Lost our first fish

[sprout18]

Well we lost our first fish today. The yellow fancy guppy we got yesterday got stuck to the filter and I didn't notice in time . The other two guppies don't even seem to notice they are running around and chasing each other like crazy.

My son is already asking if we can get a new one to replace it but if these two are so happy should we get another? When we added the yellow guppy (they told us at the pet store we shouldn't have bought only two - they should be in sets of three) yesterday he didn't really interact with the other two and just swam by himself. Should they be purchased in pairs?

Sorry for so many questions we are just starting out and I want to do it right.

 

[meegosh]

With most fish it is common that they will behave better if introduced to the tank at the same time. I've heard of growing out more aggressive fish in community tanks and they do fine. It all depends on the fish and its temperament, I believe.

Also as far as the fish getting stuck to the intake, I bet the fish was sick before it got stuck. I just went through the same thing with one of my peppered corys. One was stuck to the intake for about 20-30 minutes and died 4 days later.

I've seen some fairly small guppy fry get stuck to the intake and free themselves with relative ease. I would say something else was going on with that guppy. Sorry for your loss, good luck!

 

[mike47517]

it matters what you have left. if you have 1male and 1female left then yes i would highly recomend you get another female. If you lost the male then dont worry about it. 2 females will be fine together. Guppys mate very very often and if the male is kept with only one female than it is not rare for him to stess her out till eventually she dies. So i wouldnt keep guppys in a pair they do best in a ratio of 1:2 or 1:3 males to females. But if yu dont want to breed them then i advise you to have all males. as if you have females then they will give birth once a month. and dont need any special treatment they just breed. i have some 3 day old albino guppy fry right now. so yeah if you have 1male and 1female then yes i would suggest you get another female. and if you have 2 females then you dont have to worry about getting more fish bu thats optional. oh and if you do only have 2 females then dont be surprised if you get babies even without the male as livebearers can hold sperm for up to 6 months which means you can have up to 6 batches of fry (babies). if you dont want to deal with the fry then just leave them in the tank as the other fish including their parents will gobble them up. if you want to keep the fry then you should seperate them when they are born. a netbreeder will do the job and just crush up the flake food to a powder so the fry can eat it. a small fish needs a small food. sorry to hear about your death. how big are your gups? its not everyday i hear of an adult fish being sucked up by a filter.Got any pics of tank or fish? Hope that helped.

 

[sprout18]

They were all males so now we have 2 males who constantly are chasing each other all over the tank. Its just a small 5 gallon and the guppies are about 1-1.5 inches I guess.

Would it be safe to maybe get 2 small tetra's or another super small fish?

 

[mike47517]

Yeah tetras would be fine but if i were you i'd get at least 3. Just better since they are schooling fish.