Aquarists, UNITE!!!

[infernalis]

Congrats Tami, applause.......

Got some feeders the other day, and one female is BIG, so I'm keeping her around for a while.

[jitami]

Thanks Zoe & Wayne My neck hurts from staring at the aquarium... still not sure who's having the babies.... still have only seen two...

[olive oil]

Do you have the fancy tails or just the plain ole ones?

[jitami]

I guess fancy tails. The male is very pretty... indigo blue colors... the girls have black tails. My mom said that the girls were a lot prettier than the females we had as kids, so I'm guessing they're fancy. The babies are just too cute... so tiny... and thankfully very quick swimmers!

[olive oil]

You have stuff floating on the top for the babies to hide in?

[jitami]

I have stuff floating on top, stuff on the bottom of the tank, and fake plants going up both sides of the tank. The one baby that I see most just kinda hangs out down by the gravel. The other popped up out of the "grass" at the bottom. It's actually green christmas garland, but should give them some good cover.

[anji1971]

Good news, Tami! Best of luck with all those tiny babies.

[jitami]

Thanks Anji! I've seen 6 at one time, several times now, so I think that's the final count... I still can't figure out which female gave birth. They all still look preggers. Oh-well I guess. The babies really don't hide all that well, they hover near the "grassy" areas, but rarely retreat into the grass. The adults are not overly interested in them, though, so that's very cool!!! Every once in a while an adult will turn towards a baby, the baby darts a short distance away, and the adult turns and goes a different direction Cool Every once in awhile there will be an adult an inch or less away from the babies with no interest in the babies whatsoever. I'm really liking that!!!

[anji1971]

I kept feeder guppies in a small bowl when I had my first garter, and since she wanted nothing to do with them, I ended up with a pile of babies. The adults ended up eating most of them, but I didn't have anything for them to hide in. I wasn't really planning on a family at the time.
I guess if you start to worry about them, you could separate the babies till they grow bigger.

[jitami]

Yeah, I was a little worried yesterday, thinking I made a mistake not getting a breeder basket thing, but all seems well today. I wouldn't be surprised if we lost several... the adults were in full hunting/feeding mode yesterday when I found the first babies. I don't know if they were just extra stimulated or truly hunting for babies to eat? I went ahead and fed them their fave food and have probably been over feeding them ever since, but for the most part they're uninterested in the babies, so something is working. The babes will eventually be feeders, so I'm not too worried about losing a few to the adult fish, but so far so good I have four more girls that still need to deliver