Big Enough Yet?

[greggolf]

My guppy had babbies about 3/ and a half weeks ago. The fish are about 2 centemeters long, and are fairly "round". Are the ready to go in with the big guys(AKA the other two guppys).

[mousey]

2 centimeters is about 3/4 of an inch long! Are they really that big in 3 1/2 weeks?
if so I need to know your secret to getting them that size that fast.
Wether they are big enough to go into the adult tank depends on a few things such as if the other fish are particularly aggresssive or hungry. Most fish will eat anything that fits in their mouth although some are really good with fry and leave them alone.
Do you have lots of plants for the fry to hide in?
Do you have lots of algae for them to eat? They may not get enough food if they are competing with the adults and they probably need small size food just now.
if you want all the fry leave them away from the adults. If you want some of the fry put them in with the adults and then you will only have the ones that swim fastest and can eat whatever they find.
Oh and make sure they don't get sucked up into the filter. If the filter is good and strong you will lose some that way too.
I always find myself fishing them out of the filter until they get strong enough to swim away from the intake tubes.

[Sable]

I personally don't put my fry in with the adults until they are at least two months old (or 1.25 inches long) for several reasons:

1. The adults give off growth-inhibiting hormones, which cause the fry to grow very, very slowly.
2. The fry will struggle to get even the littlest amount of food unless there is a great deal of infusoria and/or a LOT of algae in the tank - and they probably will not eat the algae after all that yummy fry food / baby brine shrimp / crushed up flake.
3. Even if the fry don't fit whole in the adults' mouths, the adults can bite a good portion of their body off (at least the entire tail) and kill them.

So, I would advise you not to put them in the adult tank... but if you are going to anyway, the best way to judge whether the fry will be eaten is to put one healthy adult in the fry tank for six hours and observe how many, if any, fry get eaten. Feed as often and as much as you normally would.