Mahi27 Posted January 3, 2022 Share Posted January 3, 2022 Hi everyone. I picked up a pair of Vienna guppies straight from the coop in mid-September. Started seeing babies about a month and a half later, maybe late October/early November. I don't power feed or anything but they do get Easy Fry Food at least 1x a day, usually more like 2x, plus weekly frozen and the occasional live treat. My question is...why tf do they all look like females still? Please see the provided pics. Some of these "fry" are bigger than the original male, but none of them have any color and they all have the female fan-shaped anal fin, not a gonopodium in sight. Is it really possible that water conditions such as pH and temperature can determine sex ratio of fry in guppies? I know this can be true for other species. Or is some rogue third-wave feminist in the tank eating all the male fry? Please help if you can. I live out of state from the coop so to get another pair and try again would be a long-term prospect. Thanks all... 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lifeisgood Posted January 3, 2022 Share Posted January 3, 2022 On 1/2/2022 at 10:37 PM, Mahi27 said: Hi everyone. I picked up a pair of Vienna guppies straight from the coop in mid-September. Started seeing babies about a month and a half later, maybe late October/early November. I don't power feed or anything but they do get Easy Fry Food at least 1x a day, usually more like 2x, plus weekly frozen and the occasional live treat. My question is...why tf do they all look like females still? Please see the provided pics. Some of these "fry" are bigger than the original male, but none of them have any color and they all have the female fan-shaped anal fin, not a gonopodium in sight. Is it really possible that water conditions such as pH and temperature can determine sex ratio of fry in guppies? I know this can be true for other species. Or is some rogue third-wave feminist in the tank eating all the male fry? Please help if you can. I live out of state from the coop so to get another pair and try again would be a long-term prospect. Thanks all... I was thinking the same thing about a batch of guppy fry. It turned out that it can take a long time-three or four months for them to mature and color up sometimes. Maybe depending on temps and frequency and types of foods? I would like to follow this to see what some more experienced guppy breeders say to this too. 1 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mahi27 Posted January 3, 2022 Author Share Posted January 3, 2022 On 1/2/2022 at 8:38 PM, Lifeisgood said: I was thinking the same thing about a batch of guppy fry. It turned out that it can take a long time-three or four months for them to mature and color up sometimes. Maybe depending on temps and frequency and types of foods? I would like to follow this to see what some more experienced guppy breeders say to this too. Wow, that seems like such a long time! i'm amazed. Thank you for sharing. I'll keep the faith. In the meantime, I too hope some experienced breeders can chime in. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Levi_Aquatics Posted January 3, 2022 Share Posted January 3, 2022 I am by no means an experienced breeder however in my experience with some of my guppy strains it takes quite a while for the fry to sex out. The first time I bred guppies a couple years ago I was disappointed that I "only got females" however after a few months the males started developing their defining characteristics. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gardenman Posted January 3, 2022 Share Posted January 3, 2022 Fish can do some pretty weird stuff. There are reportedly over 450 species of fish (mostly marine fish) that can change their sex. In 2018 I had a tank with one male swordtail and ten females. I went into the hospital for fifteen days with a broken femur and came out to find most of my females had become males. They'd had no food (other than the snails that they'd devoured) and the lights had been on for 24 hours a day for the full fifteen days. Suffice to say they'd been stressed. Did the stress cause them to change sex? Maybe. It surprised me when I got home that's for sure. Could it have just been slow developing males? Possibly, but there are tons of stories like that where female fish became males. Did the stress encourage them to develop faster if they'd been slow developers? Maybe. It could very well be that your females will turn into males over time, Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guppy Guy Posted January 3, 2022 Share Posted January 3, 2022 In my experience, a guppy takes between 1 and 3 months to start showing color, but it can take longer. The fry will grow faster if you feed a mixed diet(crushed flake food, baby brine shrimp(frozen is okay), algae, etc), and a temperature on the warmer side(78-83 F) helps them grow quicker as well. Ensure that the increased temp won’t affect the other fish in the tank(if any). The pics look like the majority of the fish are females, but some of the smaller ones might be males. It is too hard to tell at this stage, and it will be easier in another month or so. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PineSong Posted January 4, 2022 Share Posted January 4, 2022 In my brief experience with guppies, some strains grow and mature faster than others, and even when you know these particular 20 fry were born on the same day, some may develop their gonopodium today and others only develop after two more weeks. There are all kinds of youtube videos where experienced breeders show how they look at the body as well as the anal fin changes to tell males from females, but I sure have not developed that skill. Here is one: 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tedrock Posted January 4, 2022 Share Posted January 4, 2022 I have the same situation with my Coop Vienna guppies happening right now. I have a wait and see approach. Nature fills a void. Best wishes, Ted K Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Vinm Posted January 4, 2022 Share Posted January 4, 2022 I started with 7 of these guppies and now have quite a few probably 50+ the males take a few months to color up. They will be adult size before the do and the color starts off real faint then darkens over time. I have Alot more females than males. Like 2 to 1 ratio. Hope this helps. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PedroPete Posted January 4, 2022 Share Posted January 4, 2022 Hello Vienna Guppy Keepers! 😁 I got Vienna Guppies in July from two different sources* (who both got them from the Aquarium Co-op at different time), and I mixed the females and males and split them into two groups. One group was kept by my dad, and I kept the other since then. I started off with just a pair, while the my dad's colony had 2 males and 3-4 females. He kept it without a heater in a warm room in his house, while I kept mine with a heater to 25-6*C. Fast forward 4 months.... One colony (my Dad's) has produced more males, but they were left to colony breed, so the number of fry that have been eaten is much greater. Interestingly, this colony has females with tan bodies and also a couple that have the dark dorsal scales I have seen in some folks' vienna guppy colonies - while my females have yet to develop this dark back form. These were fed almost entirely on xtreme krill flakes. I watched my colony much more closely and was able to separate fry directly after being born. They were raised in well-seasoned grow out tanks with lots of mulm, java moss, and a varied diet of different fry foods, including live BBS. My first generation of fry was born in early September, and the males had just started to develop color and gonopodia in December. Most of those males started developing black or dark patterns on their tail fin. Some of them started developing iridescence on their sides, next to their opercula/gills. So while your photos do seem like most of the offspring are females, I would give it another 4-5 weeks, @Mahi27 . Also keep in mind there are some *good breeders who sell via GetGills and eBay who got Vienna Guppies from Aquarium Co-op and now ship nationwide...in case you (or someone else) ends up needing a male or female or whatever. 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tedrock Posted January 4, 2022 Share Posted January 4, 2022 This proves there is so much love for the Vienna guppy. Share the love! 1 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PedroPete Posted January 5, 2022 Share Posted January 5, 2022 Maybe we should start a Vienna Guppy Appreciation Club?? (VGAC😉)? 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tedrock Posted January 5, 2022 Share Posted January 5, 2022 (edited) I am down with that a whole separate thread for Vienna guppie geekdom. I will start it share pics and stories. Nerms unite! Edited January 5, 2022 by Tedrock 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tedrock Posted January 5, 2022 Share Posted January 5, 2022 On 1/5/2022 at 12:08 PM, PedroPete said: Maybe we should start a Vienna Guppy Appreciation Club?? (VGAC😉)? Please don’t judge let’s see where this goes. Give it a try. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
timQ Posted January 5, 2022 Share Posted January 5, 2022 I would bump the heat and feed BBS/Daphnia/Live foods to get them to grow faster. Water changes too 1 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mahi27 Posted January 11, 2022 Author Share Posted January 11, 2022 Thank you everybody for the replies and suggestions and encouragement, most recently @Mako13 -- will definitely follow your suggestions. I love the Vienna Guppy Appreciation Club / thread. As far as I'm concerned, the silver lining on my weird spawn issues is that they've spurred this nice conversation and connection between VG lovers. I'll update if/when I see some color. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mahi27 Posted March 8, 2022 Author Share Posted March 8, 2022 Just checking in to say that they are still all female. LOL. Idk what is going on!!!!! I've read here and there that maybe they can change sex even in adulthood?? For now, I have a nice big 29gal full of gray fish...lol Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PineSong Posted March 9, 2022 Share Posted March 9, 2022 On 3/8/2022 at 4:30 PM, Mahi27 said: Just checking in to say that they are still all female. LOL. Idk what is going on!!!!! I've read here and there that maybe they can change sex even in adulthood?? For now, I have a nice big 29gal full of gray fish...lol How old are your fry now? If they are not six months old yet, I would not give up hope. I have a couple lines of guppies where at 4 months they are all still silver--it's the dark gravid spot that gives away some females long before the boys show any color or gonopodium. I'd say if your fish were born in early November you are just now getting to the age where I would expect to see color on mine. I curse the decision I made about what kinds of guppies to raise, because I can see on Youtube that there are other varieties where it's much easier to see color in males earlier. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
the other Irene Posted March 9, 2022 Share Posted March 9, 2022 I've been told by my LFS that decreasing ph below 7 results in more male fry. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mahi27 Posted April 6, 2022 Author Share Posted April 6, 2022 I think it's safe to say they really are all female. This is so bizarre. It really sucks because both guppies of my original pair from the Co-Op passed away, so unless one of their babies magically grows a gonipodium I'm going to have to find more male Viennas. The people selling them online overcharge in my opinion, but I guess I'll take another look. Again, the first batch of these fry were born in like mid October; the last batch probably December. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mahi27 Posted April 6, 2022 Author Share Posted April 6, 2022 On 1/4/2022 at 7:49 AM, Tedrock said: I have the same situation with my Coop Vienna guppies happening right now. I have a wait and see approach. Nature fills a void. Best wishes, Ted K Ted, how have things shaped up for you? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PineSong Posted April 9, 2022 Share Posted April 9, 2022 On 4/5/2022 at 9:17 PM, Mahi27 said: I think it's safe to say they really are all female. This is so bizarre. It really sucks because both guppies of my original pair from the Co-Op passed away, so unless one of their babies magically grows a gonipodium I'm going to have to find more male Viennas. The people selling them online overcharge in my opinion, but I guess I'll take another look. Again, the first batch of these fry were born in like mid October; the last batch probably December. I myself would not rule out males among the December fry yet, but I can understand how disappointing this must be for you. Very frustrating to have to pay for shipping etc to get a single male or a couple of them. I have a few dozen plain jane silver female guppies and Endlers in my 20tall and have spiced it up with some red male platies and a black female molly and some golden white clouds to give it a little more visual zip. If you're not in love with how yours look, mixing some other fish in might help. Months ago I removed the heater from my Ginga guppies because I forgot about cold temps meaning more females (darn it) and so far, all of the current juveniles look female--I did get at least one male from the brood before I removed the heater, so I have 3 males but would really like to have about 15 males so this is going to take a while... 1 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mahi27 Posted April 9, 2022 Author Share Posted April 9, 2022 Thanks for your kind words, @PineSong. We'll see what happens! About adding other fish, I did have something really nice happen last week. I walked into the LFS and the first tank I saw was full of adorable red melon/panda barbs. I had been on the lookout for these and was getting ready to bite the bullet on online shipping and all that. I bought 9 that day and the last 2 a couple days later. They're now all in the weird female Vienna guppy 29 gallon and just as you suggested, they add a lot of interest and variety. They're really beautiful and have these tiny lil barbels on their faces that I wasn't expecting. Plus, they are super peaceful and are getting along great with the guppies (and a couple random platies). I'll resolve to be happy with what I have. 🙂 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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