Poor, poor guppies

Hello,

About two weeks ago I noticed that my blue male guppies tail was in tatters. It was only the bottom half (I think it's called a lyre tail, kinda like they have one small tail on the top and another small one on the bottom). I felt bad for him but he never acted like anything was wrong and his tail is now almost all grown back, I never even medicated him. Now I'm noticing my female red guppy has a shredded tail. It looks like a chunk was first taken out and it's sorta frayed out from that point.

I've read that poor water quality can cause this but I'm sure mine is fine as I do 25% water changes once per week. And no, I still don't have any test kits....

Current tank inhabitants are:

4 lemon tetras
1 pictus cat
1 clown loach
1 betta
8 guppies
3 harlequin rasboras
3 chinese algae eaters

I also have two fake driftwood pieces and all live plants. Could the guppies be scraping their tails on the "driftwood" or is there a tail shredder on the loose....

Thanks,

Tina

 

What size is the tank and what filter do you have?

My guess is they're getting nipped by the tetras and rasboras. Short of separating them, there's really not a lot you can do. How are the fins on the betta?

-Chelle

 

Hi Chelle! It's my 20G and I have an penguin 125 hob filter w/ non-spinning bio-wheel. My bettas fins are fine, and I've never seen any of the tetras bother my guppies, but who know what happens when the lights go out.

On a different note: I like your avatar, how did you make it? I cannot get any photo of mine down to 1K in size.

Thanks!

 

Here's some photos of them

 

I still think it's probably the tetras and rasboras. The only other thing I could think of is fin rot, but I seriously doubt that's the case since your doing weekly water changes and the fins heal fine w/o any meds. It's a good idea to get those test kits anyway.

As for the avatar, I went nuts trying to get one down to 1k and still look decent. Then I figured out that if it's hosted on an outside site, the file size limit doesn't apply (not sure about the 80x80 limit).

-Chelle

 

I'll keep an eye on those tetras and rasboras to see if they're misbehaving. If they are they'll have to go to a different tank. Nobody messes with my guppies!!!

Thanks for the tip about the avatar, I'll give it a try.

 

All I can get as an avatar is a red x even when I use an outside site. What site did you use Chelle? I'm thinking I'll try webshots or something else. My Shutterfly is making them huge and that's the only site they will show up on at all.

 

My guppie had the same problem.

I am not sure what happened either. I only have guppies in this tank? The pet store out where I live sells some liquid for this. I will try to get the name and let you know ok.

As for the picutres I would love to be able to show some of my babie picutres here. If anyone has any suggestions or can help me please do I am unsure how to even get a link in here. Do I have to set up my web site first :?:

Good luck
kristisanchez@yahoo.com

 

Kristina-

You don't need your own website to show pictures. Go to a photo printing site and set up an account (they're free). I use Shutterfly, at www.shutterfly.com upload your pictures onto their site and bring up a large view of the photo. Right click on your image and go all the way down to properties. You'll see an address there. Copy it and come back to Auspet. In the reply box you'll see a box that says "Img" in the upper right hand corner. Click it once, paste the address in, and click the "Img" button again. This should allow your picture to show. I know it sounds complicated but it really isn't. The shutterfly site is very easy to use.

Regarding your liquid food, it's probably called Liquifry. I don't suggest using this as your kids are in a breeding trap and it will spread throughout the whole tank and make your tank dirty very quickly. Instead look for a small crushed food made specifically for livebearers. It will say that on the package. Dip a toothpick end into the water and then into the powdered food and this should be more than enough for your fry.

Since you only have guppies in the tank you could probably release them in a couple of weeks when they hit 1/2". I really don't have any experience with breeding traps so I'm not too sure about how long it will take your fish to grow. In the research I did when my babies were born it was generally stated that baby guppies do not grow well in the cramped conditions of breeder nets. Supposedly they develop deformities because they do not have enough room to swim comfortably. As I said though, this is just something I've read and I don't know how true it is.

Good luck Kristina (he he.. that's how I spell my name too!) and keep us posted. Sorry for such a long post... I've just been kinda long winded today.

 

Do not worry some of my posts are long also. I have so much to say sometimes.

THANK YOU FOR ALL YOUR SUGGESTIONS. I think I have around 26 or 27 babies (they are soooo cute! and I do not want to loose any)


I will try this weekend to get my pictures up. YOUR ARE A GREAT HELP.

As for the babies, I plan on taking them home and keeping them in a seprate tank so they can grow. OR I will take most home and put the others in a smaller tank at work in tell they get bigger. So I should not use a filter for the babies in tell they are about 1/2 to 1 inch huh?

THANK YOU AGAIN.

Kristina Sanchez

 

I'm just browsing from the cat forum, but I thought I'd offer some advice on the size of your avatar. You have to size the picture before you upload it to webshots (or shutterfly or whatever). You do this in your photo editing/veiwing program. It depends on which one you're usuing, but usually it is called "resize". Then you upload the smaller pic to webshots and go from there just as you are.

 

PICTURES

Thank you I got the picture to work. But I need to work on the size. It comes out very small see picture attached. I need to resize it them post some pics.



THANKS AGAIN.

Kristina Sanchez

 

Tina help

I can not get the pictures to show they show in my preview but not in the message. Can you help??

THANKS

 

Re: Tina help

They're showing up for me.

-Chelle

 

Here is one picture of my fry, taken when they were 11 days old.

Lets see if it works.

 

Could this be true??????

My female seems to be getting big again. But I no longer have a male. I was told that guppies can have more fry even without a male??? Could this or is this true to your knowledge or anyone elses??

She is acting like she did before she gave birth last month.

 

Yes! Female guppies can store sperm so they could still give birth up to two more times I've heard. How goes it with your fry?

 

Wow really!!!! No wonder she looks liks she is getting big again.

The fry are doing good. I kept 13 at home in a tank just for them (they seem to love it). I have the other 13 at work still in the breader. I will wait in tell they are bigger to take then out of the breeder, because my small female wants to eat them.

I will try to post new pics this week some time (notice I said try).

How are your fry doing?
So can you tell your fry apart yet (male from female yet???)

Post a new pic if you have time.

Talk to you soon. (I will let you know what happens with the mom.)

 

Nope, can't tell them apart yet but three have very distinctly red tails and fins. The rest are taking after the mother with purple and black. I guess we know who has the dominant genes don't we?

 

Cool Purple. I have a few that are showing some black now. But that is about it so far.

I had one huge one fry and a two smaller fry. The rest of the fry seem to be about the same size. I will try to post new pictures soon. This is finals and graduation time for me so I have been real busy. (I will complete my BA in August YAAAAAAA

Anways keep us posted on their growth.