What Fish Will Eat Baby Guppies?

Guppies are common aquarium fish. These peaceful natives of South America, Barbados and Trinidad are attractive, hardy, active, readily available and realistically priced. The babies, however, can have very short lives. They can be victimized by other guppies right after birth, or purposely used as feeder fish.

  1. Adult Guppies

    • Adult guppies, including their mother, will eat baby guppies. For this reason, guppy breeders place their heavily pregnant females into plastic breeding traps. These transparent containers allow the babies to fall through a "V" shaped false floor into a secure area where the mother can't reach them. Any adult guppie may eat a baby, so those fish must be removed from a breeding aquarium before the birth takes place.

    Marine Fish

    • Baby guppies are typically used as feeder food for marine fish caught in the wild. Baby guppies are typically fed to seahorses and pipefish as a replacement for the marine shrimps they seek in the wild. Baby guppies are also fed to other coral reef species, such as the devil firefish, and the many different types of frog fish.

    Omnivorous Species

    • Guppies are typically housed with other livebearers. These livebearers, such as mollies, platys and swordtails, will predate on newly born guppy babies. In most cases, the baby guppy will be eaten seconds after its birth.

    Predator Species

    • Baby guppies are often "gut-loaded" with a high quality commercial fish food or brine shrimp before being fed to predatory fish. In this way, the guppy meal is nutritionally well-balanced for the other fish. Black knife fish, dragon fish and Oscars will all eagerly accept baby guppies.