Death After Mating

[Betta91]

I recently bought a few male guppies to breed with my two cobra guppies in my community aquarium. Within an hour of introducing them, one of the cobras and the male Red Snake Skin guppy had already begun to mate, something I didn't find unusuall for this type of fish. Anyway, two days passed when I noticed the recently impregnated Cobra guppy lazily hanging out behind my filter. I noticed she had a darkened stomach-region (not her gravid spot). She refused food that night, and the next day was found dead at the bottom of my aquarium. What could have gone wrong? I really don't think she died of old age since she did not have all of her tail color yet, and she was only about 6 months old (I raised her as a fry). Thanks for your help!

-Betta91

 

[donna123]

hi,
sorry to hear your female passed away,
how many females to males did you have?
was she fine before? it could be stress from the new males.

 

[helterskelter]

have you checked your ammonia, nitrite and nitrate levels, any high levels of these toxins will affect guppies quickly.

Do you do any water changes?

 

[Betta91]

Thanks for the replies. My chemical levels seem to be of fine quality and i cleaned and changed the tank water an hour before I went to the pet store that day, so I don't think it is the water quality either. I bought two males to go with the two females (guppy boo boo) but, one of them doesn't mate with any of the others. And, yes she was acting perfectly fine before I introduced the new males.

 

[lilfishie]

you need to have 2/3 females per male, other wise the stress of mating 24/7 kills them

 

[Betta91]

Okay, I'll try to get about 4 or 5 more guppies later today if I can.

 

[lilfishie]

also how big is you tank? and are there any other fish in there