Tips and Tricks

Tips And Tricks

When cleaning your box filters, save 1/3 of the cleanest floss to insert between the new floss. This will help seed your new floss with good bacteria.
When cleaning a confined space such as a breeder box or small tank, use a turkey baster to vacuum the bottom. A piece of airline tubing is also excellent for this purpose.
Instead of buying a breeder box and chancing a stressed female, buy some inexpensive netting with holes large enough for fry to swim through. Drape down to the middle of the female's tank and put plants, etc. in her area.
You can use an unrolled or shredded plastic scrubber (clean and unused), which is sold for washing dishes, as a place for fry to hide in when born.
Java Moss is an excellent plant for the guppy breeder to have on hand which provides the perfect cover for fry and food for all. It thrives in a guppy tank and has low light requirements.
Sterilize nets and other durable fish accessories with boiling water.
Save your AquaClear foam inserts! Boil them for 5 minutes on the stove and squeeze with a potato masher. This will clean and renew them when they get worn and filthy.
Refill your AquaClear charcoal bags with bulk charcoal and fasten with an elastic band.
Cover your power filter's intake tube with panty hose attached with an elastic band to make it fry-friendly.
Paint the bottom of your bare-bottom tanks with black spray paint. This reduces much of the reflection which can stress Guppies.
Buy fish flakes in bulk and store in the freezer in an air-tight bag to preserve freshness.
When your guppies has a small drop, keep the fry in a floating breeding tank for the first week or so. This will enable them to find more food and burn fewer calories for quicker growth.
Clean filter tubes and slots with a small toothbrush and pipe cleaner.
Buy thin wall rigid tubing at your fish supply store to make a smaller version of a gravel vac. Use 3/16" or 3/8" size and cut to suit your tank size.
Save your money, do not buy charcoal/carbon - it is needed only when removing medicine.
Take floss and one-half water from a healthy, cycled tank to create a new safe tank, instantly cycled.
When going away on vacation, have a pill dispenser with separate compartments for each day of the week, hand have your friend simply put each day's ration in the tank. This will avoid overfeeding.
Guppies can survive 2 weeks or more without being fed. A guppy fry will last at least a week with no food, especially in cool water, but it's future growth is permanently stunted.
When catching a guppy, try to raise the net up to the surface from below him. Do not chase him around and frighten him. When you have the guppy in a net, coax him into a container of water to move him rather than lift him out of the water in the net.
Try to feed only live food when medicating a fish in a hospital tank. This encourages sick fish to eat food, keeps them strong enough to fight disease, and helps keep the tank water clean.
Vinegar is a safe cleaner for removing hard water deposits on the tank hood and power filter.
When a guppy jumps out of the tank, gently ease him onto a wet net and replace him. Do not pick him up with your fingers, it can cause damage.
Use a Tupperware or ice cream container if you are short on tanks when fry are born.
To help "force feed" a small batch of fry in a tank that seems too large, put them in a floating breeding trap minus the bottom slot in the tank.
Above all, always remember to have a couple of spare tanks on hand for use as quarantine, hospital, or emergency fry tanks! Nothing can substitute for proper equipment when breeding guppies.