Deformed Guppy Fry

[AshleePureFancy]

Hello!

I have 2 young guppies, the batch was born Feb. 14th, so they're about 10 weeks old. One is a male, and his spine is severely deformed. I have heard this is common with male guppies, and i know culling is reccomended.

My first question is, if I should cull him, what is the most humane way? I have no idea how to do it.

Now, the other guppy, I thought it was male for a long time, but I'm not entirely sure anymore because I can see what might be a gravid spot. But this guppy, i cannot tell if his back is deformed, however he is VERY small compared to the others. His back bends toward the ground kind of, as if his tail is too heavy, but i can't really see through him to tell. I'm not sure what to do with him, because he looks very unhealthy to me, he's puny and yucky looking, but he has survived this long, and he does eat and does everything a normal fish does, i just don't know what is wrong with him, if anything.

I guess my second question is what should I do with the smaller guppy, if anything?

Here are some pictures, i appologize for the quality, they're awful!


Here you can see how much smaller one is than the other.

There you can see the condition of the larger male.

This is the one that I'm not sure if anything is wrong with.

Same fish.

 

[dkpate]

You can use clove oil mixed with tank water to euthanize fish. Mix the clove oil in with water until it turns milky, put fish in and he should go to sleep after a bit, then passes away. You can then put him in the freezer to make SURE he doesn't wake up. *Do not put clove oil in your tank, and make sure you have separate tools to use.*
As for the deformed one: My friend had deformed females because of so much inbreeding, (same exact thing with the spines drooping down in the back) and they were fine to have a few batches of babies, but they ended up passing after about a year.

 

[jetajockey]

Sounds like they should both be culled.

Methods to euthanize? Depends on what you are willing to do. Removing the head with a sharp knife works well, as well as putting them into a bag and smashing them.

You could also use them as feeders.

Clove oil works well. I've also used salted ice water.

 

[AshleePureFancy]

So the little one is probably deformed too? It's sad cause he's always been tiny and he has lived so long, but i definately don't want to pass on the deformity.

I'm not entirely sure where to get clove oil, but do they die instantly if they're dropped into ice water? I think that's how i would prefer to do it.

 

[jetajockey]

You can get clove oil from a pharmacy.

Yeah I personally cull out any runty or deformed fish. That doesn't necessarily mean to kill them, but just making sure they stay out of the breeding population.

Salted ice water has worked for me, the fish just stop instantly. I use salt in the water because it lowers the freezing point. I put them in the freezer for a few hours also just to make sure, if I go that route.

 

[Mr. Limpet]

So the little one is probably deformed too? It's sad cause he's always been tiny and he has lived so long, but i definately don't want to pass on the deformity.

I'm not entirely sure where to get clove oil, but do they die instantly if they're dropped into ice water? I think that's how i would prefer to do it.

Ice water works just fine. I'm dealing with Black Moor fry and that's how I've been culling mine.

 

[Tasha]

I use ice water as well, ok whats this may sounds silly but whats "culling" mean?

 

[angloe1]

I use ice water as well, ok whats this may sounds silly but whats "culling" mean?

Not silly! I don't know what culling is either.

 

[Homedog98]

Culling is euthanizing the deformed, or messed up fish in a litter. They do it with the LFS fish too!

 

[Tasha]

thanks for the info

 

[angloe1]

Culling is euthanizing the deformed, or messed up fish in a litter. They do it with the LFS fish too!

Gotcha! That's what I thought it was. Thanks for the info!

 

[Homedog98]

Your Welcome!

 

[Mr. Limpet]

Culling is euthanizing the deformed, or messed up fish in a litter. They do it with the LFS fish too!

+1

It's the humane thing to do.

 

[jetajockey]

actually to get technical about it, culling is just the act of removing certain animals from a group because of certain reasons. Euthanizing is one possible outcome of the culled fish, but it's not necessarily what happens to them.

It is often done because of deformity and all that, but also it is done to remove any undesirable traits from the group. Selective breeding of species is how we get alot of the different colors and traits like long flowing tails, lyretails, albinos, etc. With breeders, what they will do is pick out the very best of whatever they are looking for in the fish, take those few to breed out, and cull the rest.

The guppies commonly found in LFS are likely to be culls, assuming they came from a breeder and not a farm. (there are some LFS that carry expensive designer guppy strains, different story altogether)
I had a wave of deformed fish of many different species for a short time, and I ended up putting them into their own 'tank of misfit toys'