New Guppies

SharpLittleGuppy

Well, for those who didn't see my intro post, we decided to breed some feeder guppies for a friend. This is my first time breeding anything, and only the second time I've had any fish. To be honest, I had no idea what a Guppy looked like before we decided to do this lol. We didn't know anything about cycling a tank, we'd just been doing what the friend told us to do since he's the one buying everything for the setup and whatnot. We just have a little ten gallon, and were going to cycle it, but the friend decided he wants the fish asap. So now we have two males and five females swimming around.

One of the males was free because, as the pet store guy said, "he probably won't make it". He's not nearly as active as the other male, and tends to swim vertically, face down, bumping his little nose into the gravel. He looks better than he did in the petstore, we thought he was dead in the tank when the guy was scooping the guppies out for us. They were in about the same size tank as we have now, but there were tons and tons of guppies crammed in there with no gravel or plants or anything, just a tank with water and fish. That's sad. I guess they figured since they're feeder guppies and they sell them by the dozens, they didn't matter enough to take care of.

I'm worried though since we didn't get to cycle the tank. Are my fishies gonna die? And is it possible that the weak male has something that could spread to my other guppies? I'm going to be turning to this forum for a lot since our friend seems to view them as the petstore does. They're just food, not worth time or effort, I guess. It's sad

Highland lake13

1)I'm worried though since we didn't get to cycle the tank. Are my fishies gonna die?

It would be better if the tank was cycled, however most will live. The tank will cycle on its own, to make it faster you could ask your friend for a rock or plant that has been in his tank bacause that will have the bacteria your looking for.

2)And is it possible that the weak male has something that could spread to my other guppies?

Unlikely, if their is nothing that is visable. But if their is something visable you may want to give the sick male over to be eaten .

SharpLittleGuppy

Okay, that's good. I feel a little better. I dropped in just a tiny bit of food a little while ago and it was happily gobbled up by all. Even the weak male gulped down the pieces that made it to the bottom of the tank. He sure is pretty, I hope he pulls through. One of the females is really fat, and I can see the fry eyes in her belly. When we first brought her home, she hung out on the floor of the tank, now she's at the top in the plants. She's the only one who didn't jump at the food I put in. What would be the best way to know how far along she is? She looks like she's gonna pop!

SharpLittleGuppy

Wonderful news! My little weak male is swimming around! He still stays close to the bottom, and isn't as hyper as the other male, but he's not vertical anymore, and he's hanging around with the other guppies when he gets the chance. I'm so happy! Maybe he'll do just fine.

SolaceTiger

Since your tank isn't cycled, you'll want to keep a close eye on its parameters. I hope you have a testing kit? Api freshwater master test kit is a good one and used by most of us here.

SharpLittleGuppy

One of my girls is birthing babies right now! This is so cool! I've counted three so far. It's the same girl I'd asked about in a previous post. I was a little worried about her cuz she didn't eat with the others, and she just sat on the bottom. This is so exciting! I'm getting married at 11 am, but how can I go to bed with so much activity going on?!?!

And I'll be sure to get one those kits Solace, thank you!

Nudist

congrats on the wedding and the birth on the same day. :) that sounds funny saying both of those at the same time but you know what i mean.

how is the male doing today, is he still acting better? he is the one i would keep a close eye on if these are going to be feeder fish. if he is truly sick and you feed him to another fish, you could be passing on whatever he has.

good luck with raising your new fry/babies and congrats again on your wonderful wedding day.

Steve

SharpLittleGuppy

Thank you for the congrats!

I've named the male Freebie (since we got him free for looking so sick). He seems to be doing great today, he's swimming all over the tank now. He's become my little buddy - he always comes over to my side of the tank when I sit next to it. He looks at me with those big black eyes. He's apparently very good at conning since he first conned the fish guy, now he's conned me into deeming him off-limits to feed to any fish. He's just too sweet to be food, and he has the most entertaining personality of all the guppies. He's still young, I'm guessing, looking at his size compared to the others, and stayed by the mama fish while she was birthing last night. He didn't go after the fry like the others did, just watched them swim around and went back to the mama to see who came out next.

Boy! I've sure caught the fish bug! It's my wedding day and I'm on the forum and watching the fish while getting everything ready! haha

Nudist

thats great to hear, its always nice to have that "special" fish. i hope you have a great day and a wonderful marriage.

Steve