Fish that are small and colorful, guppy fry can be a great addition to any aquarium. You may be wondering how to make sure your new batch of guppy fry grow up strong and healthy if you recently added them to your tank. These tiny fish require particular attention from the moment of birth in order to flourish. Their dietary needs differ greatly from those of adult guppies, and providing the proper nutrition can have a significant impact on their development and growth.
Guppy fry are tiny, delicate creatures in their early stages of life. They require small, easily ingested food that is high in nutrients. Their diet will have to alter as they get bigger in order to meet their growing requirements for nutrition. They will be able to realize their full potential if you know what to feed them at each developmental stage.
Everything you need to know about feeding guppy fry from birth to adulthood will be covered in this guide. We’ll go over the best kinds of food to give them, how often to feed them, and any additional advice you may have to keep them happy and healthy. You can be sure that your guppy fry will develop into stunning, colorful fish that will flourish in your aquarium by adhering to these guidelines.
What is needed in the first days
The fry continue to eat from the yolk sac even after they are born. However, its contents will only be available for a few hours at most. As a result, as soon as the guppies are born, begin feeding them.
Give them finely chopped boiled yolks diluted with water and live dust starting now and continuing through the seventh day. Little live food such as ciliates, rotifers, microworms, and Artemia nauplii make up live dust. Either breed it yourself or purchase one from a pet store.
Five to seven feedings should occur each day. Maintain consistent times between meals. Ensure that the fry’s bellies are always rounded. This indicates that they eat healthily. Remember to keep an eye on the water’s temperature. The ideal temperature during the initial days is 28 °C. Then, progressively lower it to 24 °C by 2 °C each week.
For guppy fry younger than one week old, the daylight hours should be at least twenty.
Feeding grown fry
Adolescent guppies are content to eat anything that fits in their tiny mouths and are less picky eaters. You can feed them store-bought dry mixes from day seven to day fifty. Offering premium live food to guppies is preferable, though. On it, they’ll grow more quickly and take on a gorgeous, vivid color.
Nematodes, crushed bloodworms, brine shrimp nauplii, and tubifex worms are appropriate. You can cook meals from scratch as well.
Having three meals a day will suffice to feed grown fry. It is also possible to shorten daylight hours to 12 hours.
Guppies are deemed adults at 60 days. They can now progressively be fed the same diet as other fish in an adult aquarium.
Live food
These comprise all organisms that fry naturally eat in their natural habitat. These include rotifers, cyclops, daphnia, cortemia, aulophorus, tubifex worms, and bloodworms. Even though they come from the wild and are abundant in ponds, it is not a good idea to catch them yourself. The possibility of infecting wild cultures exists. Furthermore, you run the risk of bringing adult predatory insects or even larvae into the aquarium with them, which would decimate the entire population of baby fish.
It’s simple to grow some kinds of live food at home. These are grindal, nematodes, aulophorus, tiny daphnia, and microworms. An illustration of how to raise microworms
- mix corn flour and water in such a ratio as to obtain a creamy mass, and add yeast to it;
- launch a microworm into the resulting nutrient medium and wait – in a few days it will produce offspring.
It is available as frozen live food. These are the same cultures as tubifex, aulophorus, daphnia, and others. Use them only if you are unable to find a substitute because they have fewer beneficial microelements.
Since getting a lot of food from one culture is rare, start several at once for independent breeding. You can switch them around in this manner, keeping your fry full at all times.
Home recipes
Common products can be used to make a high-protein meal. Let’s look at a few recipes for homemade fries that are filling and well-balanced.
Boiled egg
Crack open a chicken egg, take out the yolk, and use a fork to crumble it. Subsequently, dilute using a small quantity of aquarium water and pour into a container containing fry using a pipette. The yolk can be wrapped in a piece of gauze, dropped into a container filled with guppies, and swirled to release egg dust, which will be fed to the young. Remember that this kind of feeding quickly taints the water. Change the water more frequently than usual if you use it.
Yogurt
Cover it with boiling water. The protein casein will clot and curdle. Use a small-holed net to catch it, then thoroughly rinse it off of the whey. Shake the net over the water to feed the fish. The tiniest food particles will settle on the water’s surface. Yogurt does not actively pollute the aquarium environment like yolks do.
Dry milk
Transfer fresh milk onto a plate and set it over a pot of boiling water. Stir the liquid until it evaporates. The resultant powder is entirely consumed by the fry during the hours that it can stay undissolved in water. When purchasing pre-made dry milk at the store, be sure to read the composition as it shouldn’t include any additional ingredients!
Omelette
Pour 100 ml of boiling milk into the pan while stirring constantly, add 2 hours’ worth of nettles or oatmeal, and knock 2 eggs into it. Take the egg off the heat source and let it cool once it curls. Chop before giving to the fry.
Cheese
Grate the natural hard cheese using the tiniest grater and, if required, pat dry. It ruins water quickly, so add it little by little.
The fry may only receive home-cooked food as an addition to their diet. Because it lacks some essential nutrients, it cannot satisfy their needs as a complete meal.
Guppies that are newborns need to be fed phytoplankton, algae, and other plant-based foods. Feeding them chopped live food is crucial.
For guppy fry to grow and develop normally, they must be fed correctly from birth until adulthood. They require a balanced diet from the beginning because of their small size and high energy requirements. It is ensured that they receive the proper nutrients at every stage by starting with infusoria, or finely crushed flakes, for newborns and progressively introducing more nutritious options, like micro-worms and baby brine shrimp, as they grow. By being aware of these nutritional requirements, you can raise guppies that are healthy and vibrant, creating a vibrant and lively environment in your aquarium.
On the shelves of the store
Pet stores sell a wide variety of dry foods made especially for frying. Their higher protein content and more intense grinding set them apart from mixes meant for mature fish. Powders and tiny granules are among the available options.
Gradually introduce dry food to the fry. Give them to live and frozen crops first, then supplement with them.Just before transferring them to an adult aquarium, switch them over entirely to them.
The primary benefit of purchased food is its balance, which is extremely challenging to accomplish with natural nutrition. The vitamins, minerals, calcium fluoride, and other nutrients necessary for the complete growth and development of guppy fries are added by the manufacturers.
Aquarists favor the following brands of dry food:
Summary
Guppy fry start eating as soon as they are born. Five to seven days, then three to four times. They are initially fed nothing but finely chopped chicken yolks and live dust. Next, freshly prepared food. The fry are put back into the parent aquarium when they are two months old. You must gradually switch them over to dry food, which is what other adult fish eat, as this date draws near.
There isn’t a perfect all-purpose dish for guppy fries. Each has virtues and vices of their own. Three primary guidelines should be adhered to when feeding them: moderation, balance, and consistency.
| Age | Recommended Food |
| Newborn (0-1 week) | Infusoria or powdered fry food |
| 1-2 weeks | Liquid fry food or crushed flakes |
| 2-4 weeks | Microworms or finely crushed pellets |
| 1-2 months | Baby brine shrimp or small pellet food |
| 2+ months | Standard guppy pellets or flake food |
If done correctly, raising guppy fry from birth to adulthood can be a fulfilling experience. To suit their small size and high growth needs, start with small, nutrient-rich foods like infusoria or powdered fry food. To ensure proper development, gradually introduce larger foods as they grow, such as micro-worms and crushed flakes.
Maintaining consistency is essential. You can make sure your guppy fry are getting the nutrients they need for a healthy growth by feeding them on a regular schedule and with a varied diet. To prevent overfeeding, which can result in problems with the quality of the water, pay attention to their behavior and modify portion sizes.
Give your guppies a balanced diet to support their continued growth as they get closer to adulthood. Your guppy fry will flourish and mature into healthy adult fish with good care and feeding procedures, adding to the color and energy of your aquarium.
