swamp guppies... new- babies:-)

[Ursus sapien]

okay, they're not guppies (cross matings are said not to produce offspring) but they do groove to swampy places and ditches. found in fresh and brackish water, though I found mine in Baine's virtual fish room:-)

Males especially react to the red focusing light my camera puts out, and will dart out of the shot. These were the best shots of the lot...

[Ursus sapien]

a few more. the older female in the first photo has a nice golden/orangey glow to her belly.

[mdfa.ca]

These are LOVELY!!! Thank you for sharing them, US. I never even heard of Swamp Guppies and the colours are beautiful. So, are you saying you can't cross them with Fancy Guppies?

Margaret.

[CACAdmin]

You got some great shots. Beautiful fish. As for the males being leary of the red light illuminator..try turning it off and see how the focus is without it.. worth a try. Either that or keep exposing them to it whether you are taking pictures or not and maybe they'll get used to it and start to ignore it.

[Ursus sapien]

You got some great shots. Beautiful fish. As for the males being leary of the red light illuminator..try turning it off and see how the focus is without it.. worth a try. Either that or keep exposing them to it whether you are taking pictures or not and maybe they'll get used to it and start to ignore it.

You're right about them getting less jumpy with the red light. The better shots came at the end. Still, they get very skittish, and turn to face the light source, almost like they might charge.
I've gone through the manual and still have no idea how to turn it off - middle aged mind tackles modern technology. Always good for a giggle:-)

[Ursus sapien]

These are LOVELY!!! Thank you for sharing them, US. I never even heard of Swamp Guppies and the colours are beautiful. So, are you saying you can't cross them with Fancy Guppies?

Margaret.
I'd never heard of them either until I saw them offered on the Auction. Again, thanks, Blaine.
They're very active; the males do this insanely fast spin around the females as part of courting... I'll try to get a video clip of it. Females are pretty aggressive, and will chase off males. They seem to have a hierarchy amongst themselves, just as the males do, with the larger female dominate.
From my net research, these fish will not produce young when crossed with guppies or other Poecilia species. (I'm not really a fan of cross species hybrids, so that works for me:-) The common wild type is blue (a beautiful fish), with the red variation occurring in about 10 per cent of males. The red strain is said to breed more or less true.

[mdfa.ca]

That's fine - they are pretty enough as they are, no need to cross them.

Margaret, off to check the Auctions again...

[OldMan]

Those are some very nice looking micropoecilia that you have.
On my camera, the easiest way to kill the silly lights that bother the fish is to shut off the auto-focus completely. That also lets me focus on the fish instead of the glass so I win twice when I do that.

[blainep]

Thanks for the nice compliments Storm.

They are a great little fish, I've found they are actually quite slow to reproduce, so they won't wear out their welcome quickly.

I love the mating dance the males put on, it's almost like they're trying to hypnotize the female ! :laugh:

Since there is still a touch of wild to them, they like to set a hierarchy, both the males and females will sparr for dominance.
Thankfully, they don't do any damage to each other.

By the colours those males are showing, they must like their new home.

I hope they do well for you !

[Ursus sapien]

Thanks for the nice compliments Storm.

They are a great little fish, I've found they are actually quite slow to reproduce, so they won't wear out their welcome quickly.

I love the mating dance the males put on, it's almost like they're trying to hypnotize the female ! :laugh:

Since there is still a touch of wild to them, they like to set a hierarchy, both the males and females will sparr for dominance.
Thankfully, they don't do any damage to each other.

By the colours those males are showing, they must like their new home.

I hope they do well for you !

I just love these fish, Blaine! That mating spin is dizzying to watch., and totally unique. Endlers and Heterandria have a strutting display much like pheasants, but these guys spin like Emanuel Sandhu.
The females are fiesty, and a sharp contrast to the long-suffering, heifer-like resigned tolerance of male harrassment typical of Endler females. These babes kick boy-butt!
oh, and, should females be isolated prior to birthing, or are the fry safe?

[Noctame]

What kind of setup is needed for a breed like this? Same old as regular guppies? Planted with lots of hiding places?

[GaryofMontreal]

This isn't a breed, but a separate species - Micropoecilia picta. The popular Trinidadian name of 'swamp guppy' says they look like guppies and come from the same places as Poecilia reticulata guppies, but this isn't like a dog breed. It's two species.

I find them touchy, like all Micropoecilia. I started mine in a 20 gallon with a heater set to 25. The tank was heavily planted with a very slight current, and no other species in it. They gave me tons of babies and I got cocky. I kept feeding them well and doing 25% weekly water changes, and I had started doling out pairs to friends who have been dropping by and saying 'wow'. My main colony got up to above 30 fish, and suddenly crashed. No symptoms - no signs. Just 20 fish dead. I have seen the same weird thing with Micropoecilia branneri and orange stripe.
I have mine in two 15 gallons now - six in each, and they are slowly making a comeback. They are beautiful, but touchy little critters.

And I am going to stock lightly with them from now on.

[blainep]

I just love these fish, Blaine! That mating spin is dizzying to watch., and totally unique. Endlers and Heterandria have a strutting display much like pheasants, but these guys spin like Emanuel Sandhu.
The females are fiesty, and a sharp contrast to the long-suffering, heifer-like resigned tolerance of male harrassment typical of Endler females. These babes kick boy-butt!
oh, and, should females be isolated prior to birthing, or are the fry safe?

I've never separated my fry, until their tank started to get crowded. I haven't seen the massive die offs like Gary, but they do need to be treated with very consistent conditions.

Lots of small water changes and good foods.

In a planted tank, you may get better fry survival than I tend to get. Most of my tanks are bare bottomed, so there isn't a lot of micro critters for fry to much on.

I'd be interested to hear how you make out with fry, just to see if having them in a planted tank makes much of a difference for the fry.

[Ursus sapien]

I'm looking forward to getting crowded:-)
I think plants and wood do up the survival chances, because of the cover, but also of the foods that grow on them. Fry like to eat the same things shrimp do and you find them in the same places.
for example, this is a shot of a Heterandria formosa week old baby sharing a meal with some baby cherry shrimp on a pennywort leaf. It was born in the bag on the way from Blaine's house in far-away frozen Alberta (see how happy it is in LotusLand, all warm and wet:-) It also likes to hid in the riccia.

[CACAdmin]

Those are great photos... so sharp. It would appear that your new additions from Blaine like it here on the coast.

[blainep]

Good pictures of the baby Het, I have trouble getting pictures of adults !

For the H.formosa it might be like going home, a few generations ago, they came from Mykiss (Patrick's) collection. :laugh:

[Ursus sapien]

That's too funny - all my males and original females came from Patric. Now it turns out that the couple of females I got from Blaine (fresh genes!) came via Patric as well.
Two nights ago I acquired a few more females, this time from April - now I'm wondering if those will turn out to come from Patric too!?!
I guess all my careful notation regarding sources is kinda pointless lol!

[CACAdmin]

Sometimes the saying that it's a small world really is true. :laugh: I guess you'll have to check with April and see if you actually do have new genes in the mix.

[neon]

a few more. the older female in the first photo has a nice golden/orangey glow to her belly.


they are really pretty!

are they community fish?

[Pamelajo]

That is such a good pic of such a tiny fish.

[Ursus sapien]

they are really pretty!

are they community fish?

Good question! I honestly don't know. My intent is to breed them and have them in a species tank... so I never thought to ask.
Anyone else?

[Ursus sapien]

Found the first one yesterday morning. They've been coming slow but steady since then, with two females birthing simultaneously. That Blaine character sure does send fertile fish in the mail:-)

The females are in a birthing pen; the babies are all getting out, but the males are ignoring the fry. At least in the net the females get a break from male harassment - they do this very persistent head-butting thing to the female's vent area that can't make birthing any easier.

Now that the gals are separated, the boys have been spending a lot of their spare time playing in the out-flow of the UV sterilizer. Acting like corys, for crying out loud!

ps, the plants in this tank are melting, most likely because of the 'Calgary-style" hard water. Any idea's on what's good in warm, hard water?

[blainep]

More great pictures Storm !

I'm not sure how well these guys would do in a community setting, they aren't aggressive at all, but they are fairly timid.

They would probably be fine will smaller fish like H. furmosa or G. Metallicus but I can't say for sure. I've always kept them in a species tank.

[neon]

More great pictures Storm !

I'm not sure how well these guys would do in a community setting, they aren't aggressive at all, but they are fairly timid.

They would probably be fine will smaller fish like H. furmosa or G. Metallicus but I can't say for sure. I've always kept them in a species tank.


awwwww more fry pics........how cute Storm!

so if they are timid, what kinds of fish would go well with them Blaine?

[Ursus sapien]

awwwww more fry pics........how cute Storm!

so if they are timid, what kinds of fish would go well with them Blaine?
I'm a sucker for a baby fish, what can I say? careful, I may pull out the baby white cloud mountain minnow pics- specs against driftwood:-)

[blainep]

so if they are timid, what kinds of fish would go well with them Blaine?

I would guess most non aggressive smaller species that like hard 78ish degree water.

Very active fish, like Danios, might not be a good idea. It's hard to say really, The Picta's may get used to the activity and just ignore the other fish.

I would say the biggest deal would be to give them lots of places to hide out if they feel threatened.
From there, it's a bit of trial end error.

[neon]

I would guess most non aggressive smaller species that like hard 78ish degree water.

Very active fish, like Danios, might not be a good idea. It's hard to say really, The Picta's may get used to the activity and just ignore the other fish.

I would say the biggest deal would be to give them lots of places to hide out if they feel threatened.
From there, it's a bit of trial end error.


Thank you, I won't consider them then, as I had already bought frogs at different times and all 4 died.....they later told me they were petrified of fish.......I don't want to have any of my fish's afraid.