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Odd Fry Behaviour.

Channti

Channti

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This is my third dropping of guppy fry, and the first drop from Star, who appears to be the youngest out of the adult guppies. I was lucky enough to be home when she dropped, and I pulled three guppy fry from the tank and dropped them into a breeder box. Two of the fry are healthy and well. The third has been cause for concern. They are now about a week and a half old, and the 3rd guppy fry appears to be "special" in comparison to his siblings. I've named the 3rd fry Fred. Fred appears to only use his tail to swim. His tail moves much faster than the other two's tails when he swims, and he's often found swimming vertical, with his tail perpendicular to the bottom of the box. He will swim as high as the box allows, and then "glide" to the bottom, and do it again. Besides his swimming, he appears to be a healthy guppy fry, and is eating well. He has all of his fins, but it seems that the side-fins don't function the same on him as they do on his siblings. When he's swimming, his fins move the same as his siblings, and yet he still swims perpendicular. When he was first born, I didn't think he'd survive as he wouldn't move from the silk-plant leaf I put in the breeder with them. He would swim about a millimetre above the leave, and then drop down to the leaf. Gradually his swimming improved to the way he swims now, but I'm still a little worried about him. Should I be? Do you think his swimming will correct itself? What should I do?

Below are some pictures. In one, you can see proud Mama Star in the back. Fred is easily picked out in both photos, as he's near the top.


http://i89.photobucket.com/albums/k206/goo...pa/DSCF2875.jpg
http://i89.photobucket.com/albums/k206/goo...pa/DSCF2876.jpg
 
sounds like he may have been a runt of the drop ( don't mean in a bad way). Whats his size like compared to the others?
 
He's _almost_ the same size as his siblings, and is growing at a very close pace. Like I said, he eats fine, and he's growing fine, but he just swims oddly. He's "Special."

I'm really not sure what I should do about him. He's just as active as his siblings, if not more active than them these days, so I don't think his swimming issue is causing him any pain. I'm not sure what to do....

I was watching Fred this morning, and he was swimming so quickly with his tail that he would actually do a flip in the water almost, going in a complete circle, upside down, and then rest to swim at his 45 degree angle. I'm really beginning to wonder if he'll live.

I hope he does, Star gave some pretty looking fry. They're half jet-black, and the prettiest guppy fry I've seen yet at their age.


On a side note on runts:
My second drop from Lectra gave me 6 fry. The runt of the drop was in that 6. The runt took a trip through the gravel vac, and went almost a week without proper food, and he's grown to be just as healthy, if slightly smaller, than the rest of the fry from when he was born.
 
Well, then I'd say he will be fine. He is probably just a little more jittery than the others.
 
Well. I guess I'll leave him for a few more weeks and see what happens. I'll update this now and then with his progress. Hopefully he survives. I'd love Fred to be the special fish to make it to adulthood. :)
 
**Update**

I've been monitoring Fred _very_ closely, and I'm having doubts about whether I'm doing the right thing by allowing him to grow. He constantly swims either perpendicular to the bottom of the breeder, or in loops spiraling to the bottom of the breeder. It can't be "normal" for him to be doing this. I'm genuinely concerned.

I don't think this is jitters. I haven't seen him swim in a straight line besides when he's swimming straight up.., much unlike his siblings, who are content to swim back and forth lazily.
 
sounds like he may have some internal damage the way you describe it. Any chance of a video? Would be able to identify the problem that way.
 
IMO it is time to cull Fred. You do not want him to survive to reproduce, that is the kind of thing people worry about with inbreeding, that the kind of thing you are seeing could be passed on.
 
I think he could turn out fine. He might have deformed offspring tyhough. This is a really hard choice. But, if I were you I would let him live happily.
 
I would love to be able to raise Fred to adulthood. Unfortunately, I don't have the tank-space needed to ensure that he doesn't impregnate my females. It also doesn't help that most of my guppies will be moving with me in 4 months when I go off to university, and I can't keep more than one tank there.

How should I go about culling him, and other offspring like this in the future? Like I said, this is only my 3rd drop of guppy fry, and the fry from the first two drops were entirely healthy.
**(Had my 4th drop today. Around 20 fry. Some became lunch for the adults, I managed to catch 11-14 of them, they are too small and move too quickly to count).**

I've heard all kinds of different things, like adding oil to their water, alka-seltzer tablets, putting them in the freezer, etc.
What would be the most humane way to go about it? There seem to be a variety of mixed opinions on everything I've heard thus far.

Thanks!
 
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