, male to female ratio should be 1 male to 3 females, and 3 groups will produce more guppies than you'll need. you wanna do 25% water changes 3 times a week, and feed small amounts of a quality flake food 3 times a day and supplement with blood worms and brine shrimp 2-3 times a week.
 
Gambusia are great. They are so tough and easy (you wouldn´t believe the conditions i´ve seen them thriving in) that you can culture them by having a large container with plants and debris and leaving it alone....just some occasional feeding and the odd water change. They are not guppies, though. It´s a different species and they shouldn´t be confussed.
Guppy = Poecilia reticulata
Gambusia = Gambusia affinis or G.holbrooki.

Always remember that fish shouldn´t be a significant part of the diet. They are ok as part of it as long as it´s healthy and varied.
As for bloodworms, they are a nice addition to the diet, but cannot be the staple. They are not nutritionally complete and if used as the primary source of food, severe problems can arise with time. Superworms are quite inadequate and personally i don´t see the point of using them at all. There are so many other options that are far superior....
 
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I'm a firm believer in earthworms. I built a worm bin <all from Walmart, 2 large plastic bins $10, 4 cups pan worms from sports area $10, shredded wet newspaper, throw in some bread, some lettuce and a wee bit 'o corn flour> and haven't needed to buy worms yet. Also the big plus of feeding the worms on a diet of other than poop <yep, it's what they are raised in on most worm farms> there should be little to no chance of them passing on any parasites/diseases. I have huge fat worms all the way down to small baby worms <work great for juvies>. I do occasionally give the axxies a treat of guppies, chicken, bloodworms, etc... but it is just a treat, not the main food source. Not only are the worms a great food source, but they are very much "set it and forget it" when it comes to care. I used bigger bins than the ones in the link, but that's because I have a lot of hungry mouths to feed and I got them on sale. Cheap and Easy Worm Bin!
 
Thanks for the link Satyrlike! I'm going to try this one. What keeps the little wormies from escaping out the bottom of the bin though?
 
i brought 10 guppys about 14 days ago and had 20 by the next morning, i put a male in the tank with my Axie - Axle and wanted to watch him catch it, after 10 minutes i went to get a drink, came back and boom, guppy gone! i missed it, I need to get a fry tub for the guppy tank as the 10 babies are now 6, although the remaning babies have safe places to hide i dont want to jepordise my feeding stock as it were, saves £££'s breeding your own feeding stock and helps your axie keep fit chasing them :D
 
personally, I have a 10g for adult guppies to breed in.. secondarily I also use another 10g just for the fry to grow. I have set up a third 5g tank where I can seperate the older larger fry to avoid guppy cannibalism.. With 4 adult axolotls and 5 four month olds I go thru a lot of fish.. The adults eat rosies, guppie (adults) and comets with a bloodworm snack occasionally. My little 5 eat a majority of bloodworms and guppy (1 week-1 month old) fry.. I would suggest a small variety of foods to keep them happy and healthy. I would NOT house any food in-tank with my axolotls.. not only do they eat anything that swims by them (other than tankmate axolotls) but they will over eat, which causes some concern and health issues. Mostly my main concern is the "smarter fish" picking at gills of the axo's which can damage them greatly and cause a fungus (white filmy puss looking stuff) which has been deadly to one thus far (in my experience).. point blank. guppy breeding is VERY easy. A lot of plastic plants and a watchful eye will help expand your guppy food source immensely in about 2 months. again.. I would highly reccomend housing fry aside from adults.. I have had fantastic results.. The more I have removed fry, the larger quantity the guppies have produced. Guppy adults are heated at 78* f (fed twice daily), and fry also 78-80* f (fed almost every 3 hrs). good luck and happy feeding!! =)
 
Hi, have you considered endlers? Related to guppies, they don't eat the babies so no messing with breeding traps. Also white cloud mountain minnows areprolific and don't eat their babies. They like lower temperatures too.
 
White (or yellow) cloud mountain minnows are notoriously hard to breed compared to guppies and other livebearers.
Mollys/platys have larger fry than guppys (better food?) but yes I agree Endlers would be good although a waste to use them as feeders as true endlers are becoming rarer and are stunningly pretty :)
 
How does the water temp of the Axolotl tank affect the guppies?? I have a 55 with guppies and platies and am setting up an Axolotl tank that will be partially planted. I wanted to add some of the fry from the guppies and platies to the Axolotl tank as feeders. Does/will the cold water kill the tropical fish??
Thanks
 
Guppies can survive in water as low as 65 degrees Fahrenheit. Mind you I'm not sure how well the fry will be, but I imagine they would be okay as long as they're acclimated to the temp.
 
I tend to keep my main breeding adults in their 10 gallon. I put young fry in the axie tank. I think they tend to thrive better in the lower temps when they develop in it (versus being tossed in as a adults who grew in a tank with a heater).

If certain fry manage to survive long enough to show color, and I like their colors, I reward them by putting them back in the guppy tank so they can breed instead of being eaten :)
 
Hm, I already have some guppy fry I am growing to go into my community tank so it looks like I'll have a bonus source of food for any axolotls I raise. Circle of life and all that.
 
So I was thinking of putting live fish in my tank for my axies to eat.
Is gambusia affinis (mosquito fish) a good fish for them eat?
They're an aggressive fish and I'm afraid they might bit attack the axies gills.
Gambusia affinis have been living in a pond in my backyard for 3 or 4 years. There is nothing else exciting in my pond except small water snails. (Use to share it with tadpole, but they are long gone. My frogs are in there own tank:frog:)

How/how long should I quarantine the Gambusia before giving to my axies?
 
FireStar said:
So I was thinking of putting live fish in my tank for my axies to eat.
Is gambusia affinis (mosquito fish) a good fish for them eat?
They're an aggressive fish and I'm afraid they might bit attack the axies gills.
Gambusia affinis have been living in a pond in my backyard for 3 or 4 years. There is nothing else exciting in my pond except small water snails. (Use to share it with tadpole, but they are long gone. My frogs are in there own tank:frog:)

How/how long should I quarantine the Gambusia before giving to my axies?
Click to expand...

A month long quarantine should be enough. And just keep an eye on them to see if they bully the axies or not. Chances are they'll be too afraid of them.
 
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