28 replies to this topic

[BethC]

Hoi hoi,

I've been reading these forums for a while, I recently decided to register so i can make posts and comments (I get forum anxiety).

I know most here aren't that fussed about Guppies, but thought there would be maybe one or two who fancy them.

I have recently expanded from just keeping them, to breeding them.

I have acquired some good breeding stock from Thailand, all line bred and breed true... keeping them that way is the tricky part.
I currently have:
-Blue Grass
-Red grass
-Dragon/ ribbon fin Medusa
-Full red delta tail
-German Blue-diamond halfmoon tail
-a lonely RREA Albino full red lady (lost the rest of the trio)

I am also excited this week to have arriving, bred by NiceBettas in Thailand, a breeding pair of Salamander BF HM(butterfly halfmoon) bettas.

I also have black bar and blonde endlers, but not high grade.

I have some blue grass that will be ready to sell in about 6 weeks, and plan on making "feeder fish for sale" topic once I do a big cull of my fry later this week.

So who else is into guppies?

[BethC]

More interesting with pics

My 110L tank in my lounge room, the other 7x tanks & 6x 1L beanie tanks are outside.


Left: Female German blue-diamond (likes to flare for the camera), Right: Male German blue-diamond (bit camera shy), he has a much bigger tail than the female.


Female Blue grass.

[Mausberg]

i dont mind the fancy ones, like the bettas too..however i think you'll find it hard pressed to find anyone on this site who does not view guppies as feeder food. its pretty africanized here...discus are not even given much of a look and they have the title "king of the aquarium" !... love the setup

[BethC]

I thought that may be the case, but thought i'd try as it is a Perth forum

At least I know a place where I'll easily sell off cheap lots of "feeder fish" hehe. Btw, up to what size do people want their feeder fish? As sometimes I'll leave it too long and have a bunch of juvenile guppy/endler with nowhere to go.

Thank you about the tank, this photo is from two weeks ago, the rock cave in the middle has now been replaced with a replica human skull, just waiting for everything to settle and the plants I broke to grow back.

[bradfitzy]

I quite like guppies and endlers ..... and there great to get the kids invloved.
When you get some fry to get rid of i'll grab some for sure as im sure the kids would love some diff varitys.

Brad

[dazzabozza]

<--- Endler fan here.

[gully]

hey just curious what site or whos your contact that you use to order from thailand? im keen on ordering some wild or breeding fish that not many people have in perth

[BethC]

Coolsauce, I'll definitely post up when I have a bunch ready to go. I'm always happy to trade for BS eggs, I'm forever leaving the bag in the heat and then they don't hatch so well.

http://www.goldpisces.com/
This is where my breeding stock comes from. Jodi-Lea from Fishchick Aquatics is a trans-shipper (including from Aquabid), she is does regular imports and has a lot of the guppies, and rare fish for sale in her store, just send her an email of what you are looking for and she'll find it for you.

I've only had a few losses, but for the most part the fish ship okay, just take a week to recover. I adore the albinos of various colours, but they just don't ship well, too fragile.

[Phillip83]

Its true unless its a rare cichlid or generally too large to be housed properly in an aquarium interest will be minimal. That said, very impressive! I haven't seen anything better than a very underdone lyre tail guppy in W.A. Please stick a few more photos up. Guppy bashing is a little harsh especially given the number of people who started with livebearers and so many more that should of.

[BethC]

Thank you, I think guppies are highly underrated. They are easy to keep and colour options are endless
I'll set up some beanie tanks tomorrow and do a little photoshoot.

They are really difficult to photograph in a tank over a couple of liitres, little buggers are too fast

[sydad]

Don't ever let a cichlidophile tell you that keeping and breeding guppies is easy. To develop and maintain a high quality line of guppies takes more work, dedication and knowledge than is necessary for any other fish. I know; I tried and gave up because it was just too hard and too expensive, with too little return (I actually spent nearly 10 years trying to maintain the quality of one of the best strains ever to come out of America. It was backbreaking, heartbreaking work, even for a hobby).

If you like guppies, and are prepared to recognise these problems, I wish you every success. If I can be of assistance, please don't hesitate to ask.

Syd.

[BethC]

Thanks Syd, You will no doubt hear from me. What strain were you keeping? I'm finally able to identify gender in non-albino fry, quite accurately by two weeks old.

I'm am having a nightmare time with PH right now, I'm having to be so careful with water changes as the tap water here is having huge PH swings *sigh*

[bigjohnnofish]

Thanks Syd, You will no doubt hear from me. What strain were you keeping? I'm finally able to identify gender in non-albino fry, quite accurately by two weeks old.

I'm am having a nightmare time with PH right now, I'm having to be so careful with water changes as the tap water here is having huge PH swings *sigh*

it might pay you to have a water storage tank to hold your water before using in your tanks... that way you can test it and adjust it and treat the water before using...

i like to use 400 litre rainwater tanks... skinny variety - 6 foot tall and about 60cm wide so it can fit through your doorways...

i dont get ph swings but i do get ammonia levels from almost zero to 5ppm.... varying at times.... even though im told this shouldnt be happening it should be constant 0.5-1ppm....

yes i agree with you syd getting a guppy to breed true everytime isnt easy... a lot of breeding across back with parent(s) and then the wait starts to grow them up and breed and see if they breed true

[sydad]

it might pay you to have a water storage tank to hold your water before using in your tanks... that way you can test it and adjust it and treat the water before using...

i like to use 400 litre rainwater tanks... skinny variety - 6 foot tall and about 60cm wide so it can fit through your doorways...

i dont get ph swings but i do get ammonia levels from almost zero to 5ppm.... varying at times.... even though im told this shouldnt be happening it should be constant 0.5-1ppm....

yes i agree with you syd getting a guppy to breed true everytime isnt easy... a lot of breeding across back with parent(s) and then the wait starts to grow them up and breed and see if they breed true

I would say that a reservoir as suggested by johnno is essential. The bizarre notion that aquaria should be treated as some kind of biological reaction chambers is perpetuated all too frequently on these forums. I will undoubtedly receive a serve from someone for having the sheer audacity to repeat myself (again) on this topic, but then again most are only keeping virtually indestructable cichlids, so don't take any notice of their rants (I certainly do not).

The strain that I imported from the USA , and which caused me so much grief was the "Pingu" guppy: these were relatively huge, fluorescent pink guppies, with males having massive delta tails, and the females being almost as brightly coloured and larger, though lacking the spectacular tail of course. To the best of my knowledge this particular strain no longer exists.

Syd.

Edited by sydad, 06 January 2012 - 01:08 AM.

[BethC]

Thank you! a reservoir is a great idea.

I have limited space, but maybe a 100L drink cooler/esky with a tap would do the job, much easier to treat larger volumes of water, as opposed to a 2L water change.

Today the PH of my tap water registered over 8.0!

I've also ordered a couple of kg's of gravel made from a type of rock (can't remember what its called), to add to filters to keep water at PH7.0 (decided I prefer stable PH over the better for guppies PH7.2).

They sound lovely, in eastern states they have ones the call Pingu, but they are quite small.

I have a rather larger metallic pastel pink that I plan to eventually use to make a line of metallic pastel pink ribbon fins.

Today I had surprise fry, 4 slightly premature medusa ribbon fins and 6 (with more to come) healthy red grass, in related news, the medusas and red grass are well fed

[zacattack]

Love the guppies Beth! Keep the photos coming.

[BethC]

Finally got around to taking photos. I used one of my beanie tanks in the hopes of getting a couple of good shots.

First up:

Male RREA (real red eyed albino- for future reference), Full Red. He is still young and has some growing to do. Seems to enjoy the camera flash.



The Best shot I could get of the Male German blue diamond, he just doesn't want a bar of it.


Male Medusa. Young fish still with some growing to do, note that his tail is a bit shorter and chewed up, as he is still recovering from his journey to get to me. I'll take another in a month or so when its all grown back.



Male Red Grass, He is my favourite. He has the largest tail-body ratio I have ever seen! He decided not to participate and sulked on the floor *eyeroll*. So I have taken a photo of him in the tank too, to give a hint of how giant his tail is (you can see it is in mid swish, partially folded). I should explain, Red Grass guppies are not actually red, they are blue grass guppies with red irids over the blue. So when the flash from the camera hits them from a certain angle they look blue. In person he looks red, but when he swims you get a flash of blue every now and then.
His tail is still badly damaged and will be even larger and a nice smooth black edge when it has repaired.

[Westie]

nice pics

[jodesta01]

They are very beautiful!!

I have recently started a smaller guppy tank in my kitchen to add some colour to the area - I love them, so pretty.

After accidently becoming a "grandma" in my community tank & aquiring fry saver/breeding boxes, I am very tempted to give breeding the guppies a go.

Good luck with your little fellas, I will keep an eye out for updates

[BethC]

Thank you

They look so nice when they are swimming in a group.

I'll have some Blue grass girls ready to go soon, still deciding which to keep. No males available, but the ladies will already be fertilised.

The great thing about these guys is they don't need much room (as long as you keep up with the water changes).