Mutt guppies

I am wondering though @Essjay if the breeds ive kept have been born & raised in my soft water?
Ive always used the same LFS for as long as i can remember, So im wondering if they just breed & raise in the same water as mine. The LFS is on my doorstep so i guess water conditions will be the same, but ive now started to buy elsewhere after my corys had something very nasty going on
 
It usually takes a long time (= many generations) to change thousands of years of evolution, but if they've been bred in soft water for several generations, perhaps the fry that make it through to adulthood are the ones which can cope better with soft water while the fry which can't cope die off. Just supposition :)
 
Suppose its only time that will tell.
Im keeping all the ones i have right now for when i start my Community tank up again in a few weeks.
Ive got my sand, Everything is washed & steralized best i can, New filter media. So i am ready to go......Almost

Something else ive noticed is a group of 6 Guppies seem to do a nice job of cycling provided nothing else is added for a month. They seem to be happy enough right now
 
Yes they're only at 3% so that isn't brackish, as I said. I was just wondering if they'd prefer more salt. I don't add salt to ALL my freshwater tanks - only the guppies because I heard that they prefer brackish over fresh. And I know there isn't a need, just was wondering what is ideal.
Fancy guppies don't need salt. But it won't hurt them either. As long as it's not that much. Wild guppies occur in freshwater and brackish waters in free nature, depending on the location. I only add salt if something is going on where salt might help. But adding some salt won't hurt to repeat myself. But again, fancy guppies aren't in need for it.
I don't know where you've read it that guppies (I assume fancy guppies) do better in brackish water.
What is Mutt guppies?
Mutt guppies are random guppies that don't belong to a specific strain or undesirable guppies of a strain that will be mixed with other guppies. If a guppy doesn't meet up the characteristics of their own strain sufficiently, I'll cull them from the group and they'll be moved to my mutt tank. In there, they may crossbreed with another.
 
1st pic is juvenile male of my Mutts, 2nd Pic is Mom, 3rd pic is Dad
 

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Lots of mutt guppies do have nice colour.

Suppose you were breeding guppies to get a certain colour or pattern. Not all the babies would look like what you want, so those are called mutt guppies.
Or suppose the mother and father were different types so the babies look half way between the mother and father - those are also mutt guppies.
 
Mutt guppies is a normal guppies with not nice color, i think this tells all.
Doesn't have to...
There are mutts swimming overhere with very bright and beautiful colors and pattern. But they just don't meet up the standards which I use to keep up the quality of the strain high. If a beautiful guppy of a certain strain doesn't meet up the characteristics of that specific strain sufficiently, I will cull them and they'll be moved to the mutt tank. For if the traits of that specific guppy are dominant in passing on and that would cause too much deviation, the strain won't breed true anymore.
And even in a mutt tank where those guppies crossbreed, besides lesser kinds, also very nice ones will develop as an offspring.
Lots of mutt guppies do have nice colour.

Suppose you were breeding guppies to get a certain colour or pattern. Not all the babies would look like what you want, so those are called mutt guppies.
Or suppose the mother and father were different types so the babies look half way between the mother and father - those are also mutt guppies.
You're saying it correctly...
 
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Its a great topic & nice to find out what strains work & what does not.
The juvenile in the pic i posted above, His sisters are exactly the same color as mum, So i have 6 identical females but they have each been with a different male, So the colouring could be great. If not im not bothered. They are free fish for my tank ? & right now i need them as the cory tanks was totally wiped out with something really nasty
 
Love the convo here. I bought these as mixed breed so I just call them mutts. But they have lovely color to me! There's ONE male that looks different from the others tho. And the boys have BIIIIIIIG tails, which are cute.
 

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