Houdini Guppy

[BrittanyA]

I have three guppies. One male and two females. I noticed two days ago that one female had a half moon discoloration just about her anal fin. The next morning she was dead. My male guppy likes to hold the females in a corner and not let them leave. I'm worried she may have been bitten and then died from the wound. I found her the next morning at the bottom in the corner where the male sleeps at night. Hopefully, he wasn't too rough with her. Anyway, I bought another female to keep my ratio and perhaps I should get a few more since he seems to be so aggressive. Straight up CSI Guppy Crime Unit in here.

I acclimate my new fish in a bowl next to the aquarium for 20 mins, adding tank water every 5 mins to help avoid any shock. All fish were swimming and happy. I pour the bowl into the tank and... no guppy. Anywhere. She's just gone. She had such a beautiful red tail too. I'm guessing she jumped out of the bowl at some point and I'll probably find her a month from now stuck to the side of a cook book or something. At any rate, I went and bought ANOTHER female guppy and made sure to put a lid on top of the acclimating bowl this time... geez...

Does anyone else have "checking the tank nerves" every morning when they look at the aquarium for the first time? I'm always dreading who i'm going to find dead or harassed. Hopefully not any of the guppies anytime soon.

 

[Colin_T]

Make sure your water quality is good and if there is any ammonia or nitrite, or a nitrate reading above 20ppm, do a 75% water change and gravel clean the substrate every day until they are all at 0.

Make sure the pH is 7.0 or higher.

Livebearers (mollies, platies, swordtails, guppies) should be kept in single sex tanks so the males don't constantly harass the females and end up killing them. If you want males and females, you need at least 10 females per male and preferably more. Get rid of your male or move him into a tank without females.

If any of the fish look sick, test the water, do a big water change, and post pictures asap. they could have a bacterial or protozoan infection that is killing them.

The following link has information about what to do if your fish gets sick. It's long and boring but worth knowing. I recommend printing it out and reading it in bed to help fall asleep.
http://www.fishforums.net/threads/what-to-do-if-your-fish-gets-sick.450268/#post-3804819

 

[Lunar Jetman]

Just to comment on the above from Colin, whilst the higher the ratio of females to males is the better, you should be fine with 3-4 females per male.

The size of your tank will also be a factor, as if its small, the females will always be close to the male so liable to be harassed.

So depending on the size of the tank, i'd get hold of another 2-3 females to distract the male and make for a less stressful environment for your fish. If you don't, the male will continue to chase the females and likely stress them to death.

What is the size of your tank and do you have any other fish in it?

 

[FishGuest5123]

Lol! I found a loach stuck to my canister one day after looking for days for it.

 

[BrittanyA]

So... I figured out what was happening. My male guppy was a major asshole. He was locking the females in a corner and lip locking them. Then the injuries killed them. I took video of the behavior and the injured females and brought it into my local aquarium. They pointed me in the right direction. I came home with a new male and five females. Thee next day I was planning on bring the a-hole back to the aquarium but I found my new male injured and the a-hole dead. So, he got what he deserved I suppose. I was then worried this new male was just as aggressive so I started watching very closely. I saw one female and a Molly with injuries. And it was one of the new females!! She kept attacking everyone, so she went back and I replaced her with a beautiful yellow guppy and now everyone is happy. Geez....fish drama. To answer above questions : I have a 30 gallon tank, PH is 7, zero ammonia, had the tank a month, just did a 25% water change. I have 4 black neon tetras, 5 female guppies, one male guppy, 5 Cory catfish, 5 glo danio, and one Dalmatian Molly (a-hole killed the other mollys) and one rabbit snail. I frequently see a fry at the bottom of the tank and what looks like a baby rabbit snail.