Can I allow a Predatory fish to keep the population of guppies down in my aquarium?
by Aquaboy on Wednesday, February 24th, 2010 | 6 Comments
I am setting up an aquarium for the first time. I have some guppies in there and I plan to add fish like Glofish and Bloodfins. I know the guppy population will take off. Is it safe to let a beta or another predatory fish eat them to keep the population down? Is that even possible? I’m assuming it isn’t, but I thought it would be worth asking.
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Beta’s are very territorial and will most likely kill all the fish eventually.
Yes, most fish will eat guppy fry, including the guppies themselves. But the guppies may not get them all.
Larger community fish will hunt them ruthlessly, a female betta, kribensis cichlid etc will make short work of guppy fry, and shouldn’t attack the adults.
Ian
The bloodfins should do a good job of that for you. Depending on the size of your tank, you could also try a dwarf cichlid, like Apistogramma or Mikrogeophagus.
The guppies themselves should be able to mantain the problem, they like eating their young. If you feel like the young aren’t being taken care of by the guppies, yes other tetras or danios will reduce the numbers as well. The easiest and cheapest way to control your guppy population is to just freeze the fry and throw them away, it’s very humane don’t worry. I don’t advise putting a betta in a tank with guppies as they are territorial and can attack male guppies for their long flowing tails.
The fish you’re planning on having will eat the babies. Even the other guppies. I wouldn’t add a betta because many of the fish you want are fin nippers and will hurt the betta. A female betta would be okay though.
EDIT: How about I put you in a freezer? Do you REALLY think that’s a humane way to go? It isn’t. I really hope you haven’t tortured any of your fish like that.
You will have to do that by yourself,Because any Predatory fish you get can be dangerous to your other fish.