Male guppy tail growth

[Tjacobs23]

So I have some guppy fry who are anywhere from 1-3 months old and are the babies of some of the guppies I had purchased at a Petsmart or Petco. I purchased males and females. And all of my males had long tails. I originally purchased these guppies to help my koi (lives in my koi pond) become more people friendly and not skiddish. Totally worked. But my guppies either got taken by birds or died of sickness. So, I started to become obsessed with guppies after one of them had babies. Now all I have left are some of the offspring from multiple different moms. And I even took these guys out of the pond and placed them in a fish tank, just so they wouldn’t get eaten. Out of my last 4 adult guppies, all died except one. The switch from the pond to the aquarium was too much for them.
Now, my question is: when will my guppy male fry get longer tails? They all have short round tails. Does this depend on diet? This guy here is about 3mo old

 

[Silencedogood]

Did your other guppies have longer tails? Sometimes it just depends on the fish. Make sure that the young guppies are getting 8-12 hours of light per day. Feeding them a varied diet of fresh and dried food will also promote maximum growth.

 

[Colin_T]

If the parents had big tails then the young should develop big tails. If the parents had short round tails the young will have short round tails.

If your fish are skittish and nervous there is something wrong with the water and you need to check the ammonia, nitrite, nitrate, pH and GH to make sure it is safe for them.

If fish ever die or become nervous and skittish, do a 75% water change and gravel clean the substrate each day for a week or until they settle down.

If birds are flying around a pond, or animals are hanging around a pond trying to catch the fish, it will also make the fish nervous. If you have plants in the pond it will provide the fish with some shelter. Koi eat plants but you can buy plastic water lily leaves that float on the surface. You can also grow floating plants in a separate pond and put them in the koi pond. The koi will eat the plants and you simply top them up as needed. But the floating plants will usually help them feel more secure.

Check the water quality first tho because 99% of the time, it's poor water quality that kills fish and makes them nervous and skittish.

 

[Tjacobs23]

Did your other guppies have longer tails? Sometimes it just depends on the fish. Make sure that the young guppies are getting 8-12 hours of light per day. Feeding them a varied diet of fresh and dried food will also promote maximum growth.

All of the male guppies I purchased from Petco and Petsmart had long beautiful tails. The females didn’t. I just purchased what was available. I usually only fed them the tropical flakes. But now I have started to give them more frozen brine shrimp. Do you think it’s the diet that stunted the tail growth? As for light, they were all born in the outdoor koi pond and spent most of their lives there. So, they got the natural sun. About 2weeks who I put them in an aquarium. I had to wait for the aquarium to be fish ready.

 

[FishGuest5123]

Koi will eat smaller fish. Probably enjoyed your guppies as a snack. Fry will take characteristic from both parents. Some could get Daddy’s tail and some could get momma’s. If you want long tailed be sure both parents have that characteristic.

 

[Tjacobs23]

If the parents had big tails then the young should develop big tails. If the parents had short round tails the young will have short round tails.

If your fish are skittish and nervous there is something wrong with the water and you need to check the ammonia, nitrite, nitrate, pH and GH to make sure it is safe for them.

If fish ever die or become nervous and skittish, do a 75% water change and gravel clean the substrate each day for a week or until they settle down.

If birds are flying around a pond, or animals are hanging around a pond trying to catch the fish, it will also make the fish nervous. If you have plants in the pond it will provide the fish with some shelter. Koi eat plants but you can buy plastic water lily leaves that float on the surface. You can also grow floating plants in a separate pond and put them in the koi pond. The koi will eat the plants and you simply top them up as needed. But the floating plants will usually help them feel more secure.

Check the water quality first tho because 99% of the time, it's poor water quality that kills fish and makes them nervous and skittish.

Thanks, i already have some plants. And yes, these koi sure do enjoy snacking on them. I’ll try to have more floating plants. To help them feel more secure. I check the pond parameters. The ph is a bit high. At about 8something. Don’t know how to bring that down. The ammonia and nitrite are zero. The nitrate is at .25. As far as I’ve read, it sounds ok

 

[Tjacobs23]

Koi will eat smaller fish. Probably enjoyed your guppies as a snack. Fry will take characteristic from both parents. Some could get Daddy’s tail and some could get momma’s. If you want long tailed be sure both parents have that characteristic.

The koi just may have ate all of the adult guppies I had. I thought the guppies would be too big for them. They were bigger than their mouths. I’m sure they enjoyed many fry. But, I have solved the problem of missing guppies and established a beautiful 30 gallon tank.
It would be crazy for all of my male guppy fry (from multiple different mommies) would all have the short round tail. All of the prospective fathers had long tails. Is there an age that their tails grow long? Could it be diet?

 

[Silencedogood]

It would be crazy for all of my male guppy fry (from multiple different mommies) would all have the short round tail. All of the prospective fathers had long tails. Is there an age that their tails grow long? Could it be diet?

It could be from diet but I'm not completely sure. @Colin_T might be able to help further.