[Sylverclaws]

So, I took in some guppies to sell today, hoping to get enough credits for some supplies...I told the guy at our LFS who often buys fish from people I had some MALE guppies and if they had room, he said they did.
He took a look at them, saw they were some of the more expensive ones, at least for their shop(the blue/blondes were selling for about $14.99 a pair), and said they were too skinny and inactive, and also that he thought I was bringing him females...I specified, he even repeated me saying they were all males, so I know that's bull.
Now, I figured he'd want to take some money off for the two males with nipped tails, my blue/blondes like to chew on each other but leave the red and gold ones alone...but nope. He said they're skinny and inactive so they must be sick and he wont take them. o_o; Mine looked much heavier and even had better tails(my nipped ones at that) than the ones they were selling.

So...my guppies look pretty good to me aside from the ones with nicked tails, which will grow back and aren't infected or even that bad, they look like they're a good weight and they're quite active in my opinion.

I got some video of them when I got home, I put them in my ten gallon instead of my 55 gallon so I could get some better shots and see if I can figure out what he's talking about and treat it...but I can't see any skinniness or inactiveness, what do you guys think? I know the video isn't the best, my camera seems to NOT focus anymore on videos. x.x;

So, they look skinny and inactive to you guys? Or do you think he just didn't want to buy them? I have to say I was a little offended how he said it all that fast, brushed me off when I told him twenty minutes before on the phone they were males, and skeedaddled. =/ Is he right though? Am I missing something and they're considered skinny and inactive for guppies?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aW42gVrizwE&list=HL1393645466&feature=mh_lolz

 

[rsskylight04]

Guy sounds like a real_______.
Sorry I couldn't get the video to play. Maybe because my tablet?

 

[Austin]

They look fine to me

 

[jimscott]

They look quite active. I saw one that looked well-fed. I saw one that looked a little thin. They're not at the bottom,, shimmying. Their activity 'looks' like a tank close to 80 F.

 

[jpepe1]

They look fine .They look like strong active guppies. He just changed his mind between the phone call and you showing up

 

[Sylverclaws]

They look quite active. I saw one that looked well-fed. I saw one that looked a little thin. They're not at the bottom,, shimmying. Their activity 'looks' like a tank close to 80 F.

Tank is 78 degrees. And one of the guppies is a greedy-gut and I think he's fat honestly. ^^; He looks like a pregnant female, and that's why some have nipped tails, I believe he "Spars" for food. lol I make sure the others eat enough too.


Thanks guys. I really was upset about those things he said, like I was doing everything completely wrong and tormenting my fish. T_T

I respected this guy and his advice before now. He used to give good advice, I swear he did. The LFS also used to be REALLY nice, then it got not so nice...it's looking a bit better again, but still a bit more like petco. And now he's saying to feed them three or four times per day and follow the package advice on the food, that my tiger needs to be ended because it has TB(I forgot to mention that part, he said it's spine was curved....it's not, they have kinda odd dorsal fins, but not a single one of them has a curved spine), and seems to be pulling my chain with sales.

If the video doesn't play, I think the link is a tad different in my updates thread. This one should go to history, the other should go to playlist, which I really didn't want but eh! :3

 

[Romad]

It's hard to tell their weight but they sure aren't inactive.

Sorry it didn't work out for you. Maybe you can sell them locally?

 

[Sylverclaws]

Yeah, I was thinking about selling them online too and maybe putting up some local ads, but not now since it's too cold to be shipping fish. That particular LFS is the only local one that will buy fish. The other one is about thirty miles from here in a part of downtown that loves traffic! I used to get some customers on craigslist, but they no longer allow you to sell, I'm gonna try my hand at amazon later. I have a lot of very nice, non-nipped, active and definitely not skinny mollies, platies and swordtails too. ^_~ They told me they were full on mollies when I asked, said I had some black and gold butterflies for them that were absolutely gorgeous. But when I was looking through all the tanks, I only saw four dalmation mollies. I think he just wanted to jip me, really. And my feelings were indeed hurt that he went to all that trouble AND I took the poor things all the way there then had to take them back and re-acclimate them. Bah.

Well, anyways, I still have my nice little fishies, and I have have money for care, but it's nice to sell some and get extra to put away. That's pretty much the reason I breed and sell: Pay for their own care and food costs by being pretty. ^_~

Let's see if I can get those males to stop the tail nipping and then I'll try that, I'll probably separate my greedy-gut from the bunch and that should clear it up. The nips aren't bad, but they are kinda annoying. =)

 

[rsskylight04]

Spring is coming soon! I might be interested in buying if you have a really nice pair.

 

[Sylverclaws]

By spring I likely will. I have a few dozen babies in my nursery right now from three different females unrelated to the males I currently have. Right now the only females I have are the ones I breed, two are pretty tuxedo mixes with rainbow colored tails(they usually end up red, or like the black and red ones, females usually end up with a rainbow colored tail), and two are endlers mixes with I think some sort of cobra, one a tiger endler mix with a corba, and one is a cobra, so I have a few lovely gold cobras, and one is some kind of red and blue endlers mix, I'll have to get photos or video of the one adult male I have now, the males are usually -gorgeous- normally very active but sweet natured with the girls, and I never keep those for long since they're highly wanted by a few friends.

I'll be happy to make my own sale area for people who are interested by the time it starts warming up, I think I saw a place on here for sales(?). All born around the middle of January and my rainbow tailed female(half her tail is red, the other half is green with spots) is getting ready to pop soon, so they should be ready to go by then, and you'll know their age as a bonus. =)

 

[rsskylight04]

Quick question sylver, how old are guppies when they can start breeding?

 

[jimscott]

Nipping fins can lead to bacterial infections and that can lead to death. I would unload the aggressors, if possible. It seems that within many peaceful species of fish there can be one that's just a bully.

 

[Sylverclaws]

Quick question sylver, how old are guppies when they can start breeding?

Usually around three months, they mature pretty fast. I like to keep them separate if I can until they're six or more months old.


Yes, I hate bully fish. Since re-acclimating them and putting them back in my tank, Mister Bigshot hasn't been nippy, I'm keeping watch. I put a light dose of melafix in there too, always keep the water clean, but bacterial infections do happen and are sucky to get rid of!

 

[jimscott]

From what I have been taught, discombobulating the pecking order, as described above, leads to a re-establishment of the pecking order. I've been told that some people will buy a whole tank of fish (particularly saltwater), just because things are established.

 

[Sylverclaws]

; Buying a whole tank of fish just because the tank is established?

And yeah, I heard of that happening with taking a bully out and putting it back in, or messing up things completely like our little almost move. lol I tried it once with a jerkfish platy, it didn't work. Actually I tried it three times, in the end the little scumbag killed three of my fish and almost killed a fourth. Overnight at that, otherwise it'd have been gone long before. It was a jerk, I didn't know it was a killer. ^^;

Anywho, yeah, sometimes doing that, and moving things in the tank to boot, will cause them to get all..."Oh, new place, you guys help me out and make me feel secure." lol Sometimes it allows the others to gain enough confidence to KEEP the jerkfish from becoming a jerk again, other times it's just a short time before a repeat of the jerkness and one has to go.

 

[jimscott]

LOL! The rich and eccentric....