BikBok

I've had the mother for 3 months but this is the only male from her fry drops that hasn't been eaten! He started to show colour and obvious maleness a week ago so I'm pretty pleased. He's 5 weeks old today :-) His tail looks a lot like the snakeskin I already have.

This little guy is just 5 weeks old and only just starting to colour up. I want to know what his tail pattern is called so I can name it correctly for my TM add. Also I'm pretty sure his Dad is the snakeskin in the 2nd pic so am I correct in thinking he will be a snakeskin too, he is starting to get shiny like his Dad and his mother is a golden guppy purchased from a tank of only goldens and snakeskins. 5 week old male His dad is the pint size snakeskin below: Thanks.

oh that doesn't sound good. i bought some noodles of TM as well but only have a few in my tank to supplement the ones I already had. I struggle to keep pH down but that is because of the water supply. Anybody else had high pH after adding new noodles?

I'll try and get a pic later.. getting a closeup of the mouth on active guppys can be hard!

i wasn't impressed with my first ever encounter with buying fish at animates... that's a whole story in itself but my second purchase.. my red wagtails was good. The staff member spent ages catching the specific two I wanted even though the store was really busy. She didn't try and fob off an easier catch but persevered till she got the ones I wanted. I put off buying the red wags from there because of my experience first time around but in the end couldn't find any elsewhere so got them and quarantined them. They're fine and have had their first batch of platy fry. I find the prices expensive but they are first and foremost a business. The specials can be quite good though. Sometimes you're lucky enough to get a staff member who has a passion for the animals and will give you good grounded advice that is not $ motivated.

that's quite a good one. Thanks, I have saved it. still doesn't answer my black specks around mouth Q though!

so it might be nothing to worry about? They seem fine but I wanted to check because I've never noticed it before.

I noticed this morning that two of my female guppys have tiny black spots and specks around their mouth. I haven't had any recent additions to the tank , other than fry being born. What could it be and how do I treat it. I did use the search function but it was taking so long for the page to refresh that i gave up. (i need to get to work - so I'll post here and check back later) Oh, I also did a quick google on "black spot" but it says it's rare in an aquarium and needs a snail host? I do have a snail (ramshorn and trumpet) but I don't think the guppy has eaten bits of them! Water: no ammonia, no nitrtites, nitrates 20-30 pH 7.3 if I need a treatment, bear in mind I have scaless fish (Kuhli) in the tank. thanks

i have 5 too, they have to share with the betta but they've outrun him everytime and now I think he's given up! Baby wags - sooo cute with their little black tails. I'm also excited that one of my male guppy frys is now 4 weeks old and looks like he's going to be a snakeskin! Yay! How soon do these guys breed? he's already waggling that gonopodium and following the girls.

thanks, I'll try the crushed flake. they're good at hiding.. I would have missed them if it wasn't for the water change!

a few have tasted the decaps but they don't seem that keen! my guppy fry gobble them up! Eeek I got a fright when I turned the tank back on.. the filter didn't go! I took out the impeller and checked that it was clean and free of gunk and reasembled everything twice over before it worked again. Hope it's not going to fail anytime soon. (it's only 4 months old - came with the blue planet)

I just did a water change on my tank and discovered I had platy fry in there! I had no idea they were there or for how long. They look way bigger than guppy newborns so what is the avg size of a newborn platy? just trying to figure out how old they are. I gave them some dacaps brine shrimp eggs but they seem uninterested... what next? crushed flakes?

i am not activley selectivly breeding but I have tuxedo, snakeskin and golden. How about you?

our manukau water is pH 7.8 + so i don't need any more alkalinity. She will have to find some other use for the paua pieces.. I might encourage her to do a piece of artwork instead.

my heaters are vertical too. My Aquaone has designed the hood that way so there is a spot for the heater to go vertical. Also a LFS told me to keep the tips out of the water and not fully submersed anyway. I understand the logic of a horizontal heater, but they can be trickier to place sometimes.

thanks for that. I have a reason to talk her out of it now lol.

are paua shells safe to put in freshwater fish tanks. my daughter wants to put a few pieces in her tank (not my preference but it's her tank) so we need to know if it's ok and if it will affect pH. Thanks

that sounds good, thanks for that Sam!

just a little question, and sorry if it seems obvious but I have to ask... were you keeping more than one male in your community tank? You said some fighters have died and I see another post asking to buy a male betta. SO I thought I should just check.

welcome! I've found my fighters more sensitive than the other fish also.. but haven't lost any thank goodness.

where does one get peat from? am interested in adding it to my filter to keep the pH nearer the acidic side.

LOL - my betta usually has a large poop first thing in the morning, sometimes it's still hanging till he wakes up when he sees me!

I bought a blue planet Hexy - midi size (21.6L) . I just looked through the manual and there isn't a recommendation for how many fish, but I do notice that the Hexy boxes show more fish than I would put in the tanks and they are usually goldfish pictured! How are you finding the filtration on the mini?

is my golden guppy above crooked? she's the biggest female in the tank but I think she's ok, though her back is a slightly different shape to the others. I can see through her and her spine looks nice and straight.

Hmmm, on the topic of crooked backs I just did a google and came across info saying insufficient lighting can lead to calcium Vit D deficicency which can cause a crooked spine. I guess in the case of pregnant guppies, they have higher calcium needs and combined with poor lighting could lead to ricketts.