Are my guppy fry playing?

Question

I have some guppy fry and some charge down at the sand and start bouncing and rubbing on it, it's the first time they have had sand in their tank. Could they be playing???

Answer 1

its not playing and its nothing to worry about...since the sand is there, why dnt they use it

they dnt have arms so they rub themselves against rough substances to scratch and itch....you should try it to..it really works....almost all fish do this..just not all the time

Answer 2

When ammonia is building up in the tank, the fish start acting the way you describe. It is less likely that it is a parasite like Ich.

I believe this behaviour is called "flashing". They do this because their skin or gills are feeling irritated. If you have being feeding the fry too much then ammonia can start to develop. If you can get a water test for ammonia that will let you know if this is happening. Then you should do several water changes until the water quality improves. Otherwise ammonia can kill your fish very fast. This happened to me once. After that I started paying attention to water quality. It is very easy to overfeed the fry because you want them to grow well!