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I usually feed my guppy fry to my SA cichlids, like keyholes and bolivian rams. You could fit a few keyholes/bolivian rams in your 30, but if you went with an angelfish, one would be it.

i'd say a few giant danios would do the trick. My experience with them was that they are definately hunters! My danios used to try to eat crickets larger than they could swallow - they'd have these cricket butts hanging out of their mouths! I would love to keep one of those leaf fishes myself, but i have yet to see one in any lfs or pet store i've been to so far ={ Danios should be a lot easier to find.

The pottery that growls!

why dont u talk to the local cichlid club in ur area... im sure they'd love to take the fry off your hands maybe you could trade a heap for a pair of keyholes and prob solved!

Hmm, I'd not considered Danios. Didn't really have them down as hunters. I have tried all the shops round here and although I've managed to persuade them to take some, the little blighters are coming far faster than I can get them out, and no-one'll take them before they get to a reasonable size, by which time I'm going to have a major stocking problem.

I guess I could take the plants out, but I really don't like the look of an unplanted tank (not wanting to offend anyone, just my preference). I'm right in thinking danios prefer a few chums? If so isn't that likely to add to the overstocking problem more than a single angel? If the angle is going to get too big about how long is that going to take? I've got a bigger tank that it could be moved to in the longer term, just so long as it can keep the fry under control long enough for me to give the females to someone who wants swordtails coming out their ears.

Thanks for all the help and suggestions...

zebra danios???? i know they arent big but theyre fast enouf to catch them and will eat untill they look like puffers.

Have you asked all the chain stores in your area? I had same problem (swordtails and all) in a tank at a restaurant I was helping out. The local PetCo took them, but not all at once. Maybe you can convice them to take 10 a week? If so, you should (obviously) get rid of you female adults too.

As for eating the fry, what about a goldfish? Obviously it would be a "rental" . I know they eat snails, does anybody know for sure if they like fry?

Well, if the fry are getting out of hand, you could always pull the female, and that would take care of the problem...of course pugperson and I found out that female bettas really seem to like young fry...and they are quite pretty...I myself, just raise them and sell them off...Also you could remove any plants, that way the fry don't have any hiding places...:%)

"I've got a great ambition to die of exhaustion rather than boredom." Thomas Carlyle

i think a 30 is a bit to small for an angel.

I find that your run of the mill danios work pretty well for fry control, especially for newborn fry. After a week or so, they ignore them, but they're good at newborns. This worked well for me, because I wanted to keep SOME of my guppy fry, but didn't want to be overrun. I was only working with a ten gallon, so space was important!

Even now, after danio intervention and the adoption of all male guppies by my sister, I'm still overstocked. However, I have my danios to thank for the fact that I'm not SEVERELY overstocked.

~Meow. Thus spoke the cat.~

Nope, the African leaf fishes I'm thinking of belong to the family Nadidae and are not Anabantoids.

We have a few species of Ctenopoma at the store I work at, and yes, they do tend to be peaceful for the most part.

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I'm not your neighbor, you Bakersfield trash.

When you say "African Leaf Fish" are you referring to Ctenopoma acutirostre? I'm surprised to hear of them like that. Mine are about three inches long and they're actually pretty friendly, acting a lot like gouramis, only without the nippy attitude. They don't bug the platies, red phantoms, and cories they live with at the moment, although I realize eventually they're gonna need their own tank or larger tankmates.

I'm not condoning their being put in the tank in question, I was just asking because I was really surprised to see someone call them aggressive.

What about a few praecox rainbows for that 30? They're small enough, cool to watch, have fairly big mouths, and rainbows love eating anything small and wiggly.

Hello all, I'm having a bit of a problem at the mo' with an explosion of swordtail fry. At the minute all I've got in the tank are 3 hatchett fish, a honey gourami, a bristlenose and an ever increasing number of swordtails. I was wondering if anyone had any suggestions for a fish that won't get too aggressive but might keep the fry numbers down. I've tried the more fish friendly methods, but most of the LFS's aren't keen on taking fish (mostly chains) and the one that does can't shift the fish as fast as they can breed. First thoughs were angels. Any problems with that or other suggestions would be very welcome.

Thanks...

The common angelfish reaches about six inches in length, and six to eight inches in height. They are really good fry eaters, as is the South American leaf fish. Either one might work in your tank.

Last edited by sirbooks at 21-Nov-2004 15:59

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And when he gets to Heaven, to Saint Peter he will tell: "One more Marine reporting, Sir! I've served my time in Hell."

Thanks for the quick responses. First up the tank is 30g, and almost anything that eats fry is definitely going to reduce the bioload (they're practically swarming now, if they all grow up I'm definitely going to have an overstocking problem). I like the sound of the leaf fish (my adult swords are pretty big) but I'd have to do a bit more reading, and to be honest I think I'd have trouble getting one round here. It took me ages to get a pair of kribs for another tank and they're not exactly rare.

I know it's a bit of a silly question, but how big are angels likely to get? I've seem quite a variety of figures. Is that just becasue they are measured in different ways (I thought measures were meant to be bodies only), because there are different types that grow to different sizes, or just 'cos the LFS's aren't being totally honest (now there's a shock)?

Thanks again...

South American Leaffish have mouths that are frickin' huge. An adult, of which would be closer to 4", can easily eat your run of the mill swordtail (at least, the ones I see). I have seen very few swordtails I would trust with a good-sized South American Leaffish.

How big's your tank? An Angelfish is an appropriate predator which would definitely take down fry if it sees them.

Last edited by Shinigami at 20-Nov-2004 21:43

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The aquarist is one who must learn the ways of the biologist, the chemist, and the veterinarian.

I keep platies and guppies, have only been able to save one fry of each. I know they'll eat their own fry, but tankmates have included rams, angels, paradisefish, blue (3-spot) gourami.


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There is water at the bottom of the ocean

lol my fault i must now pay to much attention while im posting thanks for catching my mistakes cory addict.

matt

South American leaf fish, not African!

The African ones are like the spawn of Satan.

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I'm not your neighbor, you Bakersfield trash.

Depense on the size of your tank, I like the african leaf fish idea tho those are kinda hard to find. A betta might be a good choice or try to get only one sex of swords.

You could get a South American leaf fish (Monocirrhus polyacanthus).

They are entirely peaceful, but extremely predatory. They will not bother at all anything they know they can't eat. They only about 3", so if you got one it would probably not be able to eat your other (adult) fish. It would make short work of all the fry though.

They also learn to recognize their owners... It's really cool. We used to have one at the store, and I was the only one who fed it. Whenever I approached the tank, he would come right up to the front of the tank and put on his hunting colors. I also trained him to take food right out of my hand.

I would even put on little shows for customers in the store. Everybody, from kids to old people, enjoyed watching the fish take guppies right out of my fingers. I would usually have an audience of like five people.

Oh, and here's a picture of it, so you don't confuse it with the African leaf fish, which gets huge and is aggressive.







Last edited by Cory Addict at 20-Nov-2004 20:20[/font]

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I'm not your neighbor, you Bakersfield trash.