# minnow or guppies



## LoRyder (Sep 15, 2010)

Ok so about a month ago me my wife and 2 kids we the creek near our house to catch what I thought where minnows to feed my red belly piranhas and my huge red devil cichlid. Well my boy was so proud that he caught these fish with mommy and daddy that I couldn't feed them to my other fish. So I made a nice natual looking tank. And today I did a water change and I put my breeding guppies in the tank cause I wanted to cut back on a tank. Anyways I added them in and feed them right after the water change and all of a sudden these boring fish came to life and started mating with my 2 female guppies then I seen them mating with what I thought where minnows. My question after this long story is can anyone tell me are the guppies and not minnow??









Sorry taken with camera phone main camera is done. Thanks.


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## LoRyder (Sep 15, 2010)

Any help on this???


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## Number6 (Mar 13, 2003)

the pic just isn't clear enough for an id. They aren't "minnows", they are a live bearer that may be referred to as a top minnow... but pic isn't good enough for me to guess and I'm out of my usual realm of expertise on wild live bearer identification.


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## LoRyder (Sep 15, 2010)

I didn't think they where minnows. What are the chances of my breeding guppies will end up breeding with them?? Thanks for your help


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## Number6 (Mar 13, 2003)

hybridization might be possible. Depends how closely related they are to your guppies.


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## LoRyder (Sep 15, 2010)

im taking them down to the lfs on sat. to find out what they are..will see what happens..


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## Darkside (Feb 6, 2008)

If you can get a bit of a better picture of them or a close up I can probably ID them for you.


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## Manoah Marton (Feb 17, 2009)

My guess is the generic misquito (spelling) fish. And, since they are very closly related to guppies, they can and will hybridize. personally, i would feed the hybrid young to your pirhanas. whatever you do, don't market them as guppies, or they could ruin entire lines of prefectly 'good' guppies. I'm guessing Darkside will give you a better answer.

Manoah Marton


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## LoRyder (Sep 15, 2010)

ok here is a couple pic i have a video but need to upload it and of course the video has better look..


























































thanks again[/img]


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## Darkside (Feb 6, 2008)

It looks to me as though you have minnows. The first image is that of a shiner or some sort. Its difficult to tell what kind because the image is a bit blurry. The second image looks to me like a blunt nose minnow, but once again its hard to tell because of the image.
Assuming that you're from the Pittsburgh area then you aren't in the natural range for any livebearers.


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## Chromedome52 (Jul 25, 2009)

The last photo does appear to have some _Gambusia_ (the blue sheen on the cheeks is fairly unique), though exactly which species is hard to tell even with good images. _Gambusia _have established populations in several northern states from being released by fishermen using them for bait. Some pet shops used to get them as feeders, and those also sometimes made their way into bait buckets. There used to be a well documented population in the vicinity of Detroit, and I found one in a local river here in Southwestern Michigan some years ago.

The first couple of photos do also show some type of common Cyprinid minnows, and as Darkside said, they are very difficult to ID due to the fuzzy images.


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## 748johnd (Jun 30, 2007)

The fish in the second photo looks very similar to a Siamese algae eater with the black stripe running from the nose to the tail fin. I know it's not one because the stripe on an algae eater is wider and they wouldn't survive in cold waters, but the similarity is interesting. My guess would be they are some kind of minnow.


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## KiDD (Aug 20, 2010)

http://www.dnr.state.oh.us/Home/spe...lackstripedtopminnow/tabid/21966/Default.aspx

Fundulus notatus


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## LoRyder (Sep 15, 2010)

So I took a couple fish to the lfs and the guy there told me that he thought it was type of minnow and then I told him how they where breeding. Then he said he had no idea what they where and ask me where I got them again. Then he said he has a good friend who works in a bio lab and he wanted to take them to find out. so I told him yea he could that them and he wants me to bring him down a male (I thought I grab one of each) and ill find out what they are in 2 weeks or so. He did say that they are not suppose to be in our waters. So I'm guessing they where dumped into the creek, and they have breed pretty fast cause there where a lot of them in the creek. But ill keep you guys up to date when I find out.


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## demonsoni (Feb 10, 2006)

They are Minnows, and they are here in Ohio, There's no reason they shouldn't be in your creeks and streams. At least if your "Blitzburgh" means Pittsburgh. Looks like a Bluntnose minnow to me. Caught a million of them electro-fishing for the EPA.


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## LoRyder (Sep 15, 2010)

I agree that some are minnows but I'm really leading towards a type of guppy for the others. One female looks like my fancy guppy who is ready to pop any day now. Have them in there own breed net. Will see what happens....


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## Darkside (Feb 6, 2008)

The ones that look like livebearers and are gravid are probably Gambusia sp if they are indeed livebearers.


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## LoRyder (Sep 15, 2010)

Ok I got a lil info on what they might be. the goverment guy said he thinks the are juv. Chubs. But he wants to do something with them so I have to wait till he gets time to realy check them out.


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