Guppy with bent spine

[lee_an]

i have got a guppy which is a little bent in the spine(bent sideways).Should i keep it or its babies as i heard that they pass the "bent spine"gene to the babies

 

[SnowyzMom]

Yes, I once saw that bent spine passed on to other guppy descendants but it's personal preference I think to keep or not. If you like the fish then keep it, if it's doing okay. If it's a male you could put it in a monastery tank so no babies. I had a neon tetra inherited from my daughter, who'd always had a bent spine. We didn't know why. She seemed healthy as a horse but looked strange. As they didn't breed it was all AOK, no bent babies. If you're not showing or selling the guppies, it's purely a personal choice to keep or not. If the fish is in no difficulty and you can keep it from breeding, why not keep it? At the very least it'll be a conversation piece!

 

[ruffmeister]

deformed through in breeding prob as the other cahp said kep it if its not in any pain etc

 

[Da_Oz]

Keeping it is one thing. But breeding it is another. If I had something I could pass along to my offspring I would not have any. One less than normal fish in your tank is ok but what happens when you got 40. In fish breeding and human breeding you always run that risk but why add to it.

Just how I look at it.

 

[Darcie]

I had a female guppy with a bent spine for aprox 6 months, She was a baby of my late Momma guppy. She did really good until the last day or so. She never became pregnate and I never had any problems ! She was a great girl !
I'd say keep your gimp and see what happends !

 

[guppler]

The first time I found a large quantity of fry in my guppy tank one had a definite kink in his tail. I had kept them in a breeder box with slats in the side and i was not very experienced, so i thought there was a possibility that he might have gotten his tail injured in the slats when I was cleaning the breeder box by lifting it up and down so H2O rushed in and out. I named him Hook. His tail was actually sort of ladel shaped. The pedunkle seemed to bend twice in diferent directions and the caudal fin apparently was a little spoon shaped when it was small. Hook was actually a late bloomer and I htought he might be female for a little while, because so many of his brothers had made it much more clear that they were males. About that time I was getting my gallon tank ready so could get my hudreds of fish out of the divived 10 g, and I suggested starting a misfit tank for the non breeders. I'm not sure how many i had at that time, but i know Hook was the first one I had declared not for breeding. I said He could be the captain just before before i realised that he was now "Captain Hook". He has always acted perky enough and he grew up to be a beautiful silver tuxedo with a hugebright orand delta tail with at least 2 rows of evenly spaced dots. near the edge. For a while it looked like he was wearinf bright orange lipstick, but now his lips are mostly black. His dorsal fin is long and wide and flowing, but when he displays I can sometimes see an extra lobe as if he has a double dorsal fin, but you usually can't see that because of all the folds and ripples. Now I can't see any trace of the spinal defect, except for a light orangish spot right where the kink was. Ironicly, I'm actually considering breeding him now because he's the biggest male I have left, and has the biggest tail. Only one or 2 others are even comparable. I did have some others, but they died before i had a chance to deliberately breed them. Hook is about a year and a half old now and seems healthy for his age. I only have 3 guppies that I know are older. I think i considered euthanising at first, but now I'm glad i didn't.

 

[Darcie]

I hope you decided to keep him !

 

[ferrikins]

I had 5 bent spines in a litter of 13, from a female that was 3-4 months old. She dies and hour after havig them, I now only have 2 from the litter one with a very very bent spine and the over can't swim for long periords, there in the main tank to life out there days, I only once thought about having them PTS, but that was when there was 5 of them, and I knew I could'nt keep all 5.

there happy now lifing with there 2 antie and father, and the rest of the fish. when they die they die, least they had a little bit of life.

 

[johnnybigfish]

I had 5 bent spines in a litter of 13, from a female that was 3-4 months old. She dies and hour after havig them, I now only have 2 from the litter one with a very very bent spine and the over can't swim for long periords, there in the main tank to life out there days, I only once thought about having them PTS, but that was when there was 5 of them, and I knew I could'nt keep all 5.

there happy now lifing with there 2 antie and father, and the rest of the fish. when they die they die, least they had a little bit of life.

Concerning the bent spines and curvatures in guppies,..AS mentioned earlier here, I bet its cause is from "Inbreeding".
Guppies are VERY prone to this nowdays as breeders(for petstores) are breeding for quantity, not quality. Usually, is the fish has to much of a problem with this abnormality, the othet fish in the tank will zero in on this and "Take it out". On the other hand, The fish may hold its own and go about life like theres nothing wrong with it.
This abnormality can happen in all types of fish but it seems that livebearers are more prone to showing manifestations of inbreeding.
If you want good quality fish go to a fish show if possible.These people take pride in what they do and try to keep the best traits in their fish they breed Usually you pay 50$ or more for a decent pair of guppies which breed true.Of course I would definitely keep these apart from the other guppies after spending so much. If you ever go this route you will definitely see the difference between your guppies and the ones in the fish store.
I've actually been considering doing this same thing I just mentioned! I havent had guppies in over 30 years but they've remained one of my favorites.
your friend,
john

 

[stella the fella]

i have got a guppy which is a little bent in the spine(bent sideways).Should i keep it or its babies as i heard that they pass the "bent spine"gene to the babies

i have had a guppie for 18 months with a bent spine she has bred and only 2 of the 18 fry had bent spines. the other fish ate the two deformed ones, its worth persevering. good luck

 

[Piltdownpaul]

My parents have huge amounts of inbred guppies and this is a common sight in their tank- I have explained the situation but with that many guppies all interbreeding in this same tank the females must be drinking milt!