JStrutt

One unique aspect of live bearers is that the females can reproduce multiple times from one "breeding encounter". That doesn't mean you are screwed, it just means that you will have to remain vigilant for a while (at least a few months) and keep separating males and females as soon as you can tell the difference, if you don't want the breeding cycle to continue.

Yeah, my guppy fry have always been really brave. In my experience, after a day or two the risk of them being eaten dramatically decreases. I just make sure to feed the tank heavily (powdered flake food, because I'm lazy) and keep up with regular water changes. They do just fine.

When I first started fish-keeping, I didn't really like guppies. I thought they were too common, behaved erratically, and the prospect of them breeding like rabbits scared me. Then I was asked to teach a class on Environmental Science at school and thought that having some fish that bred easily would be a cool demonstration for my class. So I bought my first trio and sure enough they soon had babies. Aaaaand I was all aboard the guppy train. It is now 11 months later and I have 3rd generation guppies, plus a few new purchases. Luckily my LFS is always open to take the surplus off my hands for store credit. Now, its hard for me to imagine my life without guppies. And I can't wait to branch out into other livebearers as well.

For me, when I first started keeping fish, I swore I would never keep guppies. They just seemed too common (a laughable thing considering the first fish I kept were neon tetras and a betta). Then I got a trio as a classroom "experiment" to see if they would breed. That first group of fry had me hooked. When I brought some home, my wife fell in love, too. We now have three (small) tanks dedicated to guppies, and I am trying to convince her we need some outside. Needless to say, I'm hooked.

I like the angelfish idea. When I started dating my girlfriend (now wife) she had a 30 gallon with 3 silver dollars and an angel my her dining table. When we would eat, we sat next to each other so we could watch the fish together as we ate. Angels get big enough to see from afar and are incredibly graceful. And the planted tank with them could look stunning.

Haha, the "monster tank" was more of a joke. The biggest fish in it is a beautiful Pearl Gourami. There are some tiger barbs, neon tetras, otos, and nerite snails with it. It has become a bit of a catch-all tank recently.

Hello, my name is Jamie, and I am addicted to fish. I have been in the hobby for about a year and a half, and I already maintain (with the help of my wonderful wife) 5 tanks between our house and my classroom. I am a high school science teacher in SC. I specialize in nano fish and small tanks. I have 2 10's, 1 5-gallon, 1 small (maybe 2-3 gallon) nano tank, and our monster tank is a 30-gallon. I recently got into guppies and have enjoyed breeding them and watching them grow. My hope for being a part of this forum is to learn whatever I can to further my abilities in keeping fish, as well as impart the small amount of wisdom I will glean along the way.