Video Guppy situation

[Guest14017]

This guppy fry was recently found suffocating and starving to death in an old STAGNANT tank for nearly 2 months. He somehow accidentally got left behind when I gave the girl all my guppies. How he survived this long in a few inches of water in a filthy stagnant tank for this long is beyond me.

I figured he stood a better chance here than left there or put with my Blood Parrot. I also needed to take that tank down for the space so leaving him there was not really an option I wanted to use. I wished I still had the contact info of the girl I gave all the guppies to. She would have taken him.

But I have watched closely. Shion doesn't bother him at all and he doesn't hide much. He doesn't seem to be afraid of Shion. He is a bit thin which is to be expected but I hope he will bounce back.

I do NOT intend to keep the guppy here long term and I do NOT advocate for putting goldfish and guppies together. Given time, Shion will probably eventually see the guppy as a snack and eat him. This is a special short term case, but it is interesting to watch them.

Guppies need to be in groups of their own kind and ideally so do goldfish. Shion is a lone goldfish and will stay that way - but the guppy hopefully will find a new home with other guppies. Youtube totally botched the audio....

 

[Slaphppy7]

And, guppies are warm water fish, goldies prefer cold...nice save, regardless, until you can move him/her

 

[foxgirl158]

I’m surprised that Shion doesn’t eat the guppy actually! From what I’ve seen/heard, goldfish will eat anything they can put in their mouth, and he’s definitely big enough to eat the guppy.

 

[Guest14017]

And, guppies are warm water fish, goldies prefer cold...nice save, regardless, until you can move him/her

The tank is usually around 80° without a heater. Atlanta is hot until the end of September and the lights and the room warmth just keep the tank sorta warm. The goldfish can easily adjust to it and the guppy prefers it.

I’m surprised that Shion doesn’t eat the guppy actually! From what I’ve seen/heard, goldfish will eat anything they can put in their mouth, and he’s definitely big enough to eat the guppy.

Shion is DEFINITELY large enough to easily eat the guppy and he quickly ate 11 small shrimp I added to the tank - but he has paid the guppy NO MIND since it was put in there. Very interesting indeed. Shion is a slow Oranda so I figured the guppy stood a chance even IF Shion went after him - but he hasn't paid the little dude any attention.

 

[CaptainBarnicles]

I love your videos, the narration is the best

 

[Myraan]

As long as you don't get loads of unexplained fish vanishing allowing you to film LFS visits for new fish like certain tubers do, maybe you on way to being a social media influencer

 

[Guest14017]

I love your videos, the narration is the best

I am very goofy and often trip over my words and say WHATEVER to finish off a line... I don't edit videos so whatever comes out just comes out lol.

As long as you don't get loads of unexplained fish vanishing allowing you to film LFS visits for new fish like certain tubers do, maybe you on way to being a social media influencer

Well since I do not own "loads of fish", I am sure that will not happen! I own two indoor tanks, each containing only one fish (not counting this guppy) and have one small outdoor system with maybe 10 fish that I have mostly had for several years (there are 3 or 4 babies born this year in there). So definitely not loads of fish. And if they all just VANISH, I am sure I won't be getting more. Also I don't record the LFS as I don't even have a LFS lol

 

[Bruce Leyland-Jones]

I'm just hoping you find a loving home for the guppy.
It's bad enough that he was abandoned in the first place, but then to have survived and now to be simply hanging around to be eaten...

 

[Guest14017]

I'm just hoping you find a loving home for the guppy.
It's bad enough that he was abandoned in the first place, but then to have survived and now to be simply hanging around to be eaten...

I kinda knew SOMEONE would do this. He was ACCIDENTALLY left behind. He wasn't intentionally ABANDONED. Some of you people just do the most omg.

I tried my BEST to catch all the tiny tiny fry when I rehomed the guppies. It was very very hard to catch them all. If you had seen my guppy tank at the time as some users did - you would understand.

He has been here a week and the goldfish has NOT tried to eat him. I moved him here in hopes of saving him. So far it has worked as he wouldn't have survived much longer where he was. I am hoping that continues and he is able to get large enough for me to hand over to the local big box store and ends up in a decent home.

 

[AdoraBelle Dearheart]

I kinda knew SOMEONE would do this. He was ACCIDENTALLY left behind. He wasn't intentionally ABANDONED. Some of you people just do the most omg.

I tried my BEST to catch all the tiny tiny fry when I rehomed the guppies. It was very very hard to catch them all. If you had seen my guppy tank at the time as some users did - you would understand.

He has been here a week and the goldfish has NOT tried to eat him. I moved him here in hopes of saving him. So far it has worked as he wouldn't have survived much longer where he was. I am hoping that continues and he is able to get large enough for me to hand over to the local big box store and ends up in a decent home.

Pay no mind! I was bracing for you to get a response like this too. It's easy to miss a tiny fry if you're tearing down a heavily planted, heavily stocked guppy tank. Obviously you didn't leave him there on purpose! And the goldfish tank, if the temp is within a close range since guppies can manage cooler water as well, seems like the best temporary solution! I get it.

Touch wood he won't be eaten, and having some decor and plants he can hide in will increase his odds, as I know you already know! But sometimes it happens, and it's a part of nature that some fry are predated.. even just keeping fry in the tank with their parents mean the odd fry gets eaten, and I hope @Bruce Leyland-Jones wouldn't consider us cruel for keeping livebearers like that? Accepting that while most fry will make it, there's always a chance that they won't?

Personally I think that's better, more natural, and less stressful for the fish than using things like breeding traps to try to save each individual fry.

Fingers crossed he makes it, and the girl you know can adopt him or her, or he finds a good home from the store.

I'm in a similar boat right now, had shut down my livebearer breeding and thought I'd rehomed all my viable females and fry. But two young fry had hidden and I didn't catch them, and I've now sexed and separated, planning to rehome them. Then a female guppy I'd kept because she has swim bladder issues popped out a big batch of fry. Urgh! So will be putting my nursery tank back up to move them to until they're old enough to sex and rehome. But for now, they've grown up in a tank with adult mollies, guppies and cories, always a chance a few have been eaten. I don't think this is a cruel way to keep them, and your situation is no different.

You know what you're doing It's good you found him when you did, and you're doing what you can in a less ideal situation, no judgement here!

 

[Guest14017]

Thank you very much Adorabelle... that sums up my situation and how I feel EXACTLY.

And I just want to say this - when my guppy tank got overrun with fish and fry due to excess breeding and my inexperience with livebearers... I tried my absolute BEST to find ALL the guppies good homes over and over again. I absolutely REFUSED to feed the extras to my Blood Parrot tank or my outdoor goldfish pool (I didn't have Shion at the time). This was even recommended to me here!! I am NOT NOT NOT an advocate for live feeding and this is NOT NOT NOT the intent of this setup.

With the plants in the tank and the size, age, and variety of the goldfish (slow swimming fancy) - I LEGIT thought the guppy would stand a good chance short term even IF the goldfish went after him a little... but as you can see in the video - the guppy is right in front of Shion multiple times and he DOES NOT go after him.

I wouldn't want to place the guppy in an overly stressful environment anyway as he does need to eat and recover from his ordeal. He's OKAY guys and I watch closely. He only needs to get a LITTLE bigger before the store can take him. I am just hoping all continues to be well until then. He will NOT be kept here permanently.

 

[AdoraBelle Dearheart]

You're welcome! I understand completely what you're doing, and clearly lots of other folks who've commented do to! So don't let someone being hard and misjudging you make you feel badly, or put you off from posting.

It's harsh judgements like that, that make me worry people won't want to post their set ups or share their concerns or potential mistakes, fearing that they'll be attacked rather then helped... a topic that's come up a lot recently. I'd hoped that this forum was a place for us to share and help each other, not try to tear others down.

I don't like live feeding either, or culling fish if they could otherwise life out a life without suffering- hence why I've kept the three disabled female and two disabled male guppies I produced over the time I've been breeding livebearers. I did my best to separate them by sex while young, not wanting disabled fish to breed, and wanting to quit livebearer breeding too, but I must have been too late to separate that guppy female, so she has stored sperm.

But her issue is minor, so I will not cull her, and won't rehome her. She can live out her life with me, and I'll deal with having to raise and rehome her fry. Not ideal, not what I wanted, but I'm not going to kill her or her fry! Which look well and healthy themselves, have plenty of plant cover to hide from adults, and don't seem to be being eaten! But I also accept that there's always a chance an adult will catch and eat one, because that's what fish do sometimes.

He stands a really good chance, since livebearer fry are considerably quicker than fancy goldfish

 

[AdoraBelle Dearheart]

Check out this thread Scan down to see the 46g bowfront hardwater community tank. She made it work!

Tank Updates

Hoo boy. So been sitting on the idea of posting updates or not, but @AdoraBelle Dearheart and @EllRog have been very encouraging about it :friends: Some happy, some sad. Ive changed a few setups as well for various reasons. Bare with me, shall be photo heavy and will probably have 2 posts...

www.fishforums.net

Casscats is a brilliant, knowledgeable, very caring fishkeeper, who was chased away from this forum because of harsh comments like the one you just got, sadly Which is a terrible shame, because she was both brilliant and skilled, and also spent a lot of time helping beginners and people having emergencies. We've lost a lot of good members...

As a temporary measure when she was trying to prevent livebearers breeding and didn't have enough spare tanks, she set up a hardwater tank for her rescued goldfish, and retired livebearers to live together. Not usually recommended together of course, but she had the temp and everything set so it was acceptable to both species, and monitored them carefully! She knew what she was doing. But she got a lot of comments like the one you got too. She shared some lovely videos, really cute, and none of the livebearers were eaten by the two goldfish.

 

[CaptainBarnicles]

I'm just hoping you find a loving home for the guppy.
It's bad enough that he was abandoned in the first place, but then to have survived and now to be simply hanging around to be eaten...

Dude no need for that really was there?

 

[Guest14017]

@AdoraBelle Dearheart
What a lovely thread. And I did not see any bashing or negative comments... but clearly she had experienced it because of the way she started the thread. It is obvious she loved her tanks and fish very much and did a LOT for her fish. Very enjoyable thread to view.

I won't allow negativity to run me off the forum. At the end of the day - someone who knows me and understands my intent will be encouraging to me.

Unfortunately I view Bruce's comment as purely rude for the sake of being rude, because not only did he imply several things that aren't true, he offered no solutions at all to remedy the issue that he supposedly saw at hand.

So there is nothing constructive there at all, it is just disparaging and implying that I am TRYING to kill the little guppy in the CRUELEST WAY POSSIBLE, when my true intent is EVERYTHING OPPOSITE of that.

Very hurtful of course BUT I know many see the good in me and understand that I want this baby to LIVE and thrive and that is why he is here.