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My guppies at work have been doing what they do best, and now I have quite a few fry. They're about a week and a half old now, and length varies but they are mostly about 1cm long. They are far more adventurous now, and I am seeing quite a few of them darting around the tank and was just wondering if they are still likely to be considered fodder for the other guppies.

Also, at what stage do I stop feeding them numerous times a day?

And...another question - Mum #1 has been resting at the bottom of the tank an awful lot. She swims around a bit and is eating, but mostly the birth seems to have taken its toll. Any ideas on how long it takes to 'get back to her old self'?

And...guppy mums-to-be numbers 2 and 3 look ready to pop. What an earth am I going to do with all of these fry??? I was expecting a high mortality rate, and have some friends who I knew wanted some, but it appears I have created a lovely safe haven for the fry (and for the snails that snuck in on one of my plants - major snail population explosion also!). Anyway at the current rate I'm going to have way, way more guppies than I ever expected...(but hey, it's a great diversion at work!).

My suggestion is to get a fish that likes to eat fry. My angels and paradise fish actually hunt them down to eat them. That will keep the population under control. If you want to keep the fry, get a breeder net or a smaller tank for them. Rule of thumb, fry will be ok only after they are large enough to not fit any another's mouth!

I've got a fever... and the only prescription... is more cowbell!

If you have males and females of almost any livebearer, you can expect population growth in the tank. Livebearer fry are notorious because of their ability to hide and NOT become another fishes' lunch. They will hide in anything, plants are a big one, especially if they are floating and have feathery leaves. Fry cease to be potantial food as soon as they are too big to fit in the other fishes' mouth, which happens pretty quickly for livebearers since they grow so fast.

Depending on the size of the tank, you can get a larger predatory fish with a big mouth to snack on the fry....something mid-top level like a gourami is best, but you will still see the odd survivor grow to adulthood. The only way to guarantee you won't have any new babies is to keep all male guppies, which might be the best option if the tank is too small for any other fish.

how big is the tank? why not just leave the fry in there? if u dont want the fry, more will get eaten if u leave them in there than if u take em out and put them back in

The more you feed the more snails you'll get. I wouldn't do anything special for guppy fry. Just feed the tank like you normally would. Probably once or twice a day and whatever makes it to adulthood give away to friends. If you want fewer guppies to survive get a fry eating fish such as what was mentioned. In a tank under 20g though most gouramis and paradise fish wouldn't work the best. They prefer more swimming room. If the tank is over 20g any of those fish would work and possibly an angel fish. No matter what it seems some always survive so don't worry too much about trying to keep them alive. If there's some you really want to save you can always suck them out to another tank or use a breeder net.

Unfortunately the tank isn't that large - I've got two of them on my fairly small desk at work! The one with the population explosion is around 30l.

I guess I really only have myself to blame of course - I wanted them to breed, and gave them a really nice habitat to do it in. I guess I really didn't expect this many to survive!

Today they are really active - smiiming about everywhere - really cool!

I don't know how many I've got - it's just way to hard to count them they zip around so much, but I think there's around 10. Of this batch I plan to take a few home, and give some to a friend. It's the next batch and the next batch that I'm worried about

I have been decreasing the snail population cruelly today - every time one comes to the top of the tank I fish it out and throw it in the bin. I think I've binned around 15 today and there's certainly heaps more.

BTW - 'Mum' guppy is still looking very tired. Swims around happily for a while and then rests on the bottom of the tank. I know I've got way too many guppies, but I really don't want her to die...

The fry are about 1 cm after 1 week? Are you feeding them steroids? LOL. I guess that was just a typo and you meant 1mm

Many females die after giving birth. Usually 5-7 days after. Giving birth to a bunch of 30-50 fry every month is not an easy thing! Are the males chacing her or are they leaving her alone? It's good to isolate a female for a week after her giving birth to keep the males away from harassing and stressing her and give her high quality food for that period. But I guess it's not easy to have another aquarium just for that

No definitely 1cm (head to tail, not just body). 1mm I'd be hard pressed to see! In fact we're probably close to 1.5cm on the largest one now.

Fortunately the males are busy chasing the other females and on the whole are leaving her alone. I guess I'll just have to wait and see how she goes.

Some females I find only give birth once then die. Others will have close to 10 batches.
As for your problem with overpopulation, my tip is to overfilter your tank. This works well. You might also consider selling them.

Well she's still hanging in there, so I guess I just have to wait and see.

I've got space in my home tank so I am refraining from buying any fish at the moment and will pick the nicest of the bunch (probably just the males) and take them home.

If she is really thin then it is most likely she will die.

I guess it will help with the overcrowding slightly though....