Submarine the Guppy Has a Passenger — And Neither of Them Seems to Mind

Submarine the Guppy Has a Passenger — And Neither of Them Seems to Mind

Dave didn't name him Submarine because he's fast. He named him that because the little guppy looks like a vessel with an extra hull: a second, partially-formed body fused to his belly, both of them cutting through the water column like some aquatic fever dream. The photos hit r/Aquariums yesterday and cleared 500 upvotes before most hobbyists had finished their morning coffee — commenters zooming in on the wild asymmetry, debating whether they were looking at a genuine parasitic twin or just a very unfortunate lump.

A vet in the thread settled it: classic parasitic twinning, where a second embryo attaches early in development and hitches a ride, never fully forming but never quite letting go. It sounds like a death sentence, but Submarine eats, colors up, and darts from tankmates like any guppy who knows he's the main character. Most fry with this kind of deformity vanish within hours. Submarine is out here rewriting the script.

Breed guppies long enough and you'll see everything — but most hobbyists go years without spotting a survivor like this.

Gobble's Take: Inspect your guppy fry closely — your next tank centerpiece might already have its own built-in co-pilot.

Source: r/Aquariums

50 Cichlid Fry, Day 10 — And Dad Is Already Flaring at Tetras

She spotted the first wiggle at dawn: 50 Ivanacara bimaculata fry, each barely the size of a peppercorn, schooling under mom's fin while dad patrolled the perimeter of a 20-gallon, flaring at anything that drifted too close. The macro shots posted to r/Aquariums yesterday show translucent bodies still pulsing with yolk sacs — but by day 10, these South American dwarf cichlids are already vacuuming infusoria off the glass and growing fins you can watch change by the hour.

This spawn didn't happen by accident. The keeper had been dosing Indian almond leaves for tannins, holding pH steady at 6.5, and feeding live blackworms exclusively in the week leading up to the spawn. Community veterans in the thread flagged Ivanacaras as one of the most underrated nano breeders going: peaceful enough to share a tank with shrimp, capable of producing 50–100 fry per clutch, and colors that rival discus at a fraction of the cost and footprint.

By week four, these fry will be out-eating their parents — and one clutch could quietly stock three tanks.

Gobble's Take: Want cichlid drama without a 200-gallon arms race? Ivanacara bimaculata will deliver it in a tank you can fit on a bookshelf.

Source: r/Aquariums

Your Local Fish Shop's "Rare" Fish Is a $3 Convict in a Trench Coat

He walked in expecting something special. The store clerk grinned, pointed to a barred cichlid with some attitude, said "rare bars, killer personality," and charged $25. He bought it. Then he posted the photos to r/Aquariums this morning, and the identification came back unanimous inside of ten minutes: Amatitlania nigrofasciata — the convict cichlid, one of the most prolific and indestructible fish in the hobby, a species so common that one commenter recalled seeing 10,000-plus in a single Florida pond.

Convicts earn the name. They pair up, excavate pits in your substrate, and guard fry with the territorial aggression of something three times their size — shredding shrimp, harassing tankmates, and generally restructuring the social order of any tank you put them in. One commenter shared a 75-gallon takeover story that took six months and ended badly for everyone else in the tank. The store's "rare" pitch is a classic upcharge on a bulletproof fish that breeds in buckets. The OP is debating a return, but veterans in the thread have a counter-offer: pair it up, collect 200 fry every quarter, sell half, and fund your next equipment upgrade.

Shops peddle convicts as special because new hobbyists haven't been burned yet — but now you have no excuse.

Gobble's Take: Before you hand over cash for an LFS "rarity," snap a photo and run it through Reddit — five minutes could save you $25 and a tank civil war.

Source: r/Aquariums

This 14-Gallon Cube Is Nearing Five Years Old — and It Still Looks This Good

Someone posted an update to r/PlantedTank on their 14-gallon cube approaching the five-year mark. The tank runs color-changing sunrises and sunsets via smart bulbs, with an Asta 120 handling growth lighting. That lighting setup alone sparked immediate questions from commenters — at least one person had tried a similar 24-hour sunrise/sunset cycle but worried it was too much and scaled back to six hours.

The tank drew a wave of questions about the basics: substrate type, root tabs, CO2 injection, and liquid ferts. Commenters also wanted to know how the Monte Carlo near the surface is being managed and what the small mossy plant on the hardscape above the waterline actually is. The questions kept coming — which is usually a sign the tank looks good enough to make people want to replicate it.

Five years is a long time to keep any planted tank stable and photogenic. This one appears to be both.

Gobble's Take: When a tank is old enough to outlast most hobbyists' interest in the hobby, the setup details matter — and the source still hasn't dropped them, so watch the thread.

Source: r/PlantedTank

In Case You Missed It

Yesterday's top stories:

• PNW Custom Shrinks an Entire Reef Controller to 3×3.5 Inches — and It Drops Today
• Your LFS Has Been Misidentifying These Three Corals for Decades. Here's How to Tell Them Apart.
• One Hobbyist Added Six Cherry Shrimp. Months Later, They Own a Shrimp Farm.
• A 2007 Coral Frag Ad Just Surfaced. The Prices Will Make You Want to Cry.