A venture into Guppy husbandry

[KungFuKoi-ish]

Hail and well met!

I spent a large minority of 2021 (in So-Cal we were still sort of locked down) glutting myself on all sorts of aqua-scaping content. It started with Serpa Design, just a quick hit here and there… And then it spiraled out of control. I coldly recall the night I found myself 7 hours into a binge of every aquarium co-op video regarding guppies. It was then that I fell in love.

So, with 2022 I began setting up my first aquarium. Ever! This was a valuable experience, immensely so. The process of hardscaping was a dream, my imagination immediately committing to some future 15 tank fish rack. But first, the first tank! Which necessitated the first rack, but I digress! After a few weeks (And spending waaay too much money) I carefully arranged stone and soil and delicately planted little tufts of monte carlo and select trimmings of hydrocortyle tripartate Japans. In giddy anticipation I rigged the water change system and hurried to the faucet to flood the tank for the first time. I realized too late that the water pressure there (and the temperature control) would be disastrous. A flood of nearly 100 degree water blasted my miniature mountain range into a rubble. I would not quit! After an hour of salvaging plant scraps and the semblance of a scape I intimately familiarized myself with the mysteries of some other set of plumbing, and succeeded! It was not a particularly pretty sight, but it was my mess and I loved it!

So, for a few weeks I watched it settle, enthralled by the process of melt and root and the most minute growth. After ordering more plants to replace what I had destroyed I decided it was time to shore up the scape and set forth a fine foundation!

Now, during this whole process I was changing and testing water daily, and I didn’t notice that the water level was just a little lower than it should be. Or that there was a bit more water laying about then there should be. Apparently there had been a little leak in the back right corner and the next day it burst.

I would not be defeated! This is the Dark Souls of pets, this is my element. Bloodbourne is the greatest game ever made - I will fight you on that!

Cleaning up, taking the tank apart again, getting a new one, setting it all back up again and the what-haves-you, it had to be done! And though at first I groaned and grumbled and gnashed my teeth, inevitably the joy of the hobby took hold and I was thankful for the lesson and the experience and the opportunity to make look even more better!

And now there are shrimps and snails and three gorgeous little guppies flitting about in there! It’s a blast! They’re tuxedo koi, and their antics are adorable. To be crass, they’re just like teenagers, the dudes just wanna get lucky and the chicks are there to party and eat. I catch myself sitting mesmerized by their flitting and dancing and the bumbling of the snails. Oh the snails! At first thought I was apprehensive, but they’re the best!

Look at this absolute mad lad!

(Though I’m not sure why that image is rotated…)

And almost immediately one tank became four! A 10 gallon and a 20 long with PetCo’s $~1/G sale and a deeply etched 40 Gallon High that a friend sent my way.

The 10 gallon with the dry start method, just waiting on some various repens before flooding! There’s micro-sword, dwarf hair grass, hygrophila compact, and a lovely tiger lotus thanks to The Coop. To be populated with Purple Dragons and blue jelly skrimps.

The 40 tall - a very interesting canvas at something like 24x16x24. I’ve got some water sprite and various anubias for it, and hope to see it whirling with albino koi guppies and blue dream skrimps. 

The 20 long is a bit of a personal experiment with the dry start method - a little bit of all the plants I’ve collected, here keeping an eye on the life of each of them.

So! There’s certainly a theme here, and with spring season already begun I hope to build a grip of little nano-ponds to serve home for all sorts of raucous pairings between these lines.

A deep thanks to aquarium co-op for their services, including this lovely community. 🙏

And the pleasure to meet the lot of you!

[lefty o]

welcome to the forum.

[Jawjagrrl]

Our 2021 experience sounds very similar! I'd kept fish before, but it had been years. I did a deep dive last summer and now have 5 happy boxes of water with 3 more on the way - you are definitely in the right place 🙂 Welcome. Fellow NERM!

 

[Griznatch]

Welcome to the forum, I like the layout with the slate!

Heh, male guppies... Natures little persistent optimists 🙂

[Colu]

Welcome to the forum nice scapes