A Guppy Update

November 15th brought us our first brood of fry. Being new to the whole guppy-rearing business, it is sad to note that only one of the first litter survived. He was unceremoniously released into General Population on December 6th to free up the nursery because Mama Guppy was ready to pop again. On December 7th we greeted our new batch of guppettes.

On December 20th we were preparing for our eminent departure and I wasn't sure what to do about the young un's. I prematurely released half of the ~30 babies. By the time we left on December 23rd, only a few of those remained. I released the remaining fry into the General Population, hoping for the best.

On January 2nd we returned. The sole survivor from Litter #1 is doing fine. There are 2 survivors from Litter #2. Mama was ready to pop *again* so into the nursery she went. As of today, there are at least 30 new guppettes occupying the nursery.

And Mama Guppy looks like she's been rode hard and put away wet, literally. Bless her little guppy heart. No sooner than being put back in the mix with her resilient faithful hubby and her randy boyfriend but they were both back at her. It had only been a day!!! I may have to put her in a currently unused 2 gallon tank just to let her have some peace.

So, as much as I dreaded letting all of the babies loose prematurely and as anxious as I was for their safety, my fears proved fairly valid. Out of 30, only 2 survived. I hate that! I'm trying to quit being such a worrier!

The good news is a) I'm confident I know how to keep the fry alive for 3 or more weeks so they can grow big enough to survive in General Population and b) the rest of the Tetras look extremely healthy after dining on high protein snack 'ems. I'm not sure what I'm going to do with 30 guppies in my tank anyway.

I'd love to wrap up with an analogy to parenting but all I'm coming up with is...sometimes our fears are warranted but things still work out for the best.

Peace,