Hi there, has any one with guppies had babies born with pointed tail fins ?
My recent batch of babies have been born with half of the young with pointed tai fins that look like tear drops.
the babies seem fine but six have died in the space of a week, some bebies seen to look 'flakey' on the tails but I don't think it is fin rot or whitespot or a fungus. All other fish in the tank are fine no signs of illness.
Could this be caused by dietary need for the mother ? I know live food helps and they get the occasional frozen cube.
don.t have a picture coz theyt are tiny .
Any help is apreciated

I haven't had guppies in a long time or really studied their genetics and various forms. I do know that there are many different tail shapes. Sometimes genetic problems are tagged onto genes that express something else. For example, many blue-eyed cats are deaf. So, it could be that guppies with the tear drops have some other problem. Unless, the different tails are in fact physical damage or fin rot. What do you mean by "flakey" tails? You say it doesn't look like fin rot though. Mutations, malformations, etc. can be genetic or due to the environment (diet, tank conditions, etc.). Have you had a lot of baby guppies before? They all did well? Have you checked your water conditions - pH, ammonia, nitrite, etc. just to be sure? Did you do some partial water changes and clean the filters? If the water is not pretty pristine, then bacteria and fungus might attack a weakened fry moreso than the adult fish.

I would just say to keep up the water quality and the food and hope that the fish do well. How many guppies do you have in how much space? It might help to keep the babies in a tank of their own if it's crowded.

I have had alot of babies recently and they all seemed fine. The 'flakey' is hard to describe it looks a bit like whitespot only very very fine, and it is only on the tails and the babies seem a bit thinner too so i know that it something else.
I'll admit the tank is very over crowded with six females and five boys all adult, 10 small platies that are being moved to an emptier tank and lots of baby guppies all tiny under 1cm about 30 but I feel it is less than that + 3 small mollies.
The tank is only 2ft by 1ft by 1ft ( 12 uk gallons) but I can't put them into the big 27 gallon tank due to the fish TB out-break,.
My two small 12 gallon tanks are free of TB and as such have all my babies in them, the plan was raise them in thre small tanks and put them into the big one.

But I am letting the big tank run down by nature then tearing it down and disinfecting it and startng over.

Hopefully with the platies moved that will free up much needed room.
As for cleaning it is very regular with full gravel cleaning and filter cleaning so the conditions are fine.

I hope I am doing the lesser of two evils by keeping them in a crowded tank and healthier rather than putting them in the TB tank where they stand a higher chance of a horrible death.

I hate to say this but could the new babies' problems be due to fish tuberculosis as well? Anorexia is one symptom as are various growths and such. It's pretty contagious. I've not been able to stop it from eventually spreading to all my aquariums and ponds. Most of my fish are fine most of the time but a fish here and there gets the symptoms. My TB carrying fish still breed. I just found two baby glowlight danios yesterday that I put into a net breeder. Plus, I saw another baby rosy barb that grew past "please don't eat me" size on his/her own.

Your tank is definitely overcrowded. If you can at any time move some of the babies to a tank with more room, some of their problems may lessen. They might improve on their own. Be sure to keep up with tank cleanings moreso in crowded tanks.

Yeah I do clean far more regualy than normal and I keep cross contamination to the minimum, such as having nets for each tank and washing my hands and all that.
The thin babies look longer like pipefish do rather than guppies so I would incline to malformation rather than TB but I won't rule it out.

The platies have been moved and that has freed up lots of room and I have two eldery ladies in the tank that are looking tired (they are 2.5 years old ) so that will free up room also.