Guppy withdrawal

[HausMaus]

So I lost my last adult guppy yesterday (rather I euthanased her). She was hanging on for weeks wobbling around, eating. But I found her on the bottom with her tail fin clamped, like fused together, and couldn't swim around any more.
I have four 6 week old fry left. They're living in my "hospital" tank atm.

In my main tank, I decided to try platys. I was tired of having guppies that seemed to get sick and die on me all the time, despite my water params being monitored OCD-like by me. So I broke the tank down and cleaned everything, replaced the gravel and started again. Just in case there was something just living in my tank that kept making the guppies sick. Pygmy corys were fine and have outlived everything.

Anyway. So I have 5 platys. They're kind of cute. They're not very nice to each other though. I think they need more space for social issues, so really I should have 2 less in my current 35L/10g tank. Its more square than rectangular so they can't really get away from each other despite the plants and wood.

I don't love them like I did my guppies. I'm not sure if its because I'm just jaded with the hobby now, or I just miss guppies.

 

[Matt68005]

I know exatly what you mean. After keeping guppies for the last 7 years, I have gotten rid of them all because I could not cure them of worms/nematodes, or whatever it was that was slowly killing them. I stearilized the tank with bleach, and I got 5 mollies. Ive had them before. Their kinda cute. Im taking a break from guppies, but they are still my favorite fish. I think we just get so many "bad batches" of sick guppies from the store, and then get so frustrated when they die off with some internal problem despite our best efforts, that we do need a good long break to keep us from going insane. Im gonna enjoy my mollies until my lease here is up in march, and then at the next place we live get a few more ten gallon tanks and include guppies in one of them. I do want to try other livebearers tho, swordtails and platies would be awesome!

 

[HausMaus]

Glad its not just me.
Really hated telling my 5yo that yet another fish had died. Not fun. Although now she gets upset because she didn't get to flush the body, and not the actual death itself!
I think I'm going to try endlers next. They can go with my four guppies when they've grown a bit more.

 

[brennae]

I'm right there with you. I have a terrible case of ich that's heat resistant or maybe it's something else but I have to euthanize an entire tank today. They are dropping like flies and I don't want them to suffer unnecessarily. I'm really upset about it. I have other strains and tanks of this strain so I can't take a break unfortunately. Circle of life and all that.

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[ImACoolguy]

*raises hand* another that quit buying guppies.

Did you by chance clean out the filter when you did the tank tear down? Just making sure you didn't crash the cycle in your filter by cleaning it in tap water or drying out.


Caleb

 

[absolutangel04]

Livebearers reproduce so readily that it can be tough to find decent strains of them. I have run into frail strains of molly, guppy, platy, and sword tail more often than not I think. One thing I do suggest is finding some sort of a breeder around you. I have had far better luck with platies from hobby breeders I have met over the years than from stores.
Another suggestion I have for you is to look into the Endler's livebearer. They are very closely related to the guppy (there is some dispute about the exact closeness of the relation, but that is another story). They are a little smaller, and I find they do better in smaller tanks.
I think it is safe to say though that the best answer is that you just need another tank to have guppies AND platies.
Even after years in this hobby, I do still really enjoy livebearers. The colors are great, and who doesn't love getting tiny baby fish all the time?!

 

[HausMaus]

Caleb, the filter media was the only thing I didn't clean out. Had it aerated in the tank water. My beneficial bacteria was the only good thing about my tank, they were established and doing their job so I was not going to lose them!! I was so pleased to see the cloud of milky white when I started the filter up again ?


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