Minnows or wild guppies

[sandyd]

I have what my husband says are minnows that washed into my yard. Well i want to tell you that they look exactly like guppies without the color. I have not located the male in there yet, but every one of the girls look exactly like my guppies without any tail color. They even have gravid spots. Are minnows and guppies possibly in the same family and that is why they look so much alike? Any idea?
Sandy

 

[William]

I reckon they could well be guppies they often inhabit small streamss where abouts are you located ?

 

[sandyd]

Hello William,
I am located in Louisiana, where it always floods and brings me new fish. I am down near New Orleans but on the other side of the lake. Big old lake with a 24 mile bridge. Also got some bullhead catfish washed up with them. Tired of catching them, gotta dig a pond there LOL Sandy

 

[William]

Well I'd be pretty certain they're guppies the wild guppies are usually very plain dull and without colour its only years of inbreeding which have produced the show guppies colours we have today, thats very cool about the fish getting washed up!! Good luck with the pond!!

 

[sandyd]

Ok i have been doing some searching and they may be what they call mosquito fish. They are pretty comon here i have read. I am trying to find a site that does comparison of the two meaning mosquito fish and wild guppies to see if i can find a difference in them. I will figure this out. I will let you know if i locate what they really are. Sandy

 

[William]

Could well be mosquito fish, they are genetically almost identical to guppies They too are livebearers and can be kept in the same conditions as guppies, congrats on your new additions like guppies the mosquito fish are very proficient breeders!!!!

 

[sandyd]

William, thank you again for your post, now i just have to figure out what i am doing with them. Kids want them to come inside so that they can see them. I put 4 girls in a tank who are noticibly pregnant so i may end up with some little guys for the kids to watch grow. Guess its time for a tank that will hold all of them. LOL Just what i need more fish. Also have a puddle full of bullhead catfish again. I may have to run a hose down to them and keep their puddle full of water until we flood again. Sandy

 

[William]

Hi sandy again These bull head catfish you have- what do they look like I believeI have never seen them before, I'd love to be getting fish washed up into my garden... although I guess after the first few times the novelty probably wears off doesn't it Back in Northern Ireland- Irelands very green "emerald isle" as they say, one year we were 6 days of rain off being classified a swamp! However even then I didn't get any fish

The mosquitos are tough little fish and as you'd expect their requirements are basic - very similar to guppies actually. I'd say keeping a few of the preggo ones is a good idea especially if you are short of space, you can keep all the babies you need and release the rest

 

[sandyd]

Hello again William,
I found a link to the mosquito fish also. Not a great pic but here it is .

http/www.tpwd.state.tx.us/nature/endang/...ls/clcrgamb.htm

Here is a link to bullheads, also not a great pic but will give you an idea of what they look like. Mine are only about 2 inches long now, but will grow rather fast.


http/www.rodsavers.com/bullhead_catfish.htm

It was fun to get them in the beginning, but now i am quite tired of saving them. Not a good thing. They are great to watch, but catching them is quite a different story. The last time it flooded i got about 50 of the catfish and relocated them to a big pond, it seems as if all of the fish in the area just like my yard better. LOL

The mosquito fish that arrived are on the endangered list so i have to check with my government link to see if it is ok to keep them. It should be ok, it is not like i went out and caught them, they came here for a visit. LOL
Sandy

 

[Ginger726]

Hey Sandy, read your post. I know exactly which fish your talking about. I have sworn the same thing. It seems these critters must be related. I live near Beaumont, Texas and have played in lots of ponds, streams you name it and these fish cann't be endangered they are everywhere! But I guess you cann't argue with the wildlife and fisheries page. I will have to check on their ID I just checked out a couple books from my library that may have these guys in it. Lately I have used these little guys to acclimate my water to settup new tanks. They can tolerate all kinds of conditions and low oxygen levels but they do need it. I never got my females pregnant as can be to have babies in my tank, maybe I didn't have enough foliage in there. I put these minnows outside in my rainwater buckets to ward off the mosquito larvae that were everywhere and they ate them right up. Now I have babies everywhere in my rainwater buckets. They probably also liked the extra protein. Talk at you later, Ginger

 

[aernympha]

wish i could get soem mosquito fish but i dnt live in america

 

[Ginger726]

I could ship you some but I have never shipped fish before and who knows how fast it could get to south England. You could probably get the same results out of some cheap guppies I would imagine. Do you guys have mosquitos pretty bad? I know we do especially around the Gulf coast. Could you believe our Wildlife refuge even has a mosquito breeding grounds that is protected. I mean that really chaps my backside!

 

[sandyd]

These mosquito fish are now multiplying everywhere. LOL I guess it is a good thing since i live in Mosquito heaven with all of the rain we have been getting here. I was dumping out all of the still water places in my yard so that mosquitoes would not grow in them, but now i am adding fish to them too keep the larva down. I am really starting to like these fish, they are everywhere. They are suicidal though, they like to jump out of the water and try to live on the ground. Sandy

 

[Ginger726]

That is great to hear besides the suicidal ones. Oh well, no one needs the suicidal ones in their gene pool anyway. I think a few of my older ones have either leaped or got washed out when it rained real hard. But their are plenty to take their place I have started feeding them a little flake food. I am not real sure what I should do about feeding them. I guess the older ones will live off the babies and mosquito larvae to keep them in check. Otherwise I would have to do water changes because of over crowding. Survival of the most fit I guess. What are your plans for thinning them out.

 

[sandyd]

I really have not thought about thinning them out since there are the jumpers in there. If i get too over populated, the pond will have to grow or i may have to start another one. I have also been feeding mine flake food, but the frogs have also been feeding them as they are laying eggs everywhere. That too is a good thing since i get tons of those LOUD tree frogs. They come to my front windows at night to eat the bugs that are attracted to the light inside. My boys just love to see them. I like them as long as they stop trying to get in the house. LOL
I think flooding season is gone for a while so i may have to figure out what i am doing with all of these washed up fish. My mother transplanted lots of pond lillies into my pond so that should protect them this winter. Although if we get a real winter here this year there may be trouble. Not really though, my kids have lots of plastic totes that i could fill with pond water. Or there is always the swimming pool. Would just have to stop putting chlorene in it. OK so the fish are taking over its ok everyone in the house knows how to swim. Sandy