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Hi everyone, I need some help/advice, okay I set up a freshwater aquarium with filter, heater, and etc. so the aquarium has been set up for about a month. I purchased two female guppies two days ago and last night one of them didnt make it. My water perimeters are perfect they are all zero. I didnt understand why she died but as I looked at her closely I noticed that her mouth never closed !!! I dont understand if that had anything to do with it, but I had to flush her last night. Now I have the other female guppy now she was swollen and way bigger than the other female, and the sales lady told me that the female was heavily pregnant.


When I brought her home she mostly stayed at the very top of the aquarium just below the survace and just sat there, but now she moves around frequently, and every so often she would go in the plants or she would see her reflection in the glass and she would go up and down like she was trying to catch her own reflection. What I need help is how will I know when she will drop her fry because being that she is new she displays behaviors that I guess is from stress.

If it helps any to let you'll know I've tried feeding her and the food has actually floated right in her direction but she never touched it not once has she eaten and its been two days !!! Its kind of making me upset because I dont want her to die from starvation or anything can you'll help me out about her fry and why she displays such behavior.

Sorry about the guppy girl who didn't make it. Next time, remember that most places offer at least a 24 hour guarantee on fish (sometimes longer). If you bring the body back to the store with the receipt and a water sample from your tank, you may get a refund or replacement. In any case, it's a moot point now.

Fish are stressed when they are moved into a new environment or when their environment is disturbed. I've never kept a single guppy, so I don't know what their behavior is like alone. While guppies are not schoolers by definition, they do seem to be a pretty social animal, so you might want to bring another girl into the mix.

What have you tried to feed her? Guppies are like MANY livebearers, being that they are algae grazers. This means that though they'll accept most foods, they always supplement their diet by nibbling at algae. A way to give them more plant matter in their diet is to find a flake food with spirulina or break a piece of algae wafer (usually fed to plecos) in the tank for them to munch on.

While it's not abnormal for a new fish to refuse eating (or to eat when you're not watching, after the food has fallen to the ground), try varying foods to see what she likes. A fish can easily go for a week without food, but I'd definitely keep an eye on her.

~Meow. Thus spoke the cat.~

Perfect water parameters cannot be ones that are all at zero - zero means the tank is uncycled and therefore unsuitable for all but carefully-planned/added, hardy fish. Letting an aquarium run empty without any source of ammonia is pointless.

In "perfect" water parameters, there is always some ammonia and nitrite, though at levels undetectable by tests and not harmful for the fish. These waste products are the food for the nitrifying bacteria, and without it they cannot survive for long.

Ammonia is converted to nitrites and then into nitrates, which are considered harmless for most fish at concentrations below 30ppm. Ideally, you want the nitrates to ultimately be between 5-15 ppm, and the ammonia and nitrate to be at undetectable levels (but not completely gone). Nitrates can only be removed through regular water changes or the addition of aquarium plants.

As for the fish, the store emplyee should have informed you of this, but farm-raised Guppies are among the most fragile of aquarium fish and pretty much one of the worst species to use for cycling an aquarium. Most fish, even those traditionally considered to be "fragile", can handle cycling a tank as long as it is carefully planned out; I cycled two tanks with my Trigonostigma hengeli school, and they are perfectly fine.

The Guppies you see in the stores, however, will generally keel over immediately if something isn't perfect. In your case, it was probably the ammonia the Guppies themselves produced that finished them off (I say "finished off" because it is common for farm-raised Guppies to already be infected with a multitude of diseases before they are even brought home).

The reason for their extreme fragility is the fact that these fish are bred by the millions, possibly billions, in farm ponds (usually in southeast Asia) and no attention is paid to quality, only quantity. They are heavily inbred and have highly compromised immune systems, causing genetic weaknesses and a high prevalence of infectious illnesses, respectively.

There is a good chance that your remaining Guppy is pregant - females are kept with males in the store, and when Guppies are kept together they will breed. Don't worry about it eating right now, most fish can easily go a couple weeks without food.

This fish is most likely extremely stressed from a combination of being pregnant, in a new environment, and possibly sick. The best thing you can do for the fish is reduce its stress - turn the aquarium lights out, don't put any food in the tank (it will rot and cause even more ammonia to build up in the water), and make sure the fish has hiding places. Don't make any attempts to feed the fish for at least a few days.

If she makes it, then that's some feat you've accomplished. If not, don't feel too bad about it. Almost all of us on here got ourselves into similar situations when we were first beginning the hobby (you don't even want to hear some of my horror stories). If the fish dies, then we can help you cycle the tank first (with or without fish) and then advise what species would work best for your setup.

Speaking of your tank, what are the specific details? The size of the tank, type of filtration, plants or no plants, etc?

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I'm not your neighbor, you Bakersfield trash.

The water peramiters also have me puzzled as previously mentioned in excellent detail. Who did the tests ??? Get them redone at a good LFS. Certainly tell the LFS about the guppies.
I would certainly guess that your water peramiters are all out and not fully cycled yet.
A lot more info about the tank especially how you cycled it, and every little thing you have done to the tank since you started it.
Filtration type, how did you clean it, how did you cycle it.

One important thing dont add any thing to the tank until you get this all sorted out.

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Keith

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