best way to net/catch guppy fry?

[KittenFishMom]

I want to get a net, or something, to catch some of the guppy fry. What kind of net will work well? I have been looking on Amazon, but I seem only find breeder boxes or nets for big fish. I don't want to hurt the fry. Maybe something big enough to scoop up the plants they are hiding in would work well? I also looked on YouTube for videos showing people catching fry in nets, but could not find any.

Any advice on how to avoid stressing them would be great.

I use to use a net to feed my bullhead fry. They swam into it every time they saw the net. They any their food were much bigger than the guppy fry.

[Guppy Guy]

I would personally leave the fry in the tank that they are in, and move the adults out of the tank. You could leave the adults in the tank, but ensure that there are plenty of plants for the fry to hide in(thats what I do).

[KittenFishMom]

I was going to give some guppy to someone, and thought I would give him some adults and some fry. but fry don't do well when given away early.

[Patrick_G]

I have a few different size nets, nothing special, just cheap petco ones. I find the medium ones are best for catching guppy fry. I use two nets, one for catching them and one for herding them. 

[lefty o]

ive always just used standard plain ol' fish tank nets.

[Torrey]

I have to admit my favorite net for catching fish is the Co-op net.🤷‍♂️

My favorite method for catching fish in heavily planted tanks is a fish trap.

Sadly, I rarely have enough advanced notice to use the fish trap.🤦‍♂️

[JettsPapa]

I like to use the small nets made for catching shrimp.  They stay open, which helps.  They're about $6.00 on Amazon.

I have three of them scattered around.  They're also handy for when I want to "fish" out a single fish when I have several in a larger net or container.

[B1gJ4k3]

I never seem to have great luck with nets in general, so I've been using a turkey baster to suck up/transport ram fry. It might not be the best solution, but it's worked OK for me.

[1moretank]

If your tank is shallow (10 or 29 gallon) try putting an algae wafer in a cup (I like the size betta are sold in).  Lower it in the tank and wait 5-10 minutes, guppies go for the wafers every time in my experience.  Then lift the cup out and use your fingers to return any you did not want to catch back into the tank.

Good luck.

[Minanora]

So today when I wanted to change the water in my sons 20G, I thought about how I was going to catch a bunch of female guppies that needed to get moved into the grow out tank. I legit scooped them all up in a taco bell cup that I use to manage water in the tank. They were looking for food, then they just got sucked into the cup. I got all 18. Put them into a 2.5g bucket that I filled partway with that water, to submerge the breeder net while i did a large water change. Then I put them in a specimen container to pick out the ones I wanted to keep for future breeding and netted them back into the main tank. The rest are in the grow out tank.

I use a variety of nets to catch fish, but sometimes a cup is the way to go.

[Cinnebuns]

I didn't read all the replies so sorry if this was already said. I literally asked my guppy breeding mentor this yesterday. The one she suggested is listed on Amazon as:  UPETTOOLS Fish Shrimp Skimming Net Fine Mesh Extendable Stainless Steel Handle Fishing Net for Aquarium Fish Tank Pond Creek

I can't speak for it personally as I haven't used it but she said she loves it. Hope this helps. 

[KittenFishMom]

@Cinnebuns Thanks !

[the other Irene]

i use a shrimp net to fish out all the guppy fry to a grow out tank and so far all are well and growing

 

[sumplkrum]

Same. Shrimp net.

It also helps later if you want to split up the sexes. The one I have is white, which makes it a little easier to see gravid spots.
I use the coop's specimen containers - the net is about the same width. It's pretty easy to isolate a fish at one end with the net, look in to see if there's a spot, then move it to another tank/container.

[PaigeIs]

On 2/18/2022 at 7:09 PM, B1gJ4k3 said:

I never seem to have great luck with nets in general, so I've been using a turkey baster to suck up/transport ram fry. It might not be the best solution, but it's worked OK for me.

I've had good luck with using a turkey baster to grab platy fry (similar in size to guppy fry) when they are very small.  I've also found scooping them up with a plastic measuring cup pretty easy.

[Beardedbillygoat1975]

I keep a pond planter in my breeding setup. The holes are too small for the adults and the fry can come and go without a problem. I figured it out from watching the Goliad Farms videos. Netting them is easy when there’s such a concentration of them.