Fishy Behavior

A few months ago I purchased a new male tequila sunrise guppy and several small gold barbs. I've noticed that my new guppy does not seem to be interested in mating with my young female guppy, but rather tries to entice my small gold barbs with its mating dance ritual and my gold barbs have no real interest in him what-so-ever. I have heard that guppies are capable of mating with mollies, platties and sword-tails, but mainly because they all reproduce live-bearing fry, although more often then not the fish which are born can be too mutant for survival. It has been said that a male guppy is more persistent mating then these other live-bearing species and that it can cause harm to other female species. So perhaps my guppy is in no way capable of reproducing with a gold barb and perhaps he is more enticed by the gold barbs because they have similar colors as himself. Or it could possibly be a sign of aggression but it does not seem like overly aggressive behavior as when my guppies fight they have a nose to nose stare down and move around the tank until one seems to tire himself out and retreat.

Current Tank Setup & Fish *Updated*

I've recently donated dozens of my guppies(all but one actually) to live in aquariums all around DC, so I'm now down to one 10 gallon fish tank (purchased from Petco) which has made life a lot easier now that I'm in college. I kept only one of my bred guppies, purchased 2 new guppies, bought 5 small gold barbs which will hopefully grow to befriend the 2 larger barbs I currently own and I still have my 1 black neon tetra(whom doesn't seem to mind being solo).

Although I have 11 fish currently in a 10 gallon tank, I did purchase a new Aqueon Aquarium Power Filter (20gal) filtration system which is made to accomodate a larger tank. I could classify my tank as overstocked by a smidge, as for each 1 inch of fish should be 1 gallon of water(this is a rule of thumb I learned in school but some say otherwise for different fish) although the larger filtration system should hopefully make up for the tank size. I do like the Aqueon brand for power filters thus far and my only complaint is that the lid of the filter seems to rattle a little on occasion but this might just be my indicator to clean out the filter cartridge or replace it.

My fish's current staple diet is the Aqueon Tropical Flakes, this seems to be their favorite of the many different flake foods I've tried in the past...I honestly think they love this more than the Hikari Freeze-dried Brine Shimp I give them as a treat.

I haven't had much luck with any aquatic plants I've purchased from local pet stores so I decided to take some of my Devil's Ivy, snip off a few vines and place them into my tank. Surprisingly it seems to give off a lot of oxygen into the tank and started growing roots almost immediately. I really am not sure if this plant is toxic or not but the fish don't seem to be harmed thus far and it has been in their for nearly 4 weeks now.

I have a new Aqueon Deluxe Full Fluorescent Black Aquarium Hood (20" Length) which is setup on a timer so I have it running for a good 8hrs starting at sundown. I didn't really care for the color and brightness this hood gave off but I think it's starting to grow on me and the plants seem to be doing great so far.

As for substrate I use a mix of old gravel I've been using for awhile now which I believe is a mix of PETCO Nutmeg Mix Aquarium Gravel, PETCO Pebble Beach Mix Aquarium Gravel and PETCO Rock Gravel Accents in Black Miami Beach. This combination makes for a natural looking gravel substrate and the rocks help keep the Devil's Ivy in place.

The background of my fish tank is a design I created on my computer which took 3 whole sheets of print paper and a little tape to adhere it all in place.

As for water conditioners and additives I'm currently using Jungle Plant Care Solutions Fertilizer and Water Conditioner, PIMAFIX and MELAFIX (I use them all as directed on the bottle).

After 2 weeks I changed a little more then a liter of water and added some of my water additives to it, washed off the Aqueon filter cartridge and placed it back into the filter. I also used my new battery operated Eheim Gravel Vacuum which does work nicely and is great for getting out any debry the filtration system missed, this doesn't seem to disturb the fish while I'm using this either.

So that's pretty much it for how I run my current tank setup, its been working great, the water still looks clean enough to drink and my new barbs seemed to have a grown a bit!

Filtration Idea

I've recently been trying to design my own undergravel filtration system, using that of a regular power filter, the base of an undergravel filter and some clear tubing.

With a normal power filter it doesn't really pick up everything from the bottom of a tank and with a normal undergravel filter setup it has a noisey pump, lacks power in my opinion and lacks filtration.

By removing the tube from the power filter and the undergravel filter and connecting one end of clear tubing to each device (trimming the tubing to fit) I now will have created a filtration system which actually filters out under gravel debri, provides filtration and carbon through the power filter and you won't have anything that takes away from the natural beauty of your fish tank as you do with most power filters.

I have yet to assemble this idea yet but if you've tried it or you have similar modification expericienes I'd love to hear about them!

Fun Tank Decorating Idea's

I find that one of the funnest parts of creating a fish tank is decorating one! Here are a few little creative idea's I came up with to be more fish tank trendy, enjoy!

At most fish stores you'll find the usual natural looking backgrounds for your fish tank. If you want something more unique and different you could use a little tape and adhere nearly anthing to the backside of your fish tank...posters, pictures, drawings, wrapping paper or even these designs I created in MS_Paint and printed out (it does help if it's waterproof if you're concerned about possible water damage).

Decorating inside your tank? You don't need to use plants, you can use everyday items (as long as they're waterproof and fish friendly). You could use household items like dishes, pottery, action figures or even a tasty looking plastic hamster home as shown here.

Tired of looking at tacky fish food containers? I like to use a small spice rack to create a colorful display peice by my fish tanks but you could also use any other type of storage containers or jars.

Have any creative tips of your own that you'd like to share? Drop a comment or two, I'd love to see your creativity!

Guppy Personality Traits

I haven't came across much on guppy behavior aside from them being considered "schooling" or "community" fish, basically meaning they like to be kept with other fish (preferably their own kind I'd assume).

Honestly males and females act totally different most of the time...

~Males tend to chase, school together and occasionally pick a fight with other males.
~Females act more independent, not always looking for affection and generally eat more.

In a guppy world where eating and breeding are basically what they do, it only makes sense that they generally act this way. Occasionally I will see a guppy showing unusual behavior then its tank mates, which makes me question their true intelligence and individuality.

Here are two examples of this individual personality...

During a full tank cleaning I began removing all my guppies from the tank, which guppies are generally very easy to net as opposed to other fish I have. After checking to make sure no guppies were left in my tank I began to scan the water to see if I had any possible fry hiding in the gravel. Upon my visual search I then barely noticed one adult female cowering and hiding behind my filtration system, this was an unusual personality trait in my usually friendly guppies.

I had a female store bought guppy that really only felt comfortable around younger fish and fry, but it took me observing my fish daily to realize her behavior didn't seem too normal. I remembered when I had purchased her it was just her and tiny fry living together in a busy frequented pet store. She was either infertile or was reluctant to mate, as the entire time I had her (over a year at least) she had never reproduced. She was much more shy around older guppies and she would even occasionally stress herself resulting in an ick outbreak (but this was only once in a blue moon) while my other guppies were all happy, never had an ick outbreak and age was never an apparent issue.

Conclusion

Although I've found that some guppies act different in major ways it makes me question how different each guppy personality really is and if their relationships, health, well-being and so forth can change a guppies personality traits (rather then its mood on occasion as when a fish is ill), or if it's just an inheritated trait much like the way the majority of my males and females generally behave.

Sexing Guppy Fry

I believe I've figured out how to sex tiny guppy fry and it doesn't seem to be a super easy task but here's a new method which I believe MIGHT be accurate from my knowledge of guppy breeding (I haven't done any outside research on this topic).

Guppy fry are about a few millimeters in length with possibly no color thus far and it may take a few weeks or perhaps days to actually tell your male and female guppies apart using my method here. It helps to have a bright tank light on and to use your eyes rather then up-close photos to actually them apart.

As tiny guppies you may notice if you look VERY closely that some of the fry actually flex their gonopodium up toward their bodies and back out again, the guppies you see doing this are probably males as adult males are generally doing this during mating rituals with females. It may take some patience to see a guppy flex its gonopodium but if you can at least get a good visual on the transparent fins then it makes it slightly easier. If it doesn't flex its gonopodium after at least 5 minutes of viewing then it's possibly a female.

Another way is to look at the shape and size of their bodies. Female fry I believe are slightly more rounded in the chest/belly area and males tend to be slender/straight thus appearing very slightly smaller then female fry.