Guppy behavior

Question
I bought another two female guppies, Pat and Carolina. The funny thing is, the males are gaga over Carolina, but totally ignore Pat. She's been in the tank almost two weeks and the area where her gravid spot should be is always pink.

Could Pat just be too young to attract males? Or could it be her near lack of color?--sometimes it's hard to tell that she is translucent yellow.
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One evening I didn't see any guppies swimming around. A closer look revealed them hiding in the plants (and staring at me, The Potential Predator). Only Tess was not in the plants--she was on the bottom of the tank, resting on her fins.

Is this how guppies sleep?
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The nursery: I bought a divider for the tank to give Tess and Laurie a break from the males. I considered a breeding trap, but they're so small, wouldn't it be unfair to keep a guppy in there for longer than a day? I can't tell when they about to give birth.

A clerk at Petsmart said that a female will eat her own fry if she thinks other fish are threatening the fry. Is this true, and is it a misguided attempt to protect them, or is she just beating the other fish to the dinner table?
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Is it hard to hatch brine shrimp?

Janet

Answer
Hi Janet, this is my second email to you as I just got your second one from the first about Tess having her first two fry!

~It sounds like Carolina isn't pregnant yet. Perhaps the males sense this and want to breed with her more so to be the first to spread their genes. This is only a guess--who knows what's really going on their little minds. ;-) I'm sure they'll get around to Pat very soon too. Some males do favor certain females. Particularly larger females are the more so targeted than smaller ones.

Guppies and most other fish prefer to sleep in thick plants near or on the bottom. They usually are very still and sometimes even pale in color. When I turn my aquarium lights on in the early morning, my little fish always have a hard time waking up and getting going. They often stay in the plants for some time or sit on the bottom pale and tired looking. Eventually they all come around. I am totally with them on their "too-tired to move" early morning sydrome! ;-) I know exactly what that feels like.
As a precaution-- just make sure your guppies aren't remaining listless all the time--which would indicate poor water quality. Changing some water would perk them up.

~That's excellent that you gave Tess and Laurie a break by the divider. Breeding traps are meant to be temporary. And typically you would remove the female once she gives birth to her brood and free her back into her original tank. The brood of fry would stay in there are be moved into a seperate fry tank to be raised. I would not think of keeping a grown guppy in there for any long periods.
Each individual guppy  is different but I usually find that my guppies-when they are very large with fry, stay motionless and still in the plants or somewhere else somewhat away from the other fish. It can be hard to catch it in time. But with experience you eventually can.

<(A clerk at Petsmart said a female will eat her own fry if she thinks other fish are threatening the fry.)>
hmm.. I've never heard that one before. Guppy fry are naturally created to fend for themselves the best they can and mother guppies typically won't defend them from other fish and will gladely eat them. Perhaps the stress of giving birth makes her incredibly hungry or this could be a natural popultion control in nature to prevent too many fry from surviving and overpopulation.
Who knows, I am no guppy scientist, but I can only go by what I've learned and know from other fish and even other animals and their behavior and habits in nature and captivity.

It can be tricky to hatch brine shrimp...But you can have great sucess also-- here is an excellent article on hatching brine shrimp if you are interested--
"www.petfish.net/articles/foods_and_feeding/brine.php"
this site also has lots more useful info on fishkeeping and more!

I really hope this helps! Best of luck!
Karen~