Question for Successful Guppy Keepers

[mrscustadio]

I have a very successful 55 gallon community tank with one exception: I have a lot of trouble keeping guppies alive which makes me so frustrated because they are my favorite fish to keep. Every time I buy guppies, (I buy them from a reputable store) at least half of them die. I have success with my own guppy fry, but store bought adult fish... not so much, and it's always the most beautiful ones that die. I have great success with all my other tank inhabitants which are all peaceful community fish, so I know nothing is attacking them. I have African Congo Tetras, Harlequin Rasbora, X-ray tetras, a couple Platies, African Dwarf Frogs, a Dwarf Gourami, and, of course, my guppies. I keep my water pristine, and my water chemistry is perfect with the exception of my PH which I'll explain. Any hint of ammonia or nitrite and I perform a 25% - 50% water change and perform water changes weekly to bi weekly depending on how my water is doing. I recently moved and have had issues with my PH being on the high side, at one point dangerously high (almost 8.0),due to the tap water at my new place naturally having a high PH. Regardless, this guppy issue preexisted this rise in PH. After adding a couple new pieces of driftwood and using Seachem Neutral Regulator, my PH is now stable, so that can't be the problem. My tank is heavily planted with all sorts of plants (Amazon Swords, Mellon Swords, Hornwort, Java Fern, Crypts, Tiger Lotus, and various other bunched plants). I need some help/ advice from those of you who have great success with guppies. It's also not the store I buy them from because I have the same problem wherever I buy guppies. I have not lost a single other species of fish in my tank in a VERY long time: just my guppies.

Help! I really adore guppies and want to get better at keeping them!

 

[Dreamroper]

I was just going to post, basically the same question.

I have a 36 gal. planted tank and all peaceful community fish. I have several species of fish that I have problems with, and one of them is guppies, the other is Dwarf Gouramis, and with GBRs it's hit or miss. One of the oldest fish in my tank was an ancient German Blue Ram, who sadly I lost 6 months ago.

I love colorful guppies but they just don't live. I assume that it has something to do with breeding since I've heard that it is a problem with Gouramis as well.

I'd be interested in any comments from guppy experts.

 

[Olga]

Same problem here. I have a 75-gal aquarium and a few fish. All of them are doing fine except for guppies. I have lost 2 out of 4 that I bought. I read they are hardy fish, but not with me. My pH is 7.6, amonia - 0, nitrites - 0, and nitrates - 20. This time when I was buying 2 new guppies to replace the lost ones, the store manager said they can die because the tank is too big for them and they get very stressed out and die. I don't know if it's true. One died the next day after I bought it - I can believe it could have been stressed out. But the other one was doing fine for 3 weeks, and then suddenly died. Any advice would be appreciated.

 

[Ktownmatt]

I've had guppies for years in my community tanks, and they've always been the most fragile species for me.
I really have no idea why they live or die (i've had some for 2 years, some only last a couple of weeks).
And i wouldn't believe that "the tank is too big" excuse. How could they get stressed out by not being constrained to a small tank? it's unnatural.

 

[Olga]

Agree, it seems like they are fragile in comparison to other fish that I have. However, if you google it, it'll say in articles that they are one of the hardiest fish to have. I'm puzzled.

 

[HopeGR]

I started off with guppies too, and a friend told me to mate them. I did, only to be extremely disappointed by that. With every birth, the female would die days later. Apparently the male guppies are like rapists - they will keep going at it to the point where it stresses the female to death. And it's a long death - she bloats, turns pale, hangs out at the corner of the tank until she eventually dies. It's horrible to watch. They are very beautiful fish - the males, that is - but, yes, the breeders are to blame because they have altered their genetics and pretty much killed the species. Talk about messing with nature. Right now I have 3 guppies from the fry that survived, and I read though they look female now, they keep changing from female/male, until they finally mature at 6 months - mine are 3 months old. I don't know what I'll do with them, if they will breed amongst themselves, but I'm very happy with the molly fish I'm keeping. They might be aggressive, but I think it's just because they're always hungry! But they are very entertaining and I'm keeping my aquarium with only them in it.