My New Guppies

[LauraFrog]

OMG OMG OMG!!!

So I was going to set up a guppy tank since, like, forever, and I finally got around to doing it. I want to collect a variety of strains and my fave LFS had some REALLY top guppies yesterday. I bought a pair. (Guppy rule: Pair - school).
They are yellow snakeskins. It's hard to tell the female's lineage but she is nice and small, which I like. I am trying to keep guppies in small tanks so I want them small. She might just be young though. She has an eye spot but no obvious signs of pregnancy. She could be virgin but I wouldn't put money on it. They had several but the rest looked sick so I decided on a pair and not a trio. She has mottled black and yellow markings on her tail - same strain as the male, afaik.
The male is an endler hybrid. OMG he's a stunner. I'm always on the lookout for males with small tails. He's got the Endler black spots on his sides.

I called them Spotty (the male) and Tiger (she acted like one after mating with him three times and he still wouldn't leave her alone).
I'm setting up another tank for the females soon, so I'm not going to keep just a pair, I know that's not smart.

And Krib: Yes, I will put up pics. (I know you'll want to see them!) They are gorgeous guppies.

There's another LFs about an hour away run by this eccentric German immigrant. He speaks good English but sometimes he doesn't bother, so he walks around the shop patting his fish (keeps a lot of large, hand-tame cichlids) and muttering to them in German. He has 'contacts'. Meaning I only have to travel for an hour to get my hands on pure German guppies. The red metalhead strain. Pure. No kidding. No doubt I'll pay through the nose for them but I know some other people who will pay through the nose for some fry. Besides they are stunning fish. *drools*
And we are going to the city this weekend. So with any luck there will be some more guppies to join my pair very soon. I don't know how many I'll buy, will depend on how healthy they look and what they cost.

 

[kribensis12]

And Krib: Yes, I will put up pics. (I know you'll want to see them!) They are gorgeous guppies.

It's like you can read my mind!!!!!!!!!! SOunds great! Really cant wait for pics! It is impossible to get guppies around here that will live, let alone getting pure strain guppies!

 

[fourthtimelucky]

I want to see the pictures too!!!!

 

[LauraFrog]

Yeah, that sucks. On the topic of guppies how is the feeder-to-fancy project going?
There are some pretty good sources of tough guppies in rural Australia if you know where to look (not these but others). Heaps of irresponsible idiots released guppies into dams, creeks, lakes etc to control mosquitos, and most of these were ornamental strains. The males retained their colours pretty well. Most of the waterways contain larger fish and inverts, so only the tough ones survive to breed. Most of the females are utterly colourless but I know some people who had very good results crossing wild-caught males with fancy strain females - all the fry, both sexes, are pretty but maintained a lot of vigour. They turned out really well even at second generation level.

Anyway, here are my snakeskins. We might not be going to the city as planned because it's RAINING again. RRRRR.

And again... I love my fish...

 

[Siamese Fighting]

I was just seeing if my lead stud guppy is similiar.. obviously not haha

 

[LauraFrog]

Ooh, nice. He looks like there's a red medusa strain in there somewhere. Very nice... he has similar markings on the body to mine.

I'm thinking of buying a second male, just to spice up the males tank. This strain does seem to be available consistently and the quality is good. It just depends on luck though - if you get into the LFS the day after the delivery you can take your pick of the lot. The week after, and you're left with the ones with mismatched fins, illnesses, torn fins, coy, shy, poor body shape etc. In short, the ones you don't want if you're breeding quality, the ones I wouldn't buy.

 

[Siamese Fighting]

Yeah I agree.

I don't know how you managed to take such good pictures of your guppies, mine wouldn't stay still!!

 

[LauraFrog]

I sat there for half an hour and took enough shots to fill a 250mg SD card, that's how... lol. I used a short exposure time (like sports mode) and macro mode (closeups of small objects, like fish). I used a single flash as well. The light goes on and then off, because any more and the fish startle and move. My camera has 'halftake' mode as well. You press the shutter halfway and the camera focuses on the fish properly then when the fish is where you want it you hit it the rest of the way. But mostly trial and error - and patience. Those are the gems - there are a lot of photos of my fish's bums, bellies, blurry photos etc.

 

[Siamese Fighting]

I am lucky to have underwater mode on my lumix, and I thought against using the flash (hence the darkened photo!)

I wanted to buy some more female guppies, but as they breed so rapidly.. I think it's just worth holding out and creating my own family. It's 1.49 pounds for a guppy where I live, and they're barely worth 2p in reality!

 

[kribensis12]

VERY NICE! Im still working on my feeder to fancy project, i finally have a male feeder that i started out from fry. My female guppy looks like she is done having bbaies so i might put them in the same tank soon and see what happens!