Fry Feeding
From GuppyWiki
Most breeders raise fry in 5 gallon tanks so that they do not have to swim very far to get food. This is conservation of energy at its best! The fry are usually fed nauplii, fresh-hatched brine shrimp..
According to Midge Hill, guppy fry have very small intestinal tracts that must be refilled every 20 minutes to get maximum growth. Since a twenty-minute feeding regime is impractical, she suggests feeding every 2 hours for 8-10 feedings a day. If that is still impractical, she suggests feeding live foods that do not deteriorate.
Brine shrimp will live for 2 to 3 hours in a tank, and even longer if you use salt in your tanks. Vinegar eels will live for two or three days and stay in the water column. Microworms can last a whole day. However, brine shrimp is a more complete diet than the worms.
The author feeds fry exclusively on gut-loaded brine shrimp for the first few days after birth, sometimes a week, and then begins supplementing with dry foods made in the dehydrator. It is probably a good idea to make your own foods for the fry, as most of the commercial preparations contain filler that takes up room in the fish's gut with little benefit to the fry.
The dehydrator food fed to the fry and juveniles is chopped up in a coffee grinder into a powder. This ensures that the food is not too big for the fry's mouth. Uneaten dehydrator food fouls quickly.
Midge Hill's recommendations for force-feeding growing guppies only apply if you must submit your guppies to a contest where size outweighs other factors...that is to say, an IFGA competition. (In European and Japanese standards, giant guppies earn the breeder no extra points.)
She recommends feeding fry food that is good for them, but which they do not usually eagerly eat, as the first feeding in the morning, when they are very hungry. Then follow-up with a brine shrimp feeding. Because the brine shrimp move in an irresistible fashion for the guppies, they are likely to eat brine shrimp, even when they are full of other food. Midge then alternates between dry foods and wet foods (frozen or live) throughout the day. She says that "it is next to impossible to get maximum growth from fry without the use of some kind of live food, especially during the first crucial formative months.
[แก้ไข] Other Growth Stimulants
Long-time breeders attribute other factors to maximizing the growth of their guppies. Lou Wasserman in his book "How to Raise Show Guppies" attributes success on the competitive circuit to daily 10% water changes. Apparently fresh water acts as an appetite stimulant, or is generally stimulating for the guppies, providing the water has the same chemical and temperature parameters as the tank water.
Increasing the temperature to 80oF (26oC) speeds up the metabolism. However, studies have shown that the optimal food conversion rate is usually found in the middle of the fish species temperature range. For the guppy, 78oF (25oC) may be an ideal temperature for fry. Older fish should be lowered a few degrees to extend their lives.
Guppies should also be grown under sufficiently bright lights (reading level) that are on long enough (12 hours). The author leaves the lights on for 15.5 hours and off for 8.5 hours. The duration of the light is more important than the intensity.
Oxygen is an overlooked component in guppy growth. Fry need lots of oxygen for digestive processes and the bacteria in the filters thrive on oxygen. As the fry grow over the month, they become crowded in the tank. Some breeders limit the drop in a 5 gallon tank to 50 fry, and at the end of the month split the drop into two groups, moving them to 10 gallon tanks.
Midge Hill considers culling to be an important factor in raising large guppies. Culling deformed fish makes room for healthy fish. Large drops should be raised in large tanks, or split between smaller tanks.
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