We hope that you will find them of value but we can't guarantee success - there are just too many variables in fishkeeping (especially if there's a vital fact you omitted to tell us in the first place!)
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Designing a fish ought to be easy given the fact that Guppies are so prolific but that's half the problem. Putting together certain colours should produce the colour strain you require but in fact green fish are almost a rarity. In Singapore recently, in the Siamese Fighter Class of over 550 entries, there was not one green Fighter.
Producing any set colour is governed by the Mendelian Laws of Genetics and further complicated by the fact that some colours are dominant whilst others are recessive.
Breeding indiscriminately from a variety of coloured Guppies may in time throw up a green Guppy (based on the Monkeys and typewriters theory in eventually producing Shakespeare!) although this fish may only just have green iridesecences rather than a genuine green hue.
To do this would take lots of spawnings and lots of tank space coupled with lots of selective sorting out of the youngsters.
Sadly, we do not have a national Guppy breeders Association any more although you might find help by contacting the specialist Livebearer Society, Viviparous
Unless it looks as if there is blood in the fin (Fin Congestion) it could be that your Guppies are losing the quality of the colour strain and 'new blood' might be required to re-invigorate them.
Fins can become inflamed due to poor water conditions and here the solution is quite clear. The importance of regular water changes cannot be over-emphasised. You may be able to find out more by visiting the specialist Livebearer Society, Viviparous
Transporting fish need not be quite the ordeal you fear if you pay attention to one or two things.
The one thing to ensure is that the fish is not stressed more than necessary (you'll probably be the one with the most stress!) and to this end you should
try to take as much of the fish's existing water with you.
If you can get a tank (even a temporary one) set up in your new home in advance of moving then so much the better.
Large fish can be transported in a large plastic dustbin with a lid clipped on. Add some 'Stress Coat' to the water just before you travel.
If you can drain down the existing tank to gravel level (and still manage to lift it!) then you can take this as it is to the new home and simply top
it up using as much original water as possible together with new tap water that has been treated with a dechlorinator.
You may like to read Dr Peter Burgess article on moving house with fish on this website.
The usual ways of removing Blanketweed other than dragging it our manually (it makes excellent compost!) is by using algicides, enzyme control or by electronic treatment of the water.
Interpet, the well known aquarium equipment manufacturer, produces several treatments for Blanketweed, as does Tetra and Oase. Some remedies are straightforward 'killers' and the dead Blanketweed must be removed as soon as it forms. Products: EA Blanketweed Inhibitor, Pond Balance (Interpet), Blanc-Kit, Kusuri Eco-pure. All should be obtainable at aquatic centres. see http://www.koikit.biz/acatalog/Blanketweed_control.html
Barley Straw when it decomposes in the water releases some kind of enzyme that adversely affects Blanketweed but whilst this will work perfectly well in one area of the country is may not do so elsewhere. One brand that worked for me was obtained from Mandrake Marketing. They have a website shop via eBay and their email address is: mandrakesales@aol.com. It is now possible to get Barley Straw extract in liquid form in addition to the usual pouches of the straw itself.
The electronic means operates via a coil of wire wrapped around the filtration tube and treats the water passing through the tube. There are various brand names for this type of control and most well known aquatic centres stock them, ie World of Water, Maidenhead Aquatics etc.
Typing in 'Blanketweed' into Google's search engine will bring up many sources of advice and treatment details.
