Post by siobhan on Jun 13, 2016 14:12:09 GMT -5
I should have gotten guppies long ago. They're endlessly fascinating. If you're not fascinated, feel free to skip this post, because I'm going to gush.
My "old" babies, the four survivors of the first guppies' progeny, are now the adults and parents of some of the very large batch of babies now occupying the tank. The original adults died and the four babies were all that was left. They have grown up, and the alpha male has the most spectacular fan tail I've ever seen. He's quite proud of it, too. LOL Because the four "old" babies didn't seem to be reproducing, and are siblings, I went and got a couple of females to stir up the gene pool a bit, and I think one or both of them was already pregnant because almost immediately we had an enormous batch of babies who almost all look like the two new females (who are yellow/gold) instead of the "old" babies, who are silver and black. Some of the babies are silver and black, but only a few.
Alpha Male chases the new girls around and around and I fear we may have way more babies than we have space for, if they all live to grow up, and they all seem determined to do just that. They're growing like weeds, they eat like pigs, and zip around the tank like tiny fighter jets.
One of the "old" babies was born misshapen. His/her (not sure, but I think it's a girl) body is V-shaped, with head and tail curved up and a severely bowed back. I thought she was doomed, but she just keeps on and keeps on and has reached maturity in spite of everything. Also eats like a horse and zooms around like a fighter jet, so no apparent health issues or pain that's obvious.
Every morning and night I count adults to make sure they're all still okay because when a guppy dies, the snails ... um ... clean up the mess, and that's too horrible. If I get to the body first, I take it out. I don't blame the snails for doing their job, but I do not want to watch, and I want to remove bodies before the snails have a chance at them. But (knock wood), we haven't lost an adult for a long time, and as far as I can tell, nearly all the recent baby batch are still zooming around. There are so many that I can't get an accurate count. I'm sure we've lost some, but not many, I don't think. And now there are some who are so tiny that they're fairly new-born, in addition to the giant batch we already had. I think I'm gonna need a bigger tank, or take Alpha Male out to cool his jets. LOL
My "old" babies, the four survivors of the first guppies' progeny, are now the adults and parents of some of the very large batch of babies now occupying the tank. The original adults died and the four babies were all that was left. They have grown up, and the alpha male has the most spectacular fan tail I've ever seen. He's quite proud of it, too. LOL Because the four "old" babies didn't seem to be reproducing, and are siblings, I went and got a couple of females to stir up the gene pool a bit, and I think one or both of them was already pregnant because almost immediately we had an enormous batch of babies who almost all look like the two new females (who are yellow/gold) instead of the "old" babies, who are silver and black. Some of the babies are silver and black, but only a few.
Alpha Male chases the new girls around and around and I fear we may have way more babies than we have space for, if they all live to grow up, and they all seem determined to do just that. They're growing like weeds, they eat like pigs, and zip around the tank like tiny fighter jets.
One of the "old" babies was born misshapen. His/her (not sure, but I think it's a girl) body is V-shaped, with head and tail curved up and a severely bowed back. I thought she was doomed, but she just keeps on and keeps on and has reached maturity in spite of everything. Also eats like a horse and zooms around like a fighter jet, so no apparent health issues or pain that's obvious.
Every morning and night I count adults to make sure they're all still okay because when a guppy dies, the snails ... um ... clean up the mess, and that's too horrible. If I get to the body first, I take it out. I don't blame the snails for doing their job, but I do not want to watch, and I want to remove bodies before the snails have a chance at them. But (knock wood), we haven't lost an adult for a long time, and as far as I can tell, nearly all the recent baby batch are still zooming around. There are so many that I can't get an accurate count. I'm sure we've lost some, but not many, I don't think. And now there are some who are so tiny that they're fairly new-born, in addition to the giant batch we already had. I think I'm gonna need a bigger tank, or take Alpha Male out to cool his jets. LOL
The guppies always seemed the hardiest of any of the fish I used to have. Maybe not the flashiest or most colorful of fish, but they are fun to watch. 
