Strange looking guppy babies

[Dazed and Confused]

Last month one of my guppies had babies (yay). At first they all looked
like the mother (orangy/yellow and the odd few darker ones). After a couple
of days I noticed that one or two had odd tails. The tail is the same
length as the normal fanned out one, but triangular, long and symmetrical.
At first I thought that somehow I had got some swordtails (but from the fish
photos I have seen on the web the tails are really pointy and near the
bottom of the fin).

I also can't work out how it is that the babies turned out like this as all
the guppies in the tank have full tails. I've had them about 4 months so it
could be possible that breeding occurred before I got them. Possibly one of
the parents is partially swordtail, or maybe it's some kind of genetic
problem. They don't seem to have trouble swimming about so I'm not too
worried.

After a week or so, more of the babies started to look like this, it's
probably about 1/2 and 1/2 now. Could it be that they have some illness
that made their fins change shape?

It's all very perplexing. My brother reckons that a guppy milkman has been
visiting my tank!

Has anyone else had experience of this?

[NetMax]

"Dazed and Confused" > wrote in message
...
> Last month one of my guppies had babies (yay). At first they all
looked
> like the mother (orangy/yellow and the odd few darker ones). After a
couple
> of days I noticed that one or two had odd tails. The tail is the same
> length as the normal fanned out one, but triangular, long and
symmetrical.
> At first I thought that somehow I had got some swordtails (but from the
fish
> photos I have seen on the web the tails are really pointy and near the
> bottom of the fin).
>
> I also can't work out how it is that the babies turned out like this as
all
> the guppies in the tank have full tails. I've had them about 4 months
so it
> could be possible that breeding occurred before I got them. Possibly
one of
> the parents is partially swordtail, or maybe it's some kind of genetic
> problem. They don't seem to have trouble swimming about so I'm not too
> worried.
>
> After a week or so, more of the babies started to look like this, it's
> probably about 1/2 and 1/2 now. Could it be that they have some
illness
> that made their fins change shape?
>
> It's all very perplexing. My brother reckons that a guppy milkman has
been
> visiting my tank!
>
> Has anyone else had experience of this?

Please excuse my amateurish explanation, but genetically speaking, you
probably have some parents with recessive genes which when combined,
caused the characteristic (diamondtail) to become more dominant (50%).
Swordtails are genetically incompatible with Guppies, but diamondtails
are not unknown in Guppies. It's not a disease, relax and enjoy :o)

NetMax

[DonkeyQong]

Dazed and Confused wrote:
> Last month one of my guppies had babies (yay). At first they all looked
> like the mother (orangy/yellow and the odd few darker ones). After a couple
> of days I noticed that one or two had odd tails. The tail is the same
> length as the normal fanned out one, but triangular, long and symmetrical.
> At first I thought that somehow I had got some swordtails (but from the fish
> photos I have seen on the web the tails are really pointy and near the
> bottom of the fin).
>
> I also can't work out how it is that the babies turned out like this as all
> the guppies in the tank have full tails. I've had them about 4 months so it
> could be possible that breeding occurred before I got them. Possibly one of
> the parents is partially swordtail, or maybe it's some kind of genetic
> problem. They don't seem to have trouble swimming about so I'm not too
> worried.
>
> After a week or so, more of the babies started to look like this, it's
> probably about 1/2 and 1/2 now. Could it be that they have some illness
> that made their fins change shape?
>
> It's all very perplexing. My brother reckons that a guppy milkman has been
> visiting my tank!
>
> Has anyone else had experience of this?
>
>
I suspect your brother. Blaming the milkman, shame on him. Probably
just a recessive showing up again. Guppies are aggressive breeders and
will breed in almost any situation, kind of like teenagers.