We have seen many inventions designed for our petty amusement that are cruel to fishes. Such an invention this is not. The Baby Fish Flusher will save lives—dozens of tiny fish lives with every application.
As guppy keepers know, newborn guppies tend to get eaten by their older colleagues. It’s
not the larger guppies’ fault; those babies are really small and they look just like food.
There are various methods of keeping guppy infants separate from the adults. The most popular is to furnish the aquarium with a cluster of plants in which the gupplets can hide. It’s not 100% effective because the gupplings have no way of knowing that they’re supposed to go in there and not come out until they’re bigger. With the natural curiosity of youth, they venture forth into the world, where they are quickly mistaken for lunch.
Another method is to place the expectant mother guppy into a medieval baby-separating device just before she gives birth. Entraped, the guppy mummy has no choice but to give birth in that alien evironment. It works, but it’s a cruel way to treat a pregnant fish.
I propose a system known as the Baby Fish Flusher (or Baby Fish Life Saver for less shock value). It consists of four parts: a screen, a door, a pump, and an elevated tank.
The screen and door are placed in the aquarium and divide it into two parts. Only baby fish can fit through the screen when the door is open. When the door is closed, no fish can get through it. The adult fish are kept on one side, and, initially, the other side is unoccupied.
The pump sucks water out of the aquarium and into the elevated tank. The elevated tank works on the same principle as a toilet tank.
When you notice a new brood of tiny guppies in your aquarium, activate the pump. The pump transfers one third of the water into the elevated tank. Next, push the lever; water gushes from the elevated tank and flows swiftly into the populated side of the aquarium. The fishes, young and old alike, are swept toward the screen. The young’uns go through but the grown-ups are filtered out. When the flush is finished, close the door. The adults unstick themselves from the screen and resume their regular business. The babies, on the other side, proceed to grow up, safe from the gnashing jaws of mom and dad.