Guppy fry question

[Angelicus]

Just curious...my guppies have been breeding in all my tanks, but get devoured fairly quickly in the 55 gal so I don't get to observe them for very long. Recently had two large batches in my daughters 10 gal and the 20 gal (all guppy so far) tank I just set up. The fry seem to be doing well hiding in the plants and not getting eaten lol. I noticed in the 20 gal, the new fry look a bit different...some are smaller and translucent bluish with a smaller head & a few are a bit larger with a larger head and silver opaque in front. I am sure these are from the same batch born together. I was wondering whether these variations because some are more developed then others at birth or just genetics?

:)Dee

[WhiteDevil]

Not all fry grow at the same rate. the bigger ones were the ones more aggressively eating then the others.

My guppies used to develop like that all the time, even my angel fry do that now.

[Angelicus]

That makes sense, I just didn't expect to see a difference so quickly. :) Thanks

[WhiteDevil]

Ive got angels with full finnage already and some from the same batch that are just barely starting to get their fins. they will catch up in due time.

what are you feeding them?

My fry get rotifers and bbs along with kens egg flake and hikari first bites.

they have live blackworms for the first time tonight too, it was hilarious.

[Angelicus]

Since I don't have a fry tank so far, the fry are getting along on the adult food...mainly Tetra flakes (and some other dry foods that I add for variety). I have moss & floating plants for them to hide in and usually crumble the flakes finer to sprinkle in the floating plants for them. I see them eating the flakes and picking minute algae or something off the plants.

I've thought about adding live or frozen foods and looked into culturing green water and daphnia, but would have to order the live foods/starter cultures online and am reluctant to have anything live shipped during the cold weather.

You've got me thinking that I should get some fry food for 'em. These are the largest batches I've had, 20-30 fry in each of my smaller tanks and seem to be doing well...due to all the added plants and loachless conditions I believe :) Usually I just see a half dozen at most with a few sly individuals that have survived past the itty bitty size in the community tank.

If the fry thrive, I'll just have to add another tank to avoid overcrowding. Dee