Guppy population control!

[Siett88]

I have a 40 breeder that had just corys, so I added 2 male and 4 female guppy, because the tank was at eye level for my daughter, and what kid doesn't like babies? Fast forward 3 months and I have a full (I mean FULL) tank of guppies. The parents seem to have no interest in predating (the tank is well fed). Is there any fish that would pick off some here and there, but not decimate them? I had a thought that a few scarlet badis would be cool, but any suggestions would be appreciated.

[Dawn T]

I've had dwarf gouramis, blue gouramis, and bettas in community tanks to control livebearer populations. Worked for swordtails and platies, so should definitely work for guppies.

[Colu]

Rivulus killifish make great predators of guppy fry

 

[Matt_]

You may want to look at how many hiding spots there are for the fry and how well fed the fish are.  My betta does not eat enough guppy fry to attenuate the population in my heavily planted, well fed 65 gal tank.  I have also seen guppy parents hunt fry into the corners of the tank and eat them when there are less hiding spots and the parents are hungry.

[AAE]

On 12/28/2020 at 8:56 PM, Dawn T said:

I've had dwarf gouramis, blue gouramis, and bettas in community tanks to control livebearer populations. Worked for swordtails and platies, so should definitely work for guppies.

@Dawn T, did you have any problems with your Betta being agressive toward your guppies?

On 12/28/2020 at 9:05 PM, Colu said:

Rivulus killifish make great predators of guppy fry

 

@Colu, are there any other killifish you know of that would be good to keep guppy fry populations down?

On 12/28/2020 at 9:18 PM, Matt_ said:

You may want to look at how many hiding spots there are for the fry and how well fed the fish are.  My betta does not eat enough guppy fry to attenuate the population in my heavily planted, well fed 65 gal tank.  I have also seen guppy parents hunt fry into the corners of the tank and eat them when there are less hiding spots and the parents are hungry.

@Matt_, did you have any issues with your betta being agressive toward your guppies?

[Tony s]

@AAE I currently have bettas with platys, green neons, harlequin rasboras, neons. not guppies, yet. Usually, bettas are aggressive with only other bettas or in some cases betta like fish. It's usually the case that the bettas are the ones being beaten upon. I've had them with lemon tetras and black skirt tetras. Both of which ended badly for the betta. I would actually worry about the guppies being nippy. They are usually very curious and always very active. And not all bettas are the same. Some are born with a screw loose and harass everything. I've only had a couple of those

Edited October 29 by Tony s

[Maximus]

An African dwarf frog might be an option here, but probably not for anything bigger than a juvenile guppy.

[Colu]

3 hours ago, AAE said:

are there any other killifish you know of that would be good to keep guppy fry populations down?

Anablepsoides hartii is a South American killifish that prey's on guppies in the wild 

[reefhugger]

I had a similar situation in that my husband wanted guppies.  After a bit of trying to control the population with other fish that are supposed to eat guppy fry etc. I now have one tank of female guppies and one of male guppies.  It took months of monitoring the female tank and removing young males.  But I now have two stable tanks.    I did wind up euthanizing many guppy fry with clove oil out of necessity as female guppies can retain eggs and produce many  fry for a long time.   Getting guppies is a decision I regretted for a long time but now that the populations are stable I can enjoy them.  I've able to safely add females to other large tanks where they can be happy.  

[AAE]

On 10/29/2024 at 6:21 PM, Colu said:

Anablepsoides hartii is a South American killifish that prey's on guppies in the wild 

@Colu, does this killifish eat adults or just the fry?  Thanks for your response.

 

[Colu]

10 hours ago, AAE said:

@Colu, does this killifish eat adults or just the fry?  Thanks for your response.

 

From what I have read they predominantly prey on small immature guppies