My guppies are delightful

[Chickadee25 45]

I got a little stowaway when I purchased some cherry shrimp. I didn't know what kind of fish it was. After it was ID'd here, I decided to buy 2 more as companions. They are the cutest little fish, always busy, so fun to watch. The guy at the fish store told me they might get nippy with shrimp when they get bigger. Has anyone experienced this? I may move them to my 20g. Are there any fish they aren't compatible with? I'm still in the planning stages of stocking my 20g.

 

[gimme301]

Guppies are compatible with pretty much anything that isn't big enough to eat them, but yeah, they will most likely harass the shrimp. If not the adults, definitely the babies.

 

[Back in the fold2 1]

Guppies are great little fish ! They might peck at your shrimp but they’re very lively and will do it more out of curiosity than anything else . Guppies don’t have one mean bone in their little bodies .

 

[Chickadee25 45]

Definitely going to move them to the 20g when it's stable. If I also got a small school of something else like endlers and perhaps a few honey gouramis, would that be a good mix for a 20 gallon long?

 

[Back in the fold2 1]

A small school of Endler’s will soon turn into something like THIS !

 

[Chickadee25 45]

So are they more prolific than guppies? Will the gouramis keep the fry under control? I definitely don't want to get in that situation!

 

[Naughts44 116]

Endlers and guppies will hybridise. The only way to avoid fry is to avoid the females. Your biggest guppy is showing a gravid spot so that one is a female.

 

[Back in the fold2 1]

I definitely don't want to get in that situation!

Why not ? I started with five Endler’s and went to the crowd I have now and it’s been fun . They’re the most enjoyable and fun small fish I’ve ever had . I love them !

 

[Jennet24 82]

The adults will also eat the fry if you leave them in the same tank, unless it is densely planted.

 

[davros2 1]

I observe that they find their own equilibrium as to the size of the population, my smallish tanks hold to a fairly constant
fish count. Tanks are at room temperature so that may slow down things a bit.

 

[GaryE5 3]

Guppies tend to get along with other fish, from their end. A lot of other fish won't lay off the tails of fancy guppies though. The unnaturally large tails slow them down and make them vulnerable to nippers.

Many hobby endlers are already hybrids with guppies, as the two species are very close cousins. You get into the blender effect where you put 2 distinct species together and cause them to become one indistinguishable mix. I see that as a bad thing as it reduces natural diversity.

The only way to make them eat all their young is to set the tank up badly for them. They aren't especially cannibalistic, and in a good set up, large numbers of fry will grow up with the parents. That's an issue for a lot of people.

Overall, they are wonderful fish to keep. You've found something good there.

 

[Chickadee25 45]

Overall, they are wonderful fish to keep. You've found something good there.

Yes, they are! I probably would've never considered guppies had it not been for the stowaway in my shrimp bag. I somehow associated them with minnows and they just had no appeal to me. I didn't realize how much personality they had. I've gotten very attached to my little trio.

I did run into a problem yesterday and will post it on my "Guppy question" thread to keep topics separated.

 

[GaryE5 3]

Hey, watch minnows in a tank sometime! They have their charms too.

 

[Chickadee25 45]

Here's the latest pic of the colorful ones. No color on the original female, but equally fun to watch. I couldn't get a decent pic of all 3 together.

 

[emeraldking24 75]

The guy at the fish store told me they might get nippy with shrimp when they get bigger. Has anyone experienced this?

I keep dwarf shrimps together with guppies and some other fish and those shrimps are completely left alone. But my fish are used to small tank mates.

So are they more prolific than guppies?

Endlers are less prolific than fancy guppies. So, lesser fry in each batch. But the gestation period is the same.

Endlers and guppies will hybridise.

Well, endlers are actually also guppies. The difference is that it's a different branch of the official known guppy species (so, no strains but species!).
There are 5 listings of official guppy species. The most known one is the Poecilia reticulata. The others are Poecilia obscura, Poecilia wingei, Poecilia kempkesi and all Micropoecillia species. They're all wild guppy species but differ in DNA. They're all close related and their sexual organs are compatible with another, which makes an actual mating possible. Hybrids between them are all fertile.
The current fancy strains (means all breeding forms), are results of linebreeding natural mutations and linebreeding on certain existing traits in the first place. But there are also a lot of breeding forms that are the result of breeding Poecilia reticulata with members of one of the guppy species I've mentioned before.

The adults will also eat the fry if you leave them in the same tank, unless it is densely planted.

Pure endlers won't eat their fry. Same goes for other wild guppies. When it comes to breeding forms of guppies, certain strains eat their fry and other strains just leave those fry alone.