Surprise guppy babies!

[ornery_hipster]

Today I noticed a baby in my tank and scooped him out, then I found 11 others. Turns out one of our boy guppies was a girl and let babies go all over my tank. I have her separated and the babies separated in bowls right now since it was a surprise and I had no time to prepare for this (right before I went off to work, actually). I have a small 2 gallon tank I can put the babies in. How long will I need to keep them there before I can tell which are boys and which are girls? I plan to keep the boys and put them back in my main tank. Also, how long does it take before they're big enough to not look like food to all my other fish?

Now the pet store told us that my other fish can become sick from eating the babies but I haven't found anything warning me of this anywhere online. Is that true?

Aaaaand do I need to know anything else about special care for these babies?

[ornery_hipster]

Generally, how long does it take for them to grow big enough to not be seen as food/grow colorful fins/be able to tell males from females?

[~Col~]

Unfortunately, with guppies, it can take until they are almost full grown to see if they are male or female. I had once recently that I swore was a female, then it grew a little bit more and ooops...it was a male.

As for them being food size. Until they can't fit in the mouth of the other fish is my motto.

Special care...I usually just crush up some flakes until they are really fine. Feed two to three times a day. Regular water changes.

[ornery_hipster]

Will they bottom feed? I haven't seen them eat ANYTHING (though I know that doesn't mean they aren't snacking when I'm not looking).