Swordtails / Guppies

[Schmill]

Ok, as the story goes, I bought 4 female guppys and 2 male guppys around 6 months ago.
All were placed into the tank, and just as I was about to chuck the water away that was in the 'travel bag' that the fish came in from the shop I spotted a fry!
"Bargain!" thinks I, and dropped him into my floating baby trap.

<time passes>

He grew up and gradually started to take on his red colour, and got released at some point into the tank.

I figured that he either came as a fry from the tank the other fish came from, or he was actually 'born-in-the-bag' - lol As doubtful as it seems to be I actually think it was probably the latter as I checked the fish over once the LFS had put them in the bag at the shop and certainly didn't see him then!

<time passes>

Something took out my guppies, I treated the tank but lost 3 female guppies, (strangly the only one to survive was pregnant which I thought was bizarre as I figured she would be the weakest of the bunch!), I lost both the adult male guppies, and also 1 female Praecox.

The 'baby' (who is now more of a juvenille) I noticed has now also grown a 'sword' out from the base of his tail, and he is paying a LOT of attention to the single female guppy. He is tiny in comparison to her, but that doesn't seem to daunt him in the slightest, and he will even chase away any cardinals or Praecox that dare go anywhere near the female guppy, despite the fact they are all bigger than him!

My first question is, could this 'swordtail' have been born from one of the female guppies I bought originally from the shop, or is it more likely he was a 'stray' fry that got into the bag?

Secondly; Will a 'swordtail' (if thats what he is), actually mate with a standard female guppy, or is he just really annoying her?

Thirdly; I've heard that Swordtails can be quite agressive, whereas others say they are passive. If he is just a glorified guppy I can't seem him being especially aggressive 'by nature' other than the fact he is a fiesty little fella! Is he going to be ok in my peaceful community tank?

Forth and last; With Guppies I know that you are supposed to keep them at something like a 2:1 female/male ratio so as the females do not get pestered too much, HOWEVER with recently having lost quite of lot of fish for my smallish tank, and then finding out about the various parasites that guppies carry I don't want to buy anymore. My sole surviving female guppy recent gave birth, and I found and 'saved' about 5 / 7 fry from the tank and put them into the breeding trap. Are fishes sexes decided in the womb, or are they one of these creatures that will be 'sexed' depending on the environment they are born into? I'm hoping that at least some of these fry will be female guppies as then I will have guppies that are 'clean' from the parasites, and hopefully they will take some of the attention away from the single female currently in the tank. My worry though is what will happen if all, (or even the majority), of these fry turn out to be male? I'm fairly sure a bunch of males would then stress the single female to death? Would they then also turn on each other?

Thanks for all / any advice

 

[kribensis12]

Guppies can grow swords.

 

[Spishkey]

do you perhaps have a picture?

 

[Schmill]

Perhaps he is a guppy with a sword then?
I will try to get a picture this evening

 

[OldMan47]

A fairly common color variation in endlers, a close guppy relative, is to have a clear or almost clear tail with a strongly colored bottom or top ray to the tail fin. It gives the impression of a sword and in some cases it even extends slightly beyond the rest of the tail into a sword-like appearance. My avatar has what is called a red lower sword endler in it. I would not be at all surprised if you have a guppy / endler hybrid the way people have been keeping the two fish together lately.

 

[Truck]

it is impssible for a guppy to cross breed with a swordtail as they are a different species

 

[nosoup4you]

Many fish from different "species" can hybridize. The reason that Guppies and Swords can't, is due to them being of a different Genus. Some more closely related genera can interbreed, but Guppies and Swords do not.

 

[Schmill]

Here are the pictures as requested

Him:

Him & Her:

Him & Her again...

Him, Her, & a Cardinal:

Him, Her, cardinals, Praecox, & Albino Corys:

So there you go, he's pretty small and he doesn't leave the female guppy alone, but what is he?

 

[Corleone]

He's a guppy. Actually looks like his tail looks short. Maybe it got torn and the "sword" is the normal length. If that is the case, it'll just grow back.

 

[kribensis12]

Looks normal to me. Good sized female. She looks preggers =]

 

[OldMan47]

Looks like a guppy to me. It does have an extension on the bottom of the tail. I have seen that type of extension on the top and bottom of the tail being called a lyretail by the LFS. It is just a fancy guppy, there is no swordtail in it.

Edit: spelling

 

[Syphoniera]

That appears to unmistakably be a guppy: one wouldn't necessarily notice a tiny fry in bag with multiple fish, so it really was a bonus, and a pretty one to boot.
Good choice, as guppies are great, except for the population problem issue.
I was lucky enough to get an Endler/guppy cross in some 'feeder' guppies I bought.
The males tend to have the appearance of a lyre-tail due to colouration, but also to be either top or bottom swords.
The funny thing is I'd originally thought I didn't really care if they were spectacular or not, as I simply wanted not-fancy guppies - and they turned out to be beautiful, with no two quite alike.
The glowing colours and stripe on yours do seem to me to hint of Endler, although I am speaking as one who knows nothing.

 

[Schmill]

Thanks all, I'm just hoping he is alright now. I did have 'something' in my tank recently that wiped out most of my guppies other than this male and the big female, which I'm hoping has cleared up now, but he does look a little thin... Of course that could just be because I only have teh other fish in the tank to compare him to, and he is the youngest.
I'd take a better picture if I could, but both my phone and camera take perhaps a second to 'focus' after pressing the shutter button, and by that time he's quite often left the scene in search of the female - lol
Flash on, picture gets washed out, Flash off, shutter speed is too slow so all you get is a blur.
I'll figure it at some point, but for now I think I'll have to make do with these pictures. Some poeple have brilliant pictures of their fish, I assume these are from cameras that give you full control of the focus, shutter speed etc?