ashley

Ok so last night I was rearranging some plants that my fish uprooted when I noticed a fish in the tube of my undergravel filter (which I have now decided that they are horrible and just hide "crud" and I would never put another one in any tank I ever own.) I got upset thinking that one of my fish somehow got stuck in there, I did a head count and then I noticed that it wasn't one of my fish that I currently have. It had to have been a fry that grew up under the filter and gravel. I unhooked the tube and let him out (he is gorgeous by the way) and decided that I just needed to get rid of the filters. I pulled both of them up and found ANOTHER guppy!!!! She is pretty also just doesn't have the vivid colors the other one has. Both fish are pretty large (the male is the size you would buy from the lfs and the female is actually a bit larger than what you would buy). The "crud" was pretty bad (the undergravel filters have been in there for about 1 1/2 yrs.) so I had to do a 60% water change and I am going to do another one tomorrow night. Everyone seems to be doing fine, but I was absolutly astonished that two fish were able to grow up in such hard conditions b/c there isn't a lot of light and the crud that was in there was pretty bad. My husband thought I was crazy and seeing things when I first told him, but when he saw it he started cracking up! The entire time I was doing the water change I would just periodically start laughing. Has anyone ever heard of anything similar?

Butterfly

Frequently fry are found under UGFs I would guess they eat food that has been sucked underneath and their safe from predators but still as you said now you know whats underneath.
carol

armadillo

That's a really story, Ashley! Great that they made it! And that huuuge female. Funny!

I'd heard of all in a sudden, a bunch of new adult otos being found although the owner had no idea a female had even been pregnant. But not in the UG filter, though.

ashley

I'm tickled pink that they made it. I named them Stash and Stow since they were hid away for so long. I'm going to try to post pics as soon as I can.

armadillo

Oh yeah, that'd be cool. It's funny that they're adults and kinda coming out of nowhere.

ashley

All I could do was laugh. I thought it was the strangest thing and I am still amazed by how long they lived under there, if the male hadn't came up that tube when he did they may have lived a full life and died under there. As soon as they came out from under there they swam like crazy all over the tank like they needed to stretch their fins. And the male immediatly found a female.

armadillo

The male immediately found a female? Are you sure? That's soooo unlike livebearers. NOT!

ashley

Here are pics of them. I barely got a pic of the male, he is so fast and will not hold still for one second, so the pic is a little blurry.

armadillo

That's amazing. I can't believe they were living in the UGF ALL the time it takes for them to grow to adult size!