Feeding and Nutrition :: Oie Ve! Guppies are a hassle!!!

[kneenuh]

I am having such a hard time breeding these guys.

First I bought a fish bowl, then I bought a 2.5 gallon tank, then I bought a 10 gallon tank.....I have plants, I have water conditioner, I have fancy food, I have lots of hiding places for babies

I have 2 females and two males and three cory cat's in my 10 gallon. I recently bought some more gup's to help with the breeding (less competition because my two males were chasing each other). The guppies that I got seemed really healthy at the store, but I discovered soon after I had them aclimated that they had red gills!

So soon after going onto Guppies.com I discovered I need a hospital tank and I need a water tester kit and I need medicine, but first I must diagnose. It's either some gill disease or ammonia poisoning

So long story short, I have three sick guppies that are not getting better and I've spent way too much money on trying to save them.....all this for food for my freggin turtle (whom I love)!!!

Are guppies more trouble than they're worth? At this point I'll settle on rosy red minnows for $0.12 a pop....

unless my gup's finally have babies. And all the ladies are pregnant, but they've been pregnant for a month and a half, with no babies!!!

what do the rest of you rely on for your live food source?

[missibsu]

http://www.redearslider.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=5310

I've never had any problems with breeding. Are you using fancy guppies or feeder guppies? What temp is your tank set at? How do you know they are pregnant?

[kneenuh]

I've read that link! It was great when I first read it...

but now my fish are sick...

I don't remember buying fancy guppies...I just bought the only guppies that they had in stock. My females are grey, and my I have two red delta's I think. And one....okay I guess the third male is probably a fancy (and he's sick)....

But when I first got my females they were slim and grey. Now they are quite large in the abdomen, and from looking at pictures they appear pregnant, as well they both have these large gravid spots....

The temp is at 78 in the healthy tank, and 80 in the hospital tank

[missibsu]

I would give the healthy females with the large gravid spots a little more time.

When I first started breeding, it was a slow process...mostly because the guppies that I had purchased were rather immature.

I've never had to deal with sick fish, knock on wood. Have you contacted the store where they were purchased? That is what I would have done at the first sign of sickness, especially if they were new.

[kneenuh]

I know, that's what everyone is saying.....but I really really really hate petco/petsmart and would rather not deal with them if I don't have too. I've already spent 100's......

my gups DO show signs of improvement, it's just exausting when I worry that I'll find dead fish when I get home from work or school.

So hopefully this will be the end.

can I ask how large is your tank?....and what filter do you use? Since you've had no probs *knock on wood* I want to know your secret.

[marydairy15]

Instead of buying mine at petsmart, I get mine at a locally owned fish store. They're meant to be feeder guppies instead of pets and they aren't as pretty, but they're a lot cheaper. You can usually get about 10-12 for a dollar. I just buy a bunch at a time and after a while they just start producing babies. I still use water conditioner and slime coating, but at 10 cents a pop it doesn't really bother me when of one or two die.

[Erroneous]

Heh, I kind of cheat. I buy the fish at PetSmart that look pregnant. Last time she had 9 fry within 30 minutes of putting her in the tank!

[kneenuh]

Instead of buying mine at petsmart, I get mine at a locally owned fish store. They're meant to be feeder guppies instead of pets and they aren't as pretty, but they're a lot cheaper. You can usually get about 10-12 for a dollar. I just buy a bunch at a time and after a while they just start producing babies. I still use water conditioner and slime coating, but at 10 cents a pop it doesn't really bother me when of one or two die.

wow....I need to find my smaller local pet store!!!

[missibsu]

I got my original bunch at petland and it cost me 1.99 a dozen...and they don't like to count, so I usually ended up with closer to two dozen.

As for my set up...I have a 30 gallon tank. I use the same water conditioner that I use in my turtle tank. I have a whisper filter that I love. Rated for a 30 gallon tank. I also use my old glass heater from my original turtle tank. I have a few large rocks in there as well with some fake plants. Nothing major. I refill the water when needed.

I don't use a slime coat or a stress coat.

If you have any other questions, or want more specific details, just ask.

[Erroneous]

Yeah, I get fancy guppies at PetSmart for about $1 each male, and a bit more for females (they keep them seperated, how nice). But for $5 I got 2 males, 2 females, and about 9 fry.

[kneenuh]

thanks missibsu.....that sounds about the same as my set up, although, I have a 10 gallon tank, and am happy with it for now....

oh well....

maybe I'm stressing out too much. I just don't want to kill my fish before I feed them to April O'Neal

[megcornell]

I just suck it up and spend the $0.10 per fish for Leo when I decide she looks absolutely bored and needs a treat I just think its easier than going through the hassels of breeding guppies, plus I fear if I always had guppies around I'd end up feeding her too many, ha ha

[industrial_girl_2000]

Oh my gosh, I bought about 12 guppies over a month ago and they will not STOP breeding! My hatchling RES hasn't discovered them yet (I think) so I have been slowly (one at a time) dropping a guppy in my aquatic frog's tank & he has already taken care of 5 over the last few weeks. I even put one guppy in adult RES Sheba's tank but she ignored it (I don't think she thought it was worth chasing after since it was pretty small).

Every day I am coming home to new tiny baby guppies in the tank. Then when I think the babies are starting to disappear, a whole flock of new ones appear (!).

I'm not doing anything special, but they seem to be breeding like rabbits. Temp is 78-80
100W UVA, 5% UVB light
anacharis + some other kind of plant with flat dark green leaves that the RES won't eat
20 gallon tank
hatchling RES

I feed a few flakes of fish food every day to the guppies in addition to feeding 4 foodsticks to my baby RES. I do partial water changes about twice a week, plus change the fluval filter media once/week. I don't check nitrates or ammonia or any other water quality thing (I figure since I do frequent 50% partial changes it isn't necessary).

I don't know if this all helps or not.

[kneenuh]

yeah well it was just my sick guppies that caused the headache, but they died, so I no longer have the headache.

And I just became a grandmother yesterday to some baby guppies.....so I'm hoping that sooner or later I will be in your situation.