A couple of years ago I purchased 3 female guppies and 1 male guppy from the feeder tank at Petco. Life in my 10 gallon tank has to be better than being eaten, was my thought. After some time, they started having babies, I was so so excited. Time passed and at 20 guppies I decided the male and female guppies had had enough fun and I purchased a smaller tank. There were fewer male guppies, so, they got volunteered to make the sacrifice and live in the smaller tank. After a year or more I was down to 2 male guppies and 1 female, so, the lucky males got to live in the big tank and the lone female got to live with an algae eater in the small one, where she's lived for 7- 8 months.
For the last 5-6 days my little female guppy has been dying. She lays on the bottom of the tank by the heater until either the cat or I check on her, then, she makes a massive, difficult looking display of showing that she's still alive by wiggling as best she can. Two days ago she decided to eat, she used what had to be all her will and effort to thrust herself to the top of the tank, grab a mouthful and fall back to the floor. She did this over and over, it was an amazing thing to watch. It appeared to be sheer will to get enough strength to make it to the top for a bit of food. I've been so impressed with her, her obvious will to make an effort, to show that she's still alive. I've thought that maybe the nice thing to do would be to flush her but everytime I look at her she wiggles so hard, I can't do it. So, this is for my friend the guppy. She was born in my tank and soon she will die there too, I'll miss her and her efforts, who knew a tiny plain looking fish could be such a great inspiration.
7 comments:
Awww..that's so sad and so endearing at the same time. Hey, it sounds like she's lived a good life though. I was curious and this may be a silly question, but how did you know which ones were girls and which ones were boys?...go ahead and laugh at me now...
Hey, thanks, I'm glad you liked my story. I've grown so attached to my fish, it's so strange and geeky, but true, esp. the ones I've had for years or were born in my tank. :)
Your question about which are girls and which are boys is a great question, one I didn't know until I had these guppies. Female guppies are larger than the males and they are a solid sort of light yellowish color. The males have small spots of rainbow colors on them (there are also "fancy" guppies, the male "fancy" guppies are very vivid in color and have big delicate looking tail fins. "Fancy Guppies" also do not come in feeder tanks and are more expensive, say maybe $1.50 as opposed to twenty five cents or so).
Got it. Glad it's not too hard to tell them apart then. =)
you're really talented, i wish I could do something remotely close to that
Hey Katie, wow, you totally made my day! Thanks so much for the compliment, I'm really glad you like my drawings!
My little fish died last night. She's now buried in the garden, flushing her didn't seem dignified enough for a fish that tried so hard. Just thought I'd give this little update in case anyone was interested. She was one of a kind!
Great share thanks for writing this
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