Newbie Guppy Question

[evelester]

Hi, I have a question that may or may not be silly. We have a 10 gallon community tank with 3 guppies, some neon tetras some blue tetras, and a suckerfish and a male betta (the catfish is going back to store tonight as per advice from other thread) he is not messing with the fish though. Everyone is schooling fine and getting along, no problems with fins or anything. But one of the 3 guppies (the smallest one) is not really playing or 'schooling' with the other 2 guppies, the other 2 are larger and stay together all the time, they both have orange and red tails (looks like fire) this one is smaller and has black and yellow, like a leopard tail.

I am getting the water tested again today, just in case, but everything has been going well, I didn't know of a fishless cycle till after I got the fish, but ammonia has been consistently low, as of yesterday it was almost 0.

So is it normal for the one to not be hanging out with the others? he(she?) is not at the top or bottom, just the other side of the tank hanging out swimming fine.

OMG, I was just taking pictures and I think he is a she, there is a growing gravid spot that was not there the other day, none of the others have it, and she is not ignoring the others, every once in a while she will go say hi... here are some pictures. (that is a gravid spot I am seeing right? I 'thought' females were only black with no color... hmmmm)

 

[Miss Wiggle]

hmmm that certainly looks like a gravid spot, and if it is then that would explain why she's not playing with the fella's all the time.

have you checked to see if it's got a gonipodrium (sp) ?

i thought female guppies were plain but they're far from my fave fish so i don't pretend to be an expert.

 

[evelester]

hmmm that certainly looks like a gravid spot, and if it is then that would explain why she's not playing with the fella's all the time.

have you checked to see if it's got a gonipodrium (sp) ?

thanks! I looked it up, and i cant really tell, but she has a regular looking fin there, and the other two's 'fins' are diffrent in that area, still looking for picture to compare too.

 

[Miss Wiggle]

This is a male (images robbed from google)

and this is a female

what do you know you do get females with fancy coloured tails!

 

[evelester]

yep, that is the tail part exactly. Wow, cool. I am so exited! We are going to get a breeder tank tonight, when do you think we should put her in it, we plan on getting one of those divider ones with the v-shaped divider. (read about it online) but I dont want to do it too early or too late... hmmm, I'm gonna be a grandma! LOL

 

[Fishkrazy1]

your guppy looks like it's pregnant congratz grandma

 

[evelester]

any ideas on how to tell how far along, or when we should put her in the breeding tank?

thanks!! i am so exited!

 

[Fishkrazy1]

hmmmmm I'd don't know how to tell how far she is along, but getting her into a 10gallon breeding tank would be a good idea, also only put a small amount of gravel on one side of the tank with a few plants for the babbies... once she gives birth get her out of there! She WILL eat the fry... which isn't good!

 

[evelester]

thanks! she is not very big at all so hopefully she can wait till payday (friday) so we can get her a decent breeding tank.