This, that & the other thing

[Melody]

I set about getting some pictures for Margaret of my new black tail Guppies. As you'll see in that thread, I described them as having a silver snakeskin pattern and a black tail because that's what I saw when I picked them out in the store.

I started taking pictures with the flash and all of these amazing colours popped out. I figure it's just the flash so I turned it off. Certainly much of it was, especially in the tail (which is common in Guppy tails, especially Moscows). However, I was happy to see in the flashless pictures that the body actually has lovely pastel shades. Upon closer inspection in the tank, he's a freaking rainbow...lol. Once again we see how making a fish comfy and feeding it well can change its appearance.

A tad blurry due to the lack of a flash:

http://i48.photobucket.com/albums/f227/canadiansinternetdotcom/MM-BlackSnakes2.jpg

One of the females:

http://i48.photobucket.com/albums/f227/canadiansinternetdotcom/MM-BlackSnakes.jpg

One of Margaret's Snakeskins which has matured into a handsome devil:

http://i48.photobucket.com/albums/f227/canadiansinternetdotcom/MM-GreenSnake-1.jpg

One of Blaine's Gupplers - a female who sports a small top sword:

http://i48.photobucket.com/albums/f227/canadiansinternetdotcom/MM-BP-TopSword-Guppler.jpg

A young male albino Sailfin Molly:

http://i48.photobucket.com/albums/f227/canadiansinternetdotcom/MM-Albino-Sailfin.jpg

Same male with a bunch of beautiful girls., a male green Lyre & some Plumetail Platy's:

http://i48.photobucket.com/albums/f227/canadiansinternetdotcom/MM-Albino_Longfin_Silver_Dalmation_.jpg

Albino Sailfin Molly female, Silver Sailfin Lyre female, Siamese Algae Eaters, a Sunset Pintail Platy and Mr. Piglet trying to look scary:

http://i48.photobucket.com/albums/f227/canadiansinternetdotcom/MM-BBs-naturose2.jpg

Albino Sailfin Molly female, Siamese Algae Eaters and a young adult BN Pleco:

http://i48.photobucket.com/albums/f227/canadiansinternetdotcom/MM-BBs-naturose3.jpg

And this is what happens when we decide to finish off the bag of Naturose and Krill in a batch of homemade fish food :laugh: . The baby clams bring out that stunning colour :rolleyes: :

http://i48.photobucket.com/albums/f227/canadiansinternetdotcom/MM-BBs-naturose.jpg

[Very Scalare]

Very nice pictures Ms. Melody. :Smile:

Dont'cha just love it when the camera picks things up that you weren't really looking for. In this case..beautiful colours, in my cases..water spots, dirt, algae....

[Melody]

Thank you, Sir. :Smile: Had I not been invaded by an out of town guest (non-fish), my glass wouldn't be clean this week either. I'll undo that with waterchanges this weekend. :twitcy:

[Namor]

Sweet pics! "Mr. Piglet" is too funny. :laugh:

[Dandee]

Some great shots there and some very pretty fish. :Smile:

[Melody]

Thank you kindly :Smile: . If I find some more time (June is madness) I'll get the camera out for the other tanks, this is just the one.

[CACAdmin]

Very pretty fish... all looking very well fed... Mr. Piglet obviously has no choice but to share what's served at the buffet.

[blainep]

Good looking fishies Melody !

Interesting little sword that female Guppler is sporting !

[vince0]

nice pics malory!

do you call it a gupler cause its a cross between a guppy and an endler?

[Melody]

Yup, it's a slang term, nothing official. The cross can throw all sorts of different finnage, such as swords and double swords. I am becoming more and more convinced that those finnage forms in Guppies, may have originated from an unintentional cross between the two, long before we knew there was a difference. I don't see how that could have been avoided really, since we had no idea when we collected wild Guppies that Endlers' existed. That would mean that all of those finnage forms are hybrids as opposed to Guppies, and it's highly possible that all domestic Guppy strains have Endler's in their genes somewhere.

This theory will not be popular in Guppy circles :laugh: . I'd love to see a genetic analysis. It would be an interesting thesis for a student.

Thanks for the comments!

[mdfa.ca]

Melody,

what a beautiful group you have there. And I love that black tail male gup. He is really something.

[Melody]

Thanks Margaret! It will be one big diverse group for awhile, complete with wild-types and either strains or mutt fancies. Later on I'll start to pick out strains to set/reset using responsible breeding practices to produce stronger fish. I'm having a blast with it - even the planning is fun. The various tail forms was a bonus to the plan (which I started talking about several years ago). I didn't realize Endler's crosses could throw the swords & all that until I got some from Blaine.

I see some other breeders have picked up on the idea and are now trying outcrosses with wild strains. This is great! Unfortunately, many of our captive wild-type Guppies are also heavily inbred, that's why I'm starting on a mass mixing scale - I really want to shake things up.

[Melody]

So now I look at the above male's tail and plainly see blue and gold streaks, framed by a wide black border. I haven't a freaking clue what colour this fish really is :laugh: .