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Fish Keeping, My Way
An employee at a local pet store often shares pictures of her pristine aquariums. They are lovely. She has three rules for success: No livebearers, no live plants, and no lights when she’s not looking at the tank. I’m happy for her, but no thanks. I’ve loved livebearers since grade school–especially guppies and mollies. Even…
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Guppy Rebound
At long last, my dream of a guppy tank is coming true. After months with no guppy babies, a few finally appeared. I watched in horror as the surviving platy adolescents hunted them down and ate them. Three hours later, my 29-gallon tank was finally platy-free. The last eight brought the total removed to more…
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Platy Problem Stalls Guppy Dreams
My vision of an aquarium chocked full of guppies has yet to materialize. Three pairs of guppies couldn’t keep up with two extremely prolific platy females. I’ve been trying to remove unwanted platies for months. Ridding the tank of platies has been surprisingly difficult. The smaller they are, the harder they are to catch–even after…
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Most Prolific?
Keeping live-bearing tropical fish in has been fun and educational. At roughly the same time, I added two females of three different varieties to the tank. The most prolific variety surprised me. I expected red cobra guppies to run away with the competition. They had a head start of several weeks and a reputation for…
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Population Explosion
The population in my 29-gallon aquarium is growing exponentially. The momma fish keep having babies! Several will soon be grandmas. I have no idea how many guppy, platy and molly babies have been born. Given the chance, fry of all three varieties grow quickly. Hiding until they’re too big to be eaten by bigger fish…
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Full Tank
Once the goldfish had to go, the vision for my 29-gallon aquarium shifted to guppies. The tank is too big for just guppies, so I expanded the vision to a community tank with mostly livebearers. Changing my mind all the time is a gift. The Red Cobra guppies are doing great. They’re always on the…
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High Drama in the Tank
All but one of the baby fish have disappeared. I suspect the swordtails, but can’t say for sure. Nonetheless, they were exiled to the outdoor pond. If they’re guilty, the baby population will rebound. If not, I was wrong. Time will tell. Banishment was contingent upon catching the trio without tearing up the well-planted tank.…
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Swordtail or Platy?
Maude has a new boyfriend. His name, of course, is Stanley. I’m happy to report the mismatched pair hit it off right away. It’s a May/September, mixed marriage. Maude, the cougar, comes from the ‘Brick Red’ clan. Stanley is a young green swordtail–like those found in the wild. Maude clearly enjoys a walk on the…