The Planted Tank Forum - View Single Post - Karackle's guppy/endler experiment RIP

**Karackle** · 10-16-2008, 08:50 PM

So I have this little "for fun" experiment in mind where I want to make some Guppy/Endler hybrids and see what I come up with, mostly I want to see if I can get a clutch of fry that have endler looking males with less dull looking females. But I'm intrigued to see what all I come up with, and I'll hand off the fry to my LFS when they're big enough.

So currently I've got my females all in my 20g and my males all in my 30g so that I can let the females drop any fry they may have been pregnant with when they arrived before i start my endeavor. When I'm ready to mate them I'll put the males and females of my choosing into a separate home for a few days to let them do their thing and then I will move them back to their respective tanks. I'll let the females hang out in the community tanks for a few weeks while the fry are developping, the conditions are stable so I figure that's better than keeping then separated from the get go. I'll move them to wherever I decide I'm going to house the fry after about 3 weeks (so about a week before they're theoretically supposed to start dropping fry) (let me know if it seems like there are any issues with my plan thus far)

On to my question

Is there a good way to separate the female to drop the fry / raise the fry in one of the community tanks (but of course separate from the other fish)? I live in a small apartment so real estate is at a premium and I already have my 30g, 5g and Gecko set up in my bedroom (along with my QT tank on my desk....kind of in the way but no where else to put it) My 20g is in my hall and I have 2 dogs that run amok...So the less space I take up with this project the better. I've heard the floating "breeder boxes" are not that great and can cause stress on the mom, but I'm wondering whether those green mesh bags that can be hung on the side would work? That way there's be no need for water changed, they'd get flow and filtration, but would be away from the hungry mouths of the other fish in my tank....and much easier to separate out when it's time for them to go!

I know i'll have to move them into something larger at some point because they'll probably outgrow the breeder net before they're large enough to go to the LFS, but if I could cut down on the time I need the extra tank set up that would be great.

Or if anyone has any other ideas they'd like to suggest please let me know.

I have a little time to think about this and gather my supplies since I want to give the females another few weeks to drop any fry they might cook up in their ovens with stored sperm :-P

Thanks in advance!

10-16-2008, 08:50 PM	#1 (permalink)
Karackle Tankaholic (View User Tanks) PTrader: (13/100%) Join Date: Dec 2007 Location: Albany, NY Posts: 2,006	Karackle's guppy/endler experiment RIP - taken down in preparation for moving So I have this little "for fun" experiment in mind where I want to make some Guppy/Endler hybrids and see what I come up with, mostly I want to see if I can get a clutch of fry that have endler looking males with less dull looking females. But I'm intrigued to see what all I come up with, and I'll hand off the fry to my LFS when they're big enough. So currently I've got my females all in my 20g and my males all in my 30g so that I can let the females drop any fry they may have been pregnant with when they arrived before i start my endeavor. When I'm ready to mate them I'll put the males and females of my choosing into a separate home for a few days to let them do their thing and then I will move them back to their respective tanks. I'll let the females hang out in the community tanks for a few weeks while the fry are developping, the conditions are stable so I figure that's better than keeping then separated from the get go. I'll move them to wherever I decide I'm going to house the fry after about 3 weeks (so about a week before they're theoretically supposed to start dropping fry) (let me know if it seems like there are any issues with my plan thus far) On to my question Is there a good way to separate the female to drop the fry / raise the fry in one of the community tanks (but of course separate from the other fish)? I live in a small apartment so real estate is at a premium and I already have my 30g, 5g and Gecko set up in my bedroom (along with my QT tank on my desk....kind of in the way but no where else to put it) My 20g is in my hall and I have 2 dogs that run amok...So the less space I take up with this project the better. I've heard the floating "breeder boxes" are not that great and can cause stress on the mom, but I'm wondering whether those green mesh bags that can be hung on the side would work? That way there's be no need for water changed, they'd get flow and filtration, but would be away from the hungry mouths of the other fish in my tank....and much easier to separate out when it's time for them to go! I know i'll have to move them into something larger at some point because they'll probably outgrow the breeder net before they're large enough to go to the LFS, but if I could cut down on the time I need the extra tank set up that would be great. Or if anyone has any other ideas they'd like to suggest please let me know. I have a little time to think about this and gather my supplies since I want to give the females another few weeks to drop any fry they might cook up in their ovens with stored sperm :-P Thanks in advance! __________________ Check out my online jewelry store! zombeader.etsy.com (or click below) I make custom pieces too! 30g Planted tank, ~~20gH Planted tank~~, ~~10g Guppy/Endler Breeding Tank~~, ~~5g Planted Betta Tank~~ 2 Dogs, Leo an 12 year old Bichon/poodle mix, and Cody, a 4 year old Poodle, 1 Crested gecko named Squishy I enjoy having a zoo to care for! Last edited by Karackle; 07-13-2009 at 04:42 PM.