Guppies dying

[insalacosm]

Hello everyone, my daughter has a 70L tank we setup 2 months ago and one guppy just died and another is swimming near the surface and appears to be very sick. I tested the water and all levels are okay. We followed all instructions on getting the tank started and slowly added the fish: 4 guppies, 6 cardinal tetras, 3 bottom feeders, a beta and 2 sucker fish.

Attached are pictures of the sick guppy who is swimming weakly at the surface and looks to be very thin, as well as the dead guppy. Any advice is greatly appreciated.

thank you,
Steve

 

[Aiken Drum]

Have you seen any aggression from the betta towards the guppies? They arent generally considered a good mix.

 

[insalacosm]

Hi Aiken,
I haven't, the Beta has been keeping to himself and was a new addition. I too questioned the Beta but the person at the shop thought it would be okay. Do you see signs of nipping?
Thanks,
Steve

 

[Aiken Drum]

It might not be nipping. If the betta just doesn't like the guppies then it could just be stressing them, making them more susceptible to illness, not wanting to feed etc.

Every tank is different and every fish has different personalities. But personally i would seperate them.

We had a post on here a few months back where they were having similar problems, they split the tank with an eggcrate divider and the betta jumped the divider to kill the guppy, waited for the guy to see the aftermath before jumping back into its own size.

Keeping other fish with bettas is for your own benefit, not the bettas. Generally they really don't care about having company even if they will tolerate it.