Guppy Mums...Why do they die after labour?

[silver$$$]

I've been trying to breed guppies for a while. I had more than 10 guppies successfully delivered their babies, but the mothers always died not long after.

Any idea why? What should I do to prevent this from happening again in the future?

Cheers,


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200 Lt (5 Ft) Tropical Fish Tank with:
5 Silver Dollar
6 Kribensis
2 Pearl Gourame
2 Gold Gourame
1 Silver Shark

80 Lt (2 Ft) Freshwater Fish Tank with:
2 Blue Yabbies

40 Lt (1 Ft) Tropical Fish Tank with:
Baby Guppies
Baby Mollies

 

[WILDER]

Yes guppys can die after birth sad to say, how old are they and how many batches of fry have they had.

 

[snowyangel]

sorry double post.

 

[snowyangel]

Its good not to keep both sexes together for long periods of time because this will drastically decrease the females life span due to all the stress, harassing males and having fry every month. I'm sure you wouldn't be in the best shape either.

You can help by decreasing your male/female ratios(say 1 male to 4 females), adding more shelter/decor for the females to hide in, or just seperating your sexes should help your females be less stressed and more energetic.

 

[WILDER]

Yes i agree, giving birth every month takes it's toll on the female, they need a rest as they can store sperm for months, so I would remove the males if you have a spare tank.
Also are they fry that have grown in to full muture guppys and you have kept them with the parents, if so it weaken the strain as they have inbred.

 

[Barday]

I was gonna reply to this earlier and say that my guppy gave birth about a week ago and she's fine..........but I came home tonight and found her dead!

 

[WILDER]

How sad, sorry for your loss.

 

[Barday]

Thanks Wilder!

 

[Joby]

well having gone through childbirth twice I can say that it is very tiring so imagine going through it every month

Its no wonder we lose them so often

I've lost 4 within days of childbirth so far

 

[plecoperson]

with my mollies I had both die with a week of giving birth. But my swordtail had hers about 2 or 3 weeks ago and she is fine, looking better than ever. This time I didnt bother with a breeding net, heavily planted the tank and ive still got babies too!!! try to keep her life as normal as possible and if poss take out the boys.