Guppy fry struggles

[AnotherHumanPerson]

I am new to fish breeding/raising fry, and few weeks ago, my female guppy gave birth to what I counted to be around 15 fry in an established 29 gallon planted tank with no other fish. Shortly after she gave birth, I removed the mother. A few days later, all of the fry had died. My water had 0 nitrate, nitrite, and ammonia, and had a high ph and gh as usual. The tank was heated to 70 degrees Fahrenheit (the room I had it in was usually 65 degrees), and I fed the fry xtreme nano two times a day. I noticed the same female is gravid again, and I want the fry to survive. From what I have read, I need to heat the tank more and feed more. Are my assumptions correct? Are there any other potential reasons for the deaths? 

[Barbvday]

If the mother is new she may have birthed prematurely… it happens sometimes.

Guppies are quite tolerant of temps but a heater may help. It is odd that there’s 0 nitrates though, it can happen in heavily planted tank but normally that’s the time when I add some ferts. Not sure if more food was needed, especially in a planted tank with no other fish, I personally only feed guppy babies 2x per day on average and they do fine.

[AnotherHumanPerson]

On 7/16/2022 at 1:51 PM, Barbvday said:

If the mother is new she may have birthed prematurely… it happens sometimes.

Guppies are quite tolerant of temps but a heater may help. It is odd that there’s 0 nitrates though, it can happen in heavily planted tank but normally that’s the time when I add some ferts. Not sure if more food was needed, especially in a planted tank with no other fish, I personally only feed guppy babies 2x per day on average and they do fine.

I posted something similar on Reddit, and they agreed that it could be premature birth.

I’m getting a new heater in on Monday, so that should fix my temp issue. 
I might also add some easy green to my next aquarium co-op order.

[Guppy Guy]

I'm sure you are aware of this, but make sure the filter isn't too strong, or the fry could get sucked up or get stressed from the extra current. Feeding shouldn't be an issue, as my guppy fry eat whatever food scraps are around. Keep a layer of mulm on the bottom of the tank, as  it provides shelter, food, and a sense of safety for the fry.

If the aquarium is heavily planted, and I mean can't see through the plants heavily planted, just leave the adult guppies in the tank. The fry will hide, and the other fish won't be stressed from getting removed, and when they grow up(about 5-8 months), they will fit in with the other fish fine. If you go with that approach, just make sure you stay on top of water quality. Within a year, there will be a ton of fish, and that means water quality drops faster.

[AnotherHumanPerson]

On 7/16/2022 at 2:14 PM, Guppy Guy said:

I'm sure you are aware of this, but make sure the filter isn't too strong, or the fry could get sucked up or get stressed from the extra current. Feeding shouldn't be an issue, as my guppy fry eat whatever food scraps are around. Keep a layer of mulm on the bottom of the tank, as  it provides shelter, food, and a sense of safety for the fry.

If the aquarium is heavily planted, and I mean can't see through the plants heavily planted, just leave the adult guppies in the tank. The fry will hide, and the other fish won't be stressed from getting removed, and when they grow up(about 5-8 months), they will fit in with the other fish fine. If you go with that approach, just make sure you stay on top of water quality. Within a year, there will be a ton of fish, and that means water quality drops faster.

I have a sponge filter on that tank, so (to my knowledge) the filter should be no issue.

Although the parents tank isn’t densely planted, I am thinking of putting a few water lettuce in the tank to avoid the hassle of moving fish around.

[Guppy Guy]

If my HOB doesn't give me problems, your sponge filter is definitely fine.

As far as plants go, my favorite by far is java moss. Besides providing shelter for the fry, it also sucks a ton of nitrates out of the water column, so much so that when I removed all of it from my tank last year, it crashed because the most efficient filter was taken out and the existing one couldn't keep up with the bio-load. From there nature did its thing, and fish kept dying until the balance was met and everything fixed itself. Of course, I didn't know this at the time or I would have added it back into the tank, but at least I know it now.

[lefty o]

i can assure you 70 degree's is not the problem. mine go from 65-76 being unheated, and i have no problems with fry related to temp.

[gardenman]

There could have been a parasite that the mother fish was immune to that killed the fry. I don't think it would have been water temp or a lack of food. Some fish are carriers of parasites and build a resistance to them. It doesn't sound like water current would be an issue.  If the issue returns with new fry, I'd look to a parasite as the possible cause.  From time to time you'll get a new fish that looks and acts fine but has a parasite that kills everything else in the tank. A parasite that's little more than a nuisance to an adult fish can be a big problem for small fry. Sometimes things just happen too and there's no good reason. See if the problem recurs and go from there.

[Brandon p]

How much air is moving through the sponge filter and is the filter oversized for the tank. As for food they with eat anything that will fit in its mouth. Co-op sells some in the squirt bottle you can also use repashy straight out of the bottle. Just a little on a chop stick is probably more that you need. Some fish Parmenides don’t get it right the first few times.

[AnotherHumanPerson]

On 7/17/2022 at 1:16 PM, Brandon p said:

How much air is moving through the sponge filter and is the filter oversized for the tank. As for food they with eat anything that will fit in its mouth. Co-op sells some in the squirt bottle you can also use repashy straight out of the bottle. Just a little on a chop stick is probably more that you need. Some fish Parmenides don’t get it right the first few times.

I am using a medium sized sponge filter and the 20-50 gallon air pump the co-op used to sell before they came out with the new one. I have fallen off maintenance on that sponge filter, and I think it might be clogged a bit.

[Scapexghost]

Probably just a bad spawn. Guppies take a quantity over quality approach to procreating.

[Guppy Guy]

I have to agree with @Scapexghost. I didn’t think about a bad spawn, though it has happened to me. If that was your females first time spawning, that was probably the issue. Just let nature do its thing, and in a week or two, she’ll spawn again, hopefully with better results.

[Vince C]

I would recommend something like first bites or baby brine (live or frozen) for the first bit before nano pellets or crushed up flakes - and I have also found having them in a smaller breeder box helps no only protect when needed but helps them find food easily instead of searching a much larger tank. Best of luck on the next batch! One thing about guppies is you will have more within a month or so.

[AnotherHumanPerson]

On 7/17/2022 at 4:38 PM, Vince C said:

I would recommend something like first bites or baby brine (live or frozen) for the first bit before nano pellets or crushed up flakes - and I have also found having them in a smaller breeder box helps no only protect when needed but helps them find food easily instead of searching a much larger tank. Best of luck on the next batch! One thing about guppies is you will have more within a month or so.

I recently discovered some scuds in a tank, and am planning on starting a culture. Would that be good starting food for the fry?

[TeeJay]

Yes I think as well it may have just been a bad spawn. I don't really see anything you did wrong. I have a 29 gal guppy tank myself and I am overrun with fry at the moment. I run 2 med co op sponge filters. One on each side. As well as a tidal 55 with a pre filter on the intake. And plenty of plants. I have never had an issue with loosing fry into the tidal skimmer myself. I leave the adults with the fry without any issue as well. Just let mom have that next spawn and you may have totally different results 

[Vince C]

On 7/18/2022 at 6:31 PM, AnotherHumanPerson said:

I recently discovered some scuds in a tank, and am planning on starting a culture. Would that be good starting food for the fry?

I have never tried those myself. If you give it a shot make sure to report back on how it goes!

[JettsPapa]

If you go with community breeding (and that's what I do), I'd recommend getting some dense floating plants.  The fry will spend a lot of time near the top of the water, and that will give them a good hiding spot.  Guppy grass, pearl weed, and hornwort are good choices, but there are more options.

[Guppy Guy]

On 7/19/2022 at 12:09 PM, JettsPapa said:

If you go with community breeding (and that's what I do), I'd recommend getting some dense floating plants.  The fry will spend a lot of time near the top of the water, and that will give them a good hiding spot.  Guppy grass, pearl weed, and hornwort are good choices, but there are more options.

I agree completely, but know that hornwort can be finicky for me, so I prefer java moss

[JettsPapa]

On 7/20/2022 at 9:41 AM, Guppy Guy said:

I agree completely, but know that hornwort can be finicky for me, so I prefer java moss

Java moss is a good plant, but I was listing some floating plants so the fry have cover at the top of the tank.

And hornwort can be finicky for me too.  If I put a piece in a new tank it either never stops growing, or loses every needle in two days.  I've never figured out what triggers either behavior.

[BuzzDaddy21]

Guppies are great, I have a 20T with guppies and so far, I don`t separate them until I have to many, then I take some to the LFS.

CO-OP sells a good fry food, and it will last a long time. 

Good luck.

[bryanisag]

On 7/18/2022 at 3:31 PM, AnotherHumanPerson said:

I recently discovered some scuds in a tank, and am planning on starting a culture. Would that be good starting food for the fry?

The scuds in my tanks are more likely to eat guppy fry than be food for them. Definitely start that culture but I think they will be too big