Something doesn't seem right

[goldenpuon]

My adult guppies have been terrified of me today. It started when I discovered a guppy had given birth and I took the 3 guppy fry I could find out.

I was also doing some culling today of 2 guppy fry from different tanks, 1 had a deformed back and the other has the size of a 2 week old guppy but was almost months old. I captured some adults to swallow the 2 fry which they normally enjoy but instead they were very afraid. (Sorry if this sounds cruel but those two fry were not doing well and they got swallowed whole which is relatively painless)

I tested the water after to see if anything was wrong and got the following.

PH: 6.9-7.0
KH: 180
Hardness: 140
Nitrate: 10 or less
Nitrite: 0
Ammonia: 0

Tonight, I fed them for the night and they hid and paid almost no attention until I put the top back on the tank. I looked at them and realized that some of them looked bloated like they had been overfed. (I will be discontinuing feeding due to this for at least a day) My thoughts as to why is that is they probably ate a lot of fry that I couldn't capture in time(one guppy gave birth today) and I did overfeed them a bit today. I tried putting my fingers in the tank which normally lures them to my hand but instead, they froze. I observed them for a long time without moving a muscule and I saw them foraging and acting normally. Then the second I made too much movement, they darted to hide in the plants or around the sponge filter. They don't seem sick, bright colors, no gasping or spots, just fear. I don't remember doing anything to scare them. Water parameters are also very good. any suggestions to what this is or if it is just them being tempermental? Guppies are quite moody in my experience but i don't know of anything I did to scare them.
Thanks.

Renee

[goldenpuon]

Good news. All the guppies are acting normal today. I guess they just overate the fry. Have to keep an eye out. I will be seperating from the females from the males eventually.

[kagome]

Renee,

Is it possible you were wearing a shirt that is a color they weren't used to seeing? I swear I have this one green shirt that scares the crap out of my fish. They seem to freak out and run for their caves when I wear this shirt, maybe the green makes me look like a big predator or something. They also don't seem to like it when I wear a hat, fish are just goofy sometimes. I'm very glad to hear that your fish are acting normally again. My Gourami, Spot, is not acting like himself at all since he has been sick so I'm sure that your were very worried about your little guys.

To prevent fry binge eating couldn't you use one of those traps that hangs on the inside of the tank? My grandfather raised guppies and sold them to fish stores. He had hundreds of them. He had a little clear plastic box that hung inside the tank. Towards the bottom it had two angled pieces of plastic that formed a slit too small for the mom guppy to swim down into. The fry would hang out in that bottom compartment because they would sink down through that slit. So as soon as one of his girl guppies got to be fat and pregnant looking he would keep her in there until she had her fry. Then he would put her back with the adults and put the babies in one of his fry tanks.

[goldenpuon]

Thanks Kagome. Unfortunately, the guppy fry do not cooperate and swim to the top of the breeding tap. Then their mom eats them. My guppies also give birth sometimes unexpectedly and when I try to isolate females in a sperate tank before they give birth, they hide and sulk. I'm going to be seperating the males from the females once I get so more plants for the male guppy tank and a hydro sponge filter. (Unfortunately, I'm lacking any money right now so I have to wait a bit.) I have about 25 babies right now so not to worry. I've selling 5 right now on Craigslist.

Unfortunately, the guppies have gone back to being super scared after their tank cleaning today. Tomorrow I'll start feeding them a little bit. That should cheer them up.

Thanks for caring.

Renee