A successful experiment !

[Gilda]

We keep a 10 gallon aquarium tank with 5 pairs of fancy guppies through the winter months . This spring we put them outside in a water tank (use to be a cattle watering tank). It had a lotus, waterlily and some other water plants in it. No filter, no heater, etc. From the picture you can see how well they did !! It was interesting to see all the different colors they produced. We will keep a few pairs again through the winter, give some away to friends and maybe see if the pet store wants some.

 

[John D.]

Very cool. Did they fend and forage for themselves or did you feed regularly?

 

[SlipperFan]

Reminds me of the time when, as a kid, we had a pair of Goldfish. One died, and we decided that the other one probably would, as well, so we put it in the horse tank. Since it grew very large, we decided to buy a couple of others and put them there, also. Although the water froze that winter, there must have been enough at the bottom that didn't, because they survived. Well, there must have been at least one female and one male, 'cause they had lots of babies that Spring. It was fun to watch them when the cows and horses came to drink. The fish must have liked the sensation of the water being sucked into the animals' mouths, because they would all swim right under there for as long as they were drinking. Unfortunately, the next winter was a very hard one, and the water froze all the way down. No fish next Spring.:sob:

 

[Heather]

Awesome!

If I didn't have pristine Endler's Livebearers I'd take some of your guppies, but I do and in my experience I don't have enough of them to get them to breed to that extent. My males out number my females about 6:1 and the mature female just gives and gives and dies when she's worn out. If I get one chicky from each birthing, I'm lucky.

 

[Gilda]

John, We fed them occasionally to keep them "friendly". They would swim into your hand to feed. I am sure their success is due to all the micro organisms, bugs, algae, etc. that was present for them to eat as well, especially the fry. Plus the fry had a lot of hiding places...

Heather, Sure you don't want some ?? oke:

The female guppy now has a lot of color and large tails as well. We started with a red ,blue, & yellow male, and one with a lyre tail. We have no lyre tails, and only one new yellow male, so these are evidently the weaker colors.
We did end up with some really nice fan ,long tailed black males. Rainbows, and multi colored with beautiful spotting on the tails, red & white , and red & gold.

 

[Ron-NY]

When I was a child I had a 5 gal tank on my dresser with a few guppies. Well I tired of them and algae covered the sides of the tank so I couldn't see in. Every once and awhile I would throw some food in. One day I decided to clean the tank and to my surprise it was filled with guppies. I sold 50 of them to the pet shop.

 

[Heather]

Heather, Sure you don't want some ?? oke:

Yup. I'd need to get another tank. My guys are pretty rare and I had to swear on my mother's head I wouldn't corrupt the gene pool. I love my guys anyway. One of these days, maybe I'll have another breeding female. My last one went through about four births and then kicked it a couple weeks ago. Poor ol' girl.

 

[Hien]

Awesome!

If I didn't have pristine Endler's Livebearers I'd take some of your guppies, but I do and in my experience I don't have enough of them to get them to breed to that extent. My males out number my females about 6:1 and the mature female just gives and gives and dies when she's worn out. If I get one chicky from each birthing, I'm lucky.

I see this on the internet, do you think you could mimic nature, lower the temperature of the tank to see if there is any different in result:

In the Atlantic silverside, Menidia menidia, temperature during the larval development affects primary sex determination. Most offspring produced under lower temperature regimes of the early breeding season become females while most offspring produced at the higher temperatures prevailing during the late breeding season become males. The end result is a sexual dimorphism in size because females are provided with a longer growing season by virtue of earlier birth. The adaptive significance of TSD in M. menidia appears to be related to this sexual dimorphism and the way in which size affects the relative fitnesses of males and females. Based on a survivorship schedule that includes a winter period of severe, size-selective mortality, selection favors large individuals of either sex in survival to the breeding season. However, large size is apparently more of an advantage to female than male RS during breeding. Atlantic silversides are group spawners that openly broadcast their gametes with those of many others in mass spawning events that are closely timed with recurring environmental cues. Neither aggressive interactions nor assortative mating by size seem to occur and epigamic sexual selection appears to be minimal. In this type of mating system where sperm competition is intense, the RS of males and females should depend primarily on the number of gametes produced. If gonad weights adequately reflect the relative fecundities of each sex, females gain more than males by being large because ovarian weight is a more steeply ascending function of body size than is testicular weight. Some evidence is offered suggesting that the low correlation of testicular weight with male body size may be due to a trade-off between reproductive activities and feeding. TSD in Menidia supports the Charnov-Bull model for the evolution of environmental sex determination. Offspring produced early in the breeding season enter a large patch and will maximize relative fitness if they become female. Similarly, offspring produced late in the breeding season can maximize relative fitness by becoming male. Temperature itself provides no direct benefit to differentiation as a male or female but acts only as a cue to whether offspring will experience a long or short growing season. TSD provides a mechanism by which a sexual dimorphism can arise without sacrificing growth rates in either sex. ESD should also occur in other fishes having a sexual dimorphism in size, prolonged breeding seasons, and maturity early in life.

 

[NYEric]

MMM fish fry time :evil: