T Dawg Posted May 17, 2009 Report Share Posted May 17, 2009 (edited) Welcome to our 18 Gallon tank journal, or as I call it Fred's house. Our first tank, and current home to Fred and Ginger our guppies. Fred is the one of the first fish we bought, and the only to have lived for the length of our involvement in the hobby. Edited May 17, 2009 by T Dawg Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
T Dawg Posted May 17, 2009 Author Report Share Posted May 17, 2009 Welcome to our 18 Gallon tank journal, or as I call it Fred's house. Our first tank, and current home to Fred and Ginger our guppies. Fred is the one of the first fish we bought, and the only to have lived for the length of our involvement in the hobby. The first fish we bought were male yellow fancy guppies, of which Fred was one. Once a week after we added three blue guppies and three red guppies. A few weeks later we started loosing fish a few at a time. After the first one I was talked out of returning them all, but it was hard after loosing fish here and there for what seemed like forever. We added a few Cory cats, but there fate mirrored the guppies. Finally in November all the corys dies within a few days so we were able to quit topping up the herd and give up on them. Instead we decided to try a few female guppies. The first two died right away, but of the second two one is still with us and the other passed in April. During this time we had a few births, but none of the fry lasted longer than a month. So today that leaves us Fred and Ginger. Fred is a little worse for wear, with is tail initially damaged by the aggression of other fish it seems to disintegrate from time to time on it's own now. When Ginger joined the tank she was the same size as Fred, but now she is nearly twice his size. He has given us a few scares, like the week he kept bobbing perpendicular to the tank top when he was not swimming and when his belly swelled up from indigestion, but Ginger has been consistently healthy. With just the two of them it seems like we should a few fish, but I want to hold off for now. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
T Dawg Posted May 21, 2009 Author Report Share Posted May 21, 2009 Fred may not have another life in him. We went to find him for feeding, and 10 minutes later found him buried head down in one of the plants. When we tried to dig him out with the next he started to twitch when he found his way in the next. Back in the tank he tried to swim, but it looks like he has no tale control and he is very abraded from the plant. His bottom fins have damage so he is trying to twitch and use his side fins to swim. He settled near the air stone. He has tried to swim a bit but he is in ruff shape. We agreed we would leave him in the tank as long as he was breathing, we owe him that. We debated, and in the end added salt and bumped the temp but I see it as more for our benefit then for his. It’s been over an hour and he is still hanging on. Ethel started to act odd once we pulled Fred out of the plant, but if that is because she is having trouble or just sad about Fred who is to say. We have had a few fish stuck in the plant before, and I always assumed they die first and got pushed there by the current, but I think we may toss it and get another few fake Amazon Swords. This may also be a good time to try a few beginner live plants or get rid of the tank. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
T Dawg Posted May 22, 2009 Author Report Share Posted May 22, 2009 (edited) Fred passed late last night. We took the time to bury him, a privilege not formerly bestowed on our other fish. Odd to care so for a few dollar guppy, but the value of his life had little consequence to his enrichment of ours. I never realy liked that tank, and seeing it sitting there without Fred in it just makes me hate it more. The S.O. and I have not talked about the tank since, but this may be the catalyst for it's donation to her sister. I know she does like it and it was her first tank so I guess at the end of the day we will need to wait and see. O knwo she has talked about wanting a Beta since FishClubGirl's presentation at the Calgary fish club meeting a few months back. His partner remains for now, but she seems ill, is not swimming much, and is floating near the top of the tank. Edited May 22, 2009 by T Dawg Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
T Dawg Posted June 4, 2009 Author Report Share Posted June 4, 2009 Well, the easy answer is there is none. Ginger was moved to the 90. Not sure what the future holds for the tank. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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