# Lethargic Male After Fry Born?



## xoWhiteNoise (Nov 14, 2009)

Ok, so today, after getting home from replacing my poor fish with the arched back that died, I noticed fry swimming around my plants and the corners of the aquarium! I was very excited and quickly removed all that I could find, and took a final count of 7, which is pretty good considering the two hungry adult fish swimming in the aquarium.

I went to the pet store and bought a breeding tank to keep the fry in, even though I did not want to use it for the actual birthing. I have a 5.5 gallon tank and now I have 3 adult guppies -one male and two female- and now 7 fry. I got home from work and noticed one small fry swimming in the corner, and by the time i grabbed my net it had been eaten. I also saw another and tried to catch it but it swam away and I couldn't find it again. Probably another victim.

I know that there are way too many fish for my small aquarium but I am going to inquire at the LFS to see if they will maybe buy a few when they get older.

Question, how long until I can release them into the tank?

Anyway, that is the least of my concern. After I gave up and fishing out the last little fry, my male was sitting at the bottom and did not respond to my finger by the glass or even the net next to him. I thought he was dead but he wasn't. After I chased him gently off of the gravel, he is swimming around a little but still lethargic. He does not seem to be having trouble swimming, no drifting on his side or anything, but I am worried.
Could this be due to eating fry? Will eating they fry hurt my fish? I am afraid of them being poisoned. The new fish and the one that just gave birth seem fine. 

Watching the new mother fish, I noticed that she seemed a little less aggressive that before (she would nip at other fish and go after them) but still very energetic and very swimmy. Could the aggressiveness be only due to being close to birthing time?

Sorry for all the questions, I just don't want to mess up again, I am not good at fish 

xoWhiteNoise

P.S. The first picture is of my male, Leo, being lethargic and chillin at the bottom. 

The second is the three fish that were in my tank, the one on the far left died wednesday. The black one is the female that gave birth today.

The third one is of the three fish in my aquarium today, I took it like ten minutes ago.


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## AquaNeko (Jul 26, 2009)

I cna't answer most of the questions but it is easier to remove the adult guppies then the fry from all I've read online. Once you remove the parents into another container then have at it with trying to scoop up all your fry without worrying about them getting inhaled by the adult fish. Once you're sure you got most of the fry out then put the adult fish back in.


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## Calmer (Mar 9, 2008)

It looks to me that you have all females and they do become fertile very early on in life before they are brought home. From what I can see in the pictures is that the guppy in the first picture is a female. In fact all your guppies seem to be females.
http://gtaaquaria.com/forum/attachment.php?attachmentid=4726&d=1259991421 
She is probably the one that gave birth. If she is being pestered from the other fish then it is best to separate her into another cycled aquarium. Keep the water warm (78F) and feed her well with frozen or freeze dried bloodworms and flake food. If she isn't being pestered in the aquarium then leave her there and feed them all well. It's usually the males that pester the females by courting and you don't seem to have any males in there. So fatten her up and hope for the best. She is still young.
Also your aquarium looks very clean but the gravel is large and traps hidden debris below it. When you clean the aquarium make sure that you use a gravel cleaner to get to the fish wastes.


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## Calmer (Mar 9, 2008)

Sorry I didn't address your other questions. 


xoWhiteNoise said:


> Question, how long until I can release them into the tank?


About 2 weeks or more. Definately a month would do it. Whatever fry that won't fit into the parent guppies mouth. Crushing the flake food to a powder would be okay food for the babies. Just enough to fill them at least 3 times a day.


xoWhiteNoise said:


> Could this be due to eating fry? Will eating they fry hurt my fish? I am afraid of them being poisoned.


No it is normal for guppies to eat the fry. Actually some guppies follow the expectant females and eat the babies as they emerge. 


xoWhiteNoise said:


> Could the aggressiveness be only due to being close to birthing time?


Possibly but as long as it isn't excessive then don't worry.


xoWhiteNoise said:


> Sorry for all the questions


Don't be as that is what we are all here for is to help and learn from each other.


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## xoWhiteNoise (Nov 14, 2009)

The attachment picture that you posted is of my least aggressive fish, and he is a male. The black female in the second and third picture is the one that gave birth. 

I have one male and two females, as I stated above. Removing the adult fish into another container is a good idea, I never thought of that  I will do that the next time I get a batch of fry.

P.S. I do have a vacuum, but it either doesn't work or I am stupid and don't know how to use it lol. The gravel and poop and stuff do not get sucked up when I used it, therefore defeating the purpose. The one I have has a gravel filter on it so it is supposed to only get the poop. Someone please help me on how to use it lol

P.S.S. Leo, my male, is less lethargic now, he seems normal. I think he just had a full tummy from all those babies xD


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## Byronicle (Apr 18, 2009)

lol well there are 2 ways to starting your siphon, the dirty quick way and the alternative

1) You put the thicker part of the siphon into the aquarium, and you suck onto the other end. Keeping an eye on the water coming through the tube, you keep sucking until the water, until gravity does the rest of the work. However, you can expect that you may get some nasty water into your mouth

2) The other way is to fill up your siphon with water, pouring water through the thick end, however water will start pouring out the other end, so you have to keep your thumb on top of the other end, then you put your thick end into the aquarium, make sure there are no bubbles, then release your thumb on the other hand

for both methods!! the hose should be pouring water into a bucket, obviously! but this bucket needs to be at a lower level than the aquarium, since it is gravity that is pulling the water out of the fish tank and down into the bucket. hope that helps. if not youtube!!!


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## Chris S (Dec 19, 2007)

Pretty sure those are three female guppies. As Calmer stated, many often come from the LFS gravid, which would explain your fry.

Your local LFS might give you a small store credit for fish, but guppies aren't really worth too much.

It is always interesting to grow out fry though, so enjoy it!


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## Byronicle (Apr 18, 2009)

its a male, in the third picture you can see that there is purple green colouring on its body, and you can barely make out the gonopium thingy as well in the third pic


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## xoWhiteNoise (Nov 14, 2009)

Ok, guys, just to clarify, I KNOW that the one is a male, and I KNOW that the females I bought were pregnant. I was no surprise that they were going to give birth, I just thought it wasn't going to be so soon 

And Chris S., I really really want to keep them but I am afraid that there will be too many in my small 5.5 gallon tank  there was one more fry today that I saved, so now there would be 11 guppies which is way too many  I want to do what is healthiest for them. Also I don't want fights if I end up with half of them being males. Is there any way that they all could live happily in such a small aquarium? I don't think so


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## Chris S (Dec 19, 2007)

I would usually look for a gonopodium, but really hard to tell from those pictures. Based on colour alone, I would say female.

Looking again, impossible to tell on the lowest guppy in the picture, but I was likely looking for more brilliant colours on him. The top female seems to have nicer colouring than he does!

If you can`t find a petstore to take in your extra guppies, you can probably find someone via the forums to take them as feeders or add to their community tanks.


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## xoWhiteNoise (Nov 14, 2009)

Lol don't make fun of him! He doesn't have amazing colors but I still love him. But he definitely has a gonopodium, even though he is not interested it using it: I have never seen him go after one of my females. I will get a better pic of him though.

Feeders?! D: Not my babies!! D:


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