Moscow Blue female x Tiger Lace Male

The objective of this cross was to maintain the tiger snakeskin pattern of the male while enhancing the blue shades on the tail. Only males were being sold at the pet shop and I was sure this was a stabilized strain as I had seen pictures of these with another wholesale vendor.  I cannot stress enough the importance of using stabilized strains for breeding. The lesser the number of characters to deal with, the faster you can stabilize your new hybrid strain. 

Male guppy used to make the cross. Sorry for the bad picture quality. 

Female Moscow Blue used to make the cross.

The fry were born on 15 Aug, 2014.

F1 male at 1 month (19 Sep, 2014)

F1 females at 1 month (19 Sep, 2014)

I did not use virgin Moscow Blue females to make the cross. The male fry at one month have however not developed the characteristic dark patch in the front of the body so we can safely assume that the Tiger Lace fathered them. The females too are very unlike the typical Moscow Blue females at this age. They have a yellow cast on the tail which is again derived from the Tiger Lace parent. The males have developed a blue iridescence on the peduncle, a characteristic that is probably X-linked from the Moscow Blue mother.

Albino King Cobra

Another strain I acquired recently. The males seem to have not completed their growth so only time will tell if they will indeed grow larger fins.

Platinum Blue Tuxedo Mosaic with coloured pectoral fins

A beautiful strain with a strong body and coloured pectoral fins to match the other fins. The finnage needs to be improved a bit size wise as well as shape wise especially in the females where shapes vary from deltas to near half moons.

Moscow Blue

My quest for a pure strain when I didn't have any other option ended at an LFS where I bought myself a trio of LFS quality Moscow Blues.  I decided I would grow their fry out using premium feed and see if they indeed had good genes.  After they delivered on 17 July, 2014, I setup my brine shrimp hatchery and fed them up to 6 times a day.  After a week they were introduced to Hikari First Bites; 4 feeds of the Hikari and 2 feeds of baby brine shrimp a day. At about 3 weeks, the males were separated from the females and housed separately in 5 gallon tanks.

Male from the line I started off with

F1 Males at 1 month (17 Aug, 2014)

An F1 male beginning to colour up (17 Aug, 2014)

F1 female at 1 month (17 Aug, 2014)

Another F1 female at 1 month (17 Aug, 2014)

F1 male at 2 months (17 Sep, 2014)

Guppies from my well

Having your own well is a blessing if you are growing fish. You know the pH and mineral content of your water and you don't need to add dechlorinators each time. Further the water already has the necessary bacteria to get your filter started. I had put some guppies into my well over 15 years ago. To be precise they were a beautiful high-dorsal,half-black red and since I couldn't find females of the same strain I got some half-black females to keep him company. About a month back I caught a female and after she delivered on 11 July, 2014, sent her back to my well. There were 6 fry in all, 3 males and 3 females.

Male at 1 month and 1 week(17 Aug, 2014)

Females at 1 month and 1 week(17 Aug, 2014)

Male at 48 days(28 Aug, 2014)

Females at 48 days(28 Aug, 2014)

Following this period the males were more interested in chasing around rather than feeding and did not gain much in size over the next two weeks while the Moscow Blues that were a week younger overtook them size wise. The females however gained in size and were bigger than their Moscow counterparts.

Males at 2 months of age(12 Sep, 2014)