Black Moscow Guppies

bassbonediva

bassbonediva

Superstar Fish
#1
Oct 15, 2009
2,010
0
0
Northern Arizona
#1
Where could I get black Moscow guppies? Do they sell them at LFSs or Petsmart/co? Or are they something I'd have to special order. I keep seeing in becky's signature that she has black Moscow guppies and just googled them. They are BEAUTIFUL (and this from someone who isn't usually a huge fan of guppies)!
 

beckyd

beckyd

Large Fish
#3
Mar 16, 2009
381
0
0
#3
Bass, I have never seen them at the local stores. I don't think they are common enough in the US yet, to be mass produced for the big chains. I got mine from Jeff Hiller at jeffhiller.com. He has been breeding alot of the recent show winners, I guess. There is another guy I have seen referred to as being strong with the blacks too, but his name is escaping me. Anyway, I am very pleased with my blacks from Jeff. I paid for a pair and he sent me an extra young female. The older one's first brood is reaching maturity. The younger one is grown now. These pics are of the younger female. Check out her fins! The daddy. And two randy teenage boys chasing their sister. I have three virgin females in my 5g betta tank. Two more weeks and they will get prehit by daddy before they go to someone who has been begging me to buy some for months now. Looks like about 1/2 the females get these long fins.

These blacks are really hard to photograph. The dark color makes it hard for the autofocus to catch and they are too fast for me to get manually! The metallic blue you see at the base of the young males' tails is lovely, but really not visible to the eye. The flash makes it show up. You see hints of it when the light hits them just right. Otherwise they are velvety black like a molly except for their bellies.

Sorry, I got you hooked bass, but seriously. How can you not like a guppy??? They're little and colorful and busy, busy, busy...
 

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bassbonediva

bassbonediva

Superstar Fish
#4
Oct 15, 2009
2,010
0
0
Northern Arizona
#4
I've just never been into "little fish." That, and they always seemed kind of "common" to me. You know, EVERYBODY has guppies type thing. I have a friend who has some (one of which is VERY preggo), but they're just silver with silver and black tails. If I got guppies, I'd want them to be guppies that everyone goes "Oh, wow!" when they see them. Know what I mean?
 

beckyd

beckyd

Large Fish
#5
Mar 16, 2009
381
0
0
#5
I know just what you mean! I agree completely. So, whatever you get should be special. I get SUCH pleasure when people who have never really been able to figure out why I'm so gaga over my fish react with jaw-dropping awe when they actually see them. Angels, guppies, swords blah, blah, blah...OH!! THAT'S why you like them so much. Its pretty predictable upon a first visit. I never get tired of it. Of course, these are non-fish-addicted friends. With the exception of a few saltwater-snob-friends. I love when they admit that freshwater isn't as boring as they thought:) None of you would react with quite the same gusto, I'm sure, after seeing pics of tanks on here. That's ok. You're compliments mean that much more:)
 

bassbonediva

bassbonediva

Superstar Fish
#6
Oct 15, 2009
2,010
0
0
Northern Arizona
#6
I get much the same reaction with my bettas. Everyone is like "Betta are such boring fish!" Then they see Al being the dork he is, or Edward and Carlisle flaring at each other through the divider on their tank, or the girls interacting (when they were still alive)...and their colors!...and then they're like "Oh wow! They're so beautiful! I want one!" lol
 

beckyd

beckyd

Large Fish
#7
Mar 16, 2009
381
0
0
#7
I have a really lively bunch right now. The girls are really fun to watch. I'm so glad I took your lead. Its a beautiful and interesting tank:)
 

bassbonediva

bassbonediva

Superstar Fish
#8
Oct 15, 2009
2,010
0
0
Northern Arizona
#8
beckyd said:
I have a really lively bunch right now. The girls are really fun to watch. I'm so glad I took your lead. Its a beautiful and interesting tank:)
Click to expand...
I'm so glad they're doing well for you! I put my three females (yes, I bought a third female on impulse last night because she's GRAVID! She's a pretty little medium steel blue) in the 10gal nursery tank with the three preggo guppies and the five or six guppy fry. They had fun trying to chase the fry and eat them. One of them actually caught a fry, but it was too big to fit in her mouth. :p

Anywho, wanna see my new male that I'm going to breed with Alice, my little CT female? :D



Oh, and just for kicks...some of the guppies that were an impulse "buy" (they were free off CL). I'm going to start culling out the ones I don't want tomorrow in hopes of decreasing the number so I can get my 46gal back...it's suffering from a guppy invasion! The people just handed me a bucket with three large net-fulls of guppies in there! Yikes!




 

E

emmanuelchavez

Superstar Fish
#9
Feb 22, 2008
1,370
0
0
#9
I went to petsmart to get another heater for my 100g tank, since we're supposed to get some below-freezing nights down here in the H-town this week. While I was there, I saw a couple of black guppies. I doubt that they're "black moscow", but they were black none-the-less. I would've gotten them if I had somewhere to put them.

I also saw a black male veil tail betta at another LFS that I was drooling over. I was ready to snatch him up, but have nowhere to put him either.
 

beckyd

beckyd

Large Fish
#10
Mar 16, 2009
381
0
0
#10
Hey, emmanuel.They could have been black moscows. If they were all black, I bet they were. They are the blackest guppy strain around, I think. I too, love black fish and have a black king betta. I've never seen a black veil. Bet he was gorgeous!

Paige- you DO have a guppy invasion! Goodness. Can you give them away? Looks like an attractive bunch of males. So, you're up to 3 females. I saw the cutest yellow female in Walmart the other day. I restrained myself.(barely) The girls are soing so good in this group, I don't want to upset the mix. Besides, I would have to quarantine her. I really don't trust Walmart fish.

I love the color of the CT you are going to breed with Alice. How much longer?
 

bassbonediva

bassbonediva

Superstar Fish
#11
Oct 15, 2009
2,010
0
0
Northern Arizona
#11
I dropped off nine guppies at the LFS today. They had just made an order of guppies (although they just ordered some fancies, nothing like my deltas and what I call "ultra-fancies" because of their coloring) so they weren't willing to give me store credit, but I didn't care at that point. I'm down to five males in the 46gal (just kept the prettiest :p) and the one deformed female, as well as two of the more pregnant females and the five or six fry that were in the 10gal nursery tank as well. I could have given them the preggo females (I did give them one, but she wasn't *that* pregnant), but I figured I wouldn't be *that* mean. :p

About a week more before I'll start trying to breed Alice and Alec. They're both doing great gobbling up the bloodworms and brine shrimp and Alice has great color on her now that she's in with the guppies. Can't quite figure out why she decided to be all dominant and such once she got in there. :p
 

Newman

Newman

Elite Fish
#12
Sep 22, 2009
4,668
0
0
Northern NJ
#12
i would condition Betta in a community setting. it worked the first time for me tho (male plakat was conditioned in my 40 gal community) but any Betta breeding guide you read will say to have the male and female in isolation.
Also, bass do frequent water changes for your pair. their water needs to be the cleanest it can be. 0 of everything (ammonia, nitrite, and nitrate) This can be impossible in a community tank, which is why i mentioned the whole thing..
 

bassbonediva

bassbonediva

Superstar Fish
#14
Oct 15, 2009
2,010
0
0
Northern Arizona
#14
Newman said:
i would condition Betta in a community setting. it worked the first time for me tho (male plakat was conditioned in my 40 gal community) but any Betta breeding guide you read will say to have the male and female in isolation.
Also, bass do frequent water changes for your pair. their water needs to be the cleanest it can be. 0 of everything (ammonia, nitrite, and nitrate) This can be impossible in a community tank, which is why i mentioned the whole thing..
Click to expand...
I'm conditioning my female in what could be considered a community setting (two preggo guppies, six guppy fry and two other female bettas is a community, right? ;) ), but it is impossible to condition my male in a community setting. I had Garrett (the male I was originally going to use) in the 46gal for less than 24 hours (it was more like 5 hours, actually...just long enough for me to get a new tank set up for him and run a couple of errands) when just four of the platies were in there and his tail had big bites out of it. I will definitely be doing a lot of water changes. Would a 15-20% WC per day be too much (I'm using a 10gal tank)?
 

Newman

Newman

Elite Fish
#15
Sep 22, 2009
4,668
0
0
Northern NJ
#15
O darn, I'm sooo sorry,
I mean to type I WOULDN'T condition the female or male in a community setting.
The fact that it just worked the first time was pure coincidence...
 

bassbonediva

bassbonediva

Superstar Fish
#16
Oct 15, 2009
2,010
0
0
Northern Arizona
#16
Newman said:
O darn, I'm sooo sorry,
I mean to type I WOULDN'T condition the female or male in a community setting.
The fact that it just worked the first time was pure coincidence...
Click to expand...
Well crap! LOL! Actually, it's working out alright with Alice because she's dominant (which is funny because she's the smallest of the female bettas and at least a couple inches smaller than the female guppies, but she definitely rules that tank) and will chase the guppies and the other girls away from the bloodworms and brine shrimp until she eats her fill. *celebrate

It's looking like in another few days we'll be ready to try. *BOUNCINGS
 

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