A couple of weeks ago at our aquarium society meeting, I purchased a pair of black Moscow guppies at the auction. I took them home and put them in a 2.5 gallon tank. The tank had a mature sponge filter and a heater.
I had planned this to be a temporary location for the pair, but life being what it is; I just didn’t get around to it. At one point in the last couple of weeks, I thought that the female looked a little large and might be pregnant, but I thought she couldn’t be very far along because she wasn’t that big.
Yesterday as I was getting ready to go to work, I noticed 4 fry swimming in the bottom of the tank and trying to stay away from the adults. I quickly grabbed a small tank and siphoned off the fry and about half of the water from the adults’ tank. I installed a sponge filter that I keep in one of my established tanks as an emergency back-up and a heater and now have a new grow-out tank.
I probably lost some fry to the adults before I discovered them as livebearers are noted for their tendency to make a meal out of their offspring. But at least I was able to save four of them.
Have you ever had an unexpected occurrence with your aquariums? What happened and what did you do? Please leave a comment.