Guppy behavior? Oh dear.....

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mel_20_20

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Sep 1, 2008
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Deep in the heart of texas
I just added a "male" (said the lady at the lfs) guppy to my 10 gal tank so my solo "male" (said the girl at PetSmart) will have a friend. (My guppy had a friend that died a couple of weeks ago)

The tank went through a mini cycle but is in good shape now, nitrites 0, ammonia 0, nitrates 20, ph 6.8, temp 78.

I got this "male" from the lfs, but can someone tell me if this is normal behavior. After acclimating him, floating the bag to bring up temp to match the tank, and adding some tank water, I netted him and put him in the tank. (took care not to let the water from the lfs get in my tank)

At first my guppy was pressed against the bag as it floated in the tank, as if eager for his new friend to join him, but after a few minutes he swam away and hovered near the bottom of the tank.

When the new guppy was released it took a while for them to come together, they circled each other, hovered near the surface side by side for a while, and then then my guppy seemed to make jabs at the new one.

It didn't seem to be all that friendly a meeting to me.

The new one has his tail as big as he can make it, (its bigger than my guppie's fin, and it is moving its tail fin in a sort of shimmy fashion. The cirled each other, mine making short quick jabs at the other one's side. The just seemed to face off with each other.

Now mine is in the corner of the tank at the surface with his (her?) nose pressed into the corner. I have a small cutting of anarchis attached to the tank wall there and the guppy is just on top of it.

Oh uh, now the new guppy is hovering just above mine, it's back section (underside) near the base of its tail is across the dorsal back end of my guppy near the base of its tail. They both seem sort of transfixed.

Could it be that I have a female and have just added a male to my tank, and love is in the air.... I mean in the water?

Also, there are some things floating in the water beside them; looks like tiny specks in a filmy strand, not dense clusters but scattered specks along single strands.

When I first saw that I wondered if my mystery snail, who has been hanging out just below the surface on the submersable heater, might be having babies.

But, now I'm wondering if my guppy could be a female and just lay some eggs.

Uh oh, now there are more little specks in filmy clumps, and you'd think my guppy was deceased, it's so still. The new guppy is still hovering over it, the underside of the back end resting on top of my guppie's back near the base of it's tail.

Geeze, I didn't want to have babies.... tell me this is not what I think it is......
 

Dangerdoll

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if you can, posting a pic would be enormously helpful here in help determiniting the gender of this guppy. The behavior does seem kind of odd but could simply be stress involved, again, pictures would help. The things floating, not sure what that is either, guppies don't lay eggs, they give birth to live fish unless it is an overstressed female who spontaneously aborted her fry...
 

OldMan47

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A few facts might help. Guppies do not lay eggs. They have their fry live after carrying them for about 4 weeks. It is not unusual for male guppies to display their fins in a kind of shimmying movement. They do this to entice a female to allow them to breed but they don't stop just because there are no females around. A male guppy will have his anal fin, the one next to where he eliminates, formed into a long thin structure that he would use to impregnate a female. On a female guppy, the fin in that same location is not long and thin but is shaped like a triangle. In any of the modern fancy guppies, the male also will have longer and more ornate finnage than the same breed of female but a fancy female can have fins look more impressive than a less fancy male so fin colors are not a very good way to judge a male vs a female guppy.
A mystery snail cannot breed alone but they can carry fertile eggs for a while so if you have a female, she might be carrying fertile eggs. Mystery snails are only male or female and are not hermaphroditic like a pond snail would be. They will not lay eggs under water but instead will climb above the water line and lay the eggs out of the water in a clump. If you don't want the eggs to hatch, remove them and dispose of them.

Looks like you and I were answering at the same time doll. As usual, I was windier.
 
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mel_20_20

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Well, it looks like we do have a male (my original) and the new addition is a female. The long thing structure you describe has been now observed by me, and he has approached the new addition from beneath her, he rolls over and darts at her underneath, and it is obvious that he is attempting to impregnate her.

I believe what I observed as specks in filmy strands and clumps are feces. While they were criss cross on each other, him beneath her, he must have been eliminating, for whatever reason. Perhaps they do this before they attempt to mate?
(for a moment it crossed my mind that maybe the new addition was a male and had terrorized my guppy and literally scared the crap out of him, since he seemed almost catatonic)

They were in this position for at least 10 minutes. I went away to find a camera and when I got back he was alone on the plant and she had moved to the opposite corner of the tank.
(don't have a camera that will take a good pic)

I swear though, for the longest, I thought he was dying. He was resting on that plant cutting, not moving. Then I noticed a long solid trail from the anal aea, and then it broke off. This was just before he became active and obviously began trying to mate with her.

While he was alone, his back was sort of humped and he looked in distress, really. Then when she came back over to where he was he had moved off the plant and they came together.

Now, he's back resting on the plant, she's at the other end of the tank looking his way. What strange behaviour. Does this seem normal.

Also, if I do now have a single male and single female, will this be a good or bad arrangement? I think I read on this forum that a male should have at least 3 or 4 females so he doesn't pester any one of them too much.
 

bazil323

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At first it did sound like two males posturing to see who will be the "top dog". Near the end of the post it sounded more like mating behavior. Guppies should really be either 1. one by itself. 2. a group of several males only. 3. a group of several females only. or 4. a group with a ratio of one male to at least 3 females.

2 males together will sort of harass each other and will be very stressed. If you get more, say 5, then the posturing will be spread out between them. You can't have one male and one female or the male with pester the female to breed until she dies. You will need some way to take care of the babies once their born. You can either let the parents eat them or feed them to other fish or put them in a separate tank and sell them once their big enough.
 

jackiomy

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Just put anachris in the water. The smart ones will survive and it is really cute to watch them get bolder and bolder as they grow. Soon you will have many guppies! I started taking my young ones to my LFS when they were old enough. I gave them to the store because it gave them a chance to be adopted and I didn't worry about them so much. I am a worried grandmother with all my fishies so I don't have live bearers anymore.
 

b.greene

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I post on Craigs List whenever I have an extra batch of babies. They go within minutes.
 

mel_20_20

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Deep in the heart of texas
Thanks, I will
 
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