Guppy FAQ

[Chris Palma]

Hi.

My wife gave me her input on some fish she would like to add to the 75gal.
She really likes fancy guppies. I read the FAQ at thekrib.com, and it
pretty clearly suggests that this isn't such a great idea. So... what is
the group wisdom on this? Am I asking for trouble if I put a few (say 4)
fancy guppies in with my honey gouramis & dwarf rainbows? Can I get away
without adding salt?

The LFS I found seems to be very knowledgeable and I'm impressed by the
quality of the fish he has in stock -- if he has healthy looking fancies,
can I consider them, or are they likely to be as fragile as the FAQ
suggests?

Thanks...

--chris



| Chris Palma, | The preceding was a work of fiction, |
| University of Virginia Astronomy | any similarities to persons living or |
| | dead, places, or events is purely |
| www.astro.virginia.edu/~cp4v | coincidental... |

NB: This email address is dead. If you would like to email me directly,
please use: cpalmaATSYMBOLastro.psu.edu

[Harry Muscle]

"Chris Palma" > wrote in message
tro.Virginia.EDU...
> Hi.
>
> My wife gave me her input on some fish she would like to add to the 75gal.
> She really likes fancy guppies. I read the FAQ at thekrib.com, and it
> pretty clearly suggests that this isn't such a great idea. So... what is
> the group wisdom on this? Am I asking for trouble if I put a few (say 4)
> fancy guppies in with my honey gouramis & dwarf rainbows? Can I get away
> without adding salt?
>
> The LFS I found seems to be very knowledgeable and I'm impressed by the
> quality of the fish he has in stock -- if he has healthy looking fancies,
> can I consider them, or are they likely to be as fragile as the FAQ
> suggests?
>
> Thanks...
>
> --chris
>
>
>
> | Chris Palma, | The preceding was a work of fiction,
|
> | University of Virginia Astronomy | any similarities to persons living
or |
> | | dead, places, or events is purely
|
> | www.astro.virginia.edu/~cp4v | coincidental...
|
>
> NB: This email address is dead. If you would like to email me directly,
> please use: cpalmaATSYMBOLastro.psu.edu

I had kept guppies back in the day when I had no clue what I was doing
(before I had the internet to read up on all this information). The parents
didn't live for too long (ie: 8-12 months), but they had tons of babies that
did great. None of the babies were as beautiful or as large, but they lived
a lot longer.

If you're gonna add 4 guppies, just expect to have lots of babies (ie:
hundreds).

Harry




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[Chris Palma]

On Wed, 10 Mar 2004, Harry Muscle wrote:

> "Chris Palma" > wrote in message
> tro.Virginia.EDU...
> > Hi.
> >
> > My wife gave me her input on some fish she would like to add to the 75gal.
> > She really likes fancy guppies. I read the FAQ at thekrib.com, and it
> > pretty clearly suggests that this isn't such a great idea. So... what is
> > the group wisdom on this? Am I asking for trouble if I put a few (say 4)
> > fancy guppies in with my honey gouramis & dwarf rainbows? Can I get away
> > without adding salt?
> >
> > The LFS I found seems to be very knowledgeable and I'm impressed by the
> > quality of the fish he has in stock -- if he has healthy looking fancies,
> > can I consider them, or are they likely to be as fragile as the FAQ
> > suggests?
> >
> > Thanks...
> >
> > --chris
> >
> I had kept guppies back in the day when I had no clue what I was doing
> (before I had the internet to read up on all this information). The parents
> didn't live for too long (ie: 8-12 months), but they had tons of babies that
> did great. None of the babies were as beautiful or as large, but they lived
> a lot longer.
>
> If you're gonna add 4 guppies, just expect to have lots of babies (ie:
> hundreds).
>
> Harry
>

What did you do with all of the fry? Did you keep them all? I wouldn't
mind having breeding guppies, but I would want to do something humane with
all of the fry that I couldn't keep.

[NetMax]

"Chris Palma" > wrote in message
tro.Virginia.EDU...
> On Wed, 10 Mar 2004, Harry Muscle wrote:
>
> > "Chris Palma" > wrote in message
> > tro.Virginia.EDU...
> > > Hi.
> > >
> > > My wife gave me her input on some fish she would like to add to the
75gal.
> > > She really likes fancy guppies. I read the FAQ at thekrib.com, and
it
> > > pretty clearly suggests that this isn't such a great idea. So...
what is
> > > the group wisdom on this? Am I asking for trouble if I put a few
(say 4)
> > > fancy guppies in with my honey gouramis & dwarf rainbows? Can I
get away
> > > without adding salt?
> > >
> > > The LFS I found seems to be very knowledgeable and I'm impressed by
the
> > > quality of the fish he has in stock -- if he has healthy looking
fancies,
> > > can I consider them, or are they likely to be as fragile as the FAQ
> > > suggests?
> > >
> > > Thanks...
> > >
> > > --chris
> > >
> > I had kept guppies back in the day when I had no clue what I was
doing
> > (before I had the internet to read up on all this information). The
parents
> > didn't live for too long (ie: 8-12 months), but they had tons of
babies that
> > did great. None of the babies were as beautiful or as large, but
they lived
> > a lot longer.
> >
> > If you're gonna add 4 guppies, just expect to have lots of babies
(ie:
> > hundreds).
> >
> > Harry
> >
>
> What did you do with all of the fry? Did you keep them all? I
wouldn't
> mind having breeding guppies, but I would want to do something humane
with
> all of the fry that I couldn't keep.

I strongly agree with Harry in regards to the mortality of the parents,
and the near invulnerability of the fry. I also found out why, when a
shipper started offering fresh-water guppies. I called him on it and
asked what the deal was. He explained that it is common practice in Asia
to breed Guppies in hot and very brackish water. They grow faster, and
there is less diseases which will tolerate those conditions.

The problem is when you now put them in your home aquarium, the parents
become sickly and do not live very long. They just live long enough to
drop a few batches of fry, and get past the LFS warranty. A teaspoon or
tablespoon of aquarium salt per 5g won't be enough to make much of a
difference. For the modest price difference, I only order freshwater
Guppies now, and I've seen significant improvement in health and life
expectancy, but I'm at the mercy of all the players in my supply chain
being honest, as I'd never really know if they had been brackish Guppies
or not.

I haven't read the krib FAQ. Guppy fry would probably not fare well with
Rainbowfish (even dwarfs), but if the tank is large enough, some always
survive. If your water has some hardness, this will help a lot.
Whatever Guppies you get, it might be worth setting up a separate tank
and putting them in a breeding box to collect enough fry. This gets your
stock levels up enough so if/when the parents die, you will have a
continuous supply.

As for an uncontrolled population, you can regulate the cull rate by the
amount of cover and the amount of food being given. In a 75g, I'd get
the stock levels up to 20-30 before worrying too much. jmo, ymmv

NetMax