guppies

Warning:  content of this post may not be suitable for those under the age of 13.

A week or so ago, I noticed a little guppy while I was on the phone with Nathan.  No longer than my fingernail, it was hovering close to the tower.  We then spotted a slightly smaller, darker guppy, who liked to hide behind the heater and filter.  Nathan did some research.  We have three females and one male guppy.  It takes a month for the female guppy to incubate the egg, which hatches inside her, and she then gives birth to a live baby.  She can immediately get pregnant again, as she kept the um, effects, of the original rendezvous.

Flash forward to Saturday.  I was showing mom the babies and talking about how little they used to be, when *pop**pop* Tiger (Seth's orange guppy) pops out two itsy bitsy teeny weeny babies and turns around and eats one.  A third baby was born and eaten a few minutes later.  The survivor scurried to the bottom of the tank.  (Nathan read that baby guppies have an instinct to hide...I'm pretty sure the first two had hidden for a couple weeks until they felt they were no longer small enough to be a snack, because they are WAY bigger than the new ones.)

Saturday night:  Speedy (the snail) hadn't moved.  All day.  Nathan prodded him with the net to see if he'd react, but no such luck (Seth, if you read this later, we apologize, but we're trying to trick you.  You haven't noticed Speedy is missing, and we don't want you to notice on your birthday weekend, so if you do, we're going to tell you Speedy is in the tower, and Daddy is going to try to sneak Speedy II in without you noticing).  One of the newest guppies was hiding under Speedy, and the commotion caused it to scurry into the tower.  Good for you little guppy.  I hope it's a safe haven for you.