The title of the posting should be "why aren't they hiding", not what aren't they hiding. Sorry for the confusion

hi there and congrats on your babies! i have found that some fish are very voracious when it comes to eating the babies, others arent. you might have some adults that simply arent cannibalistic as others are. i raise guppies and have found that if the babies, or fry, feel safe--they simply dont hide. i do use a grass mat floating at the top of the tank though (made by aquarium systems and sold by petsmart and some other stores) to alleviate my worries! it works very well. good luck, you might want to check out guppies.com, they have some good info on their forums also. blessings, pastor mark

Thanks for the tip about using a grass mat floating at the top. They do have plants to hide in, but not many of them go right to the water top.

Maybe it's a food issue as well. I mean, the adults are well fed so maybe they are less likely to try to eat the little ones than if they were starving.

They do chase the little ones once in a while, but so far they stop short of eating them.

I just find it very interesting. The first batch of guppies was only 4 fry, so maybe they behave different in smaller quantities as well.

Thanks for your help,
glen

My question to you is...why do the frys have to hide...if you provide them with a net container that attaches itself inside the aquarium so they will not be stressed out or be eaten by other fish. Many fish stores provide this just for that purpose. Please consider this. Also guppies generally produce a lot of frys, so maybe all you want is those who do survive. Any way, I am glad your are enjoying your hobby. It is a lot of fun to watch. For me I have ventured from guppies to Disucs to presently outdoor Koi and indoor Bettas. I just love it. Maybe someday I will venture to salt water aquarium.
Theresa

i never got the hang of guppies. i rarely if ever saw a baby. even "feeder" guppies didn't seem to breed for me.

theres a lot to consider when raising guppies, primarily the ph of the water, salinity (salt), and temperature. lots of breeders use a lot of salt in their tanks because it lends itself to preventing disease. for myself, i use about a tablespoon per gallon which some folks think is quite a bit, but it matches what the guppies are coming from so it works out good usually, and prevents disease. for a ten gallon tank its around 7 TB as the rock takes up some volume. also, the water needs to be the same ph as where the fish came from, for my water i have to lower the ph quite a bit as it is extremely hard--sometimes the guppies will get ph shock if moved from one tank to another that has the wrong ph. also, i keep them at about 80 degrees F which helps their metabolism and also prevents them from getting sick. anyhow, hope this helps, the nets are a good idea too, i have a lot of fish so the plants work just as well. i cull out any really agressive fish as i want good parents, not cannibals.

Bag piper, how do you measure your salt? Do you have a device which measures salinity, or do you just ensure that when you do water changes you add salt to the new water? That is, if you remove two gallons of water, you add two fresh gallons of water and also two tablespoons of salt?

I try to keep my salt level at one teaspoon per gallon which seems to work okay so far. I know there are varying opinions on the use of salt for guppies.

Why do the frys have to hide? I do realize that there are divider nets or that I can move the fry, but, at the risk of sounding cruel, I have just provided them with loads of plants and hiding places and hope for the best.

It's a 30 gallon aquarium. How many adult guppies do you think it can hold? (Assuming the fry make it to adult stage). Right now there are 3 adults, one juvenile, and 12 fry.

Thanks for all your help,
Glen

hi glen, and yes, that is exactly what i do--if i take a gallon out, i put in a TB of salt, i use pickling/canning salt as it has no additives (at least the kind i buy). i am going to start using a device though too called a hydrometer (i think thats what its called) to measure the salt, it measures the "thickness" of the water basically. if your teaspoon per gallon is working for you, then i wouldnt change it--dont fix what aint broke is how i feel about it. i keep mine at that because it works with my water and thats what they are used to, but not everyone has the same water types or the same philosophy--for years i used no salt at all and had mixed results. as far as the plants go--thats exactly what i do, put some on the bottom (regular type aquarium plants) and then i have some floating grass mats that cover about 1/2 of the top of the aquarium. babies tend to be born, fall to the bottom, open up from their round state, and then swim to the top for cover. i like to have enough regular plants so that they are hard to spot when they fall out, and then enough cover to hold lots of fry when they dart to the surface. with enough plants and not a terribly large number of adults in the tank, i have never had a problem with fry being eaten that i have seen. the natural birthing of fry puts less stress on the female too i think, they stay near the plants until they are ready and then when done, they are free to swim--dont have to be moved. anyhow, thats my opinion for what its worth. as far as your 30 gallon tank, i would keep about ten adults max in there if you are having fry in it too. that keeps them from becoming too predatory. more females than males--a one to two ratio, works best for me. good luck to you, i hope this helps. i have been raising these little guys for about 30 years now, i hope i know what i am doing. if not, then i guess i am just old. :)

We're just starting to breed guppies and just got a hydrometer, but don't know the best salt set up for our 90 gallon tank.
Any suggestions would be appreciated.
Thanks,
Bernie & David

Struggling? That's like struggling with rabbits! Really, a tank with floating plants (Water Sprite, e.g.) is all ya need, along with the normal aeration / filtration, 78ish temp...