My guppy has babbies every couple months or so. The Male and Female eat just about all of the fry in a few days. Occassionally one will survive and become an adult.

Yes, they most certainly do eat their fry, as do Platies, Swordfish, Mollies, & the other common livebearers. However rather than separating them, which is stressful to the fish, your best bet is to include lots of plant material for the fry to hide in.

Guppies breed so frequently & produce such large amounts of fry, that unless you're in the purebred Guppy breeding business, having some of the fry provide some live food for the parents isn't really a bad thing. With enough plant material (planted & floating), you should still end up with enough babies to enjoy growing on into adults without overpopulating your tank too soon.

I chose to just provide alot of artificial plants for my fry to hide in. The strange thing is, with my second 'litter', the adults didn't seem interested in eating the fry. This was discussed in a previous post below.

Once the guppies survive beyond two or three weeks, they are a bit bigger and are less likely to be eaten by the adult guppies.

Here is a link that might be useful: Guppies why aren't they hiding

I have always wondered: when guppies eat their fry, is it because they don't even know that they are offspring, or don't care, or what? I realize fish don't "reason" but I've always wondered the reason.

They will eat their fry if there isn't anyplace for them to hide.

But I was reading somewhere (maybe in a previous thread??) that some guppy breeders like to breed in that trait of less aggressive behavior - so that parents will have less of a tendancy to eat their fry.

I have tons of fry (mollies and guppies) right now. The smallest fry swim easily around the adults - but there are lots of places to scoot and hide if need be.

Most fish will eat their own babies, given the chance. Cichlids will actually care for their fry if conditions are right, but even they will munch down their own progeny if they are inexperienced parents or stressed.

I also have 5 pregnant guppies and I don't know when they'll give birth. I hope I can reach them in time when they give birth.

Any tips you guys can give me to look out for?

Posted by guppynoob

I also have 5 pregnant guppies and I don't know when they'll give birth. I hope I can reach them in time when they give birth.

Any tips you guys can give me to look out for?

You have some set up to keep the new ''drops'' from being immediately eaten?

Why not just get a breeder box? A few dollars. You put the pregnant fish in it when you notice them starting to give birth (you get to know it after some experience), the babies slide down into the lower part of it, then you take the mother out and take the extra piece out and the babies live in the "maternity ward" until they're big enough to survive in the big tank.

i seperated my fish as soon a i saw them and i saved 12

I have a large number of Guppies, Endlers, & Endler x Guppies.... None of them eat fry born into the tank with them. I've never separated adults from young either. I do have an aquatic jungle environment thought with live plants. The more natural and plant filled you can keep their environment, the less likely adults will be to eat their young. In my tank, fry and adults all come out together at mealtimes and everyone survives and comes away with a full belly.

When I raised other livebearers, I had the same results.

I had more eating problems with my golden guppies than with the normal grays. I suspect the new little golden fry resemble some of the insect larvae that guppies naturally eat.

I used a 5 gal tank divided in half with a pane of glass that left enough space around the ends for the fry to pass but not the mother. Floating plants on both sides. When the mother was done dropping her fry she was removed back to the main female tank. It was not uncommon to save 30 or 40 fry per birthing. Females dropped litters for me every 28 to 30 days. Litters began to be sexed in the first couple of days, continuing as long as needed.

I sold fancy guppies in those days, and I had markets in some 6 or 7 aquarium shops around the Metro. I eventually had to either increase my operation or drop it and I had neither the space nor the capital to increase it. The tanks have now been empty for well over 20 years.