Guppies Not Getting Enough Food

[mazmikey22]

Hi we have a selection of guppies, zebra danios, neon tetras and coloured skirt tetras. 3 of our smaller guppies have died recently which we think may be due to starvation. We've tried putting more food in the tank however the larger fish are eating more and getting dangerously obese whilst bullying the smaller fish out the way who end up with nothing. How do we combat this?

Thanks in advance for any replies.

 

[Azeron]

erm, only way i could think of is separate them during feeding times

 

[tropic_john]

which fish are getting the most food?
and the coloured skirt tetras, are they like black skirt tetras [google them] but different colours? if so, change your lfs as they are dyed [unless they're white]

 

[mazmikey22]

erm, only way i could think of is separate them during feeding times

We had considered this but won't it stress the fish too much?

 

[coldcazzie]

We had considered this but won't it stress the fish too much?

got to be less stress than dying...

 

[mazmikey22]

which fish are getting the most food?
and the coloured skirt tetras, are they like black skirt tetras [google them] but different colours? if so, change your lfs as they are dyed [unless they're white]

We have done our research on the fish and they are the line bred forms from the white skirt, in the natural soft pink and blue. We think that fish dyes, tatooing and ballooning is awful however in cyprus (where we live) many stores regularly stock these fish. The zebra danios appear to be getting most of the food as do the coloured tetra's but the larger guppies also get their fill. Its just our smaller endler, and yellow snakeskin guppies that get bullied out. Also the tetra neons don't seem to be eating much. We do feed a small selection of flakes, bloodworm and dried shrimp.

 

[three-fingers]

I seriously doubt they are starving to death.
What are the symptoms?
Water stats?

Edit to day: I'd like to see a pic of these skirt tetras, I've never heard of line bred coloured ones, so I'd think yours a re dyed, but a picture would show.

 

[mazmikey22]

I seriously doubt they are starving to death.
What are the symptoms?
Water stats?

Edit to day: I'd like to see a pic of these skirt tetras, I've never heard of line bred coloured ones, so I'd think yours a re dyed, but a picture would show.

Temperature 29 (hot country...) P.h. 7.5
No symptoms per say jus suddenly 3 days ago one of them was lying at the bottom, seemed very weak. Died shortly after. And since it has been one a day, to a total of 3, and one is looking the same today. There is no discoloration. The tank has been treated with protozin. It only seems to be affecting smaller guppies, where as the larger ones are getting a bit too big, and the zebra danios are getting obese.

In regards to the coloured skirt tetra there is the natural bread coloration as well as the dyed - at least according to this site and some others we checked.
http/animal-world.com/encyclo/fresh/char...dSkirtTetra.php

 

[three-fingers]

Nope, those are dyed I'm afraid, that's a very unreliable website.

Ammonia and nitrite levels? Temperature is a bit too high, but shouldn't kill fish immediately.

 

[mattlee]

defo dyed, sorry....

 

[mazmikey22]

well we ended up loosing about 16 gorgeous little guppies, still had 3 left that weren't lookin so good, took out the 4 coloured skirt tetras a month ago & haven't had a single fish die since. and the 3 guppies that were left got better. possibly the skirt tetras were monopolisin the food, but definitely they were harrassin the guppies stressin them out etc. so thats that mystery solved!

 

[waterdrop]

I had skirt tetras (black skirts, we just called them black tetras back then) way back and always hated how mean they were. (of course that was not with a big tank and a large shoal, which I suppose might help but I still suspect they'd be better paired with larger fish.)

~~waterdrop~~