I've A Confession To Make

[tenohfive]

Since I started keeping tropicals, I always stayed away from the old favourites - guppies, neon's, platys etc - theres just never been any appeal. Since then I've built up a reasonable number of tanks (6 or so now I think-cichlids, rasboras, plec's, syno's etc) and today for the first...I bought guppies. And I really like them. I only got them for my other half - pretty much a choice of anything she wanted, within reason.

I feel cheap, but they really are gorgeous little buggers. I got a Golden Wonder Panchax as well (which is a beautiful fish) but I've properly fallen for those guppies. How sad

 

[wendywc]

Ahh, but the heart wants, what the heart wants.

 

[shelaghfishface]

what the mrs wants the mrs gets!!

 

[Efren]

what the mrs wants the mrs gets!!

that is very very TRUE!!!

 

[Brette]

The beauty of some lesser priced fish is often overlooked. Guppies are one of them. I think platies too. Can't beat them for color.

 

[tenohfive]

I forgot to add - just dragging her to the LFS cost me the price of the Sex and the city movie DVD :?

 

[shelaghfishface]

you got your fish,stop moaning.. gosh,men!! i think u got off lightly
next time drag her to halfords or something,,, thats gorra be worth at least a new pair of shoes

 

[Syphoniera]

you got your fish,stop moaning.. gosh,men!! i think u got off lightly
next time drag her to halfords or something,,, thats gorra be worth at least a new pair of shoes

Good Lord, woman, where are your priorities?
Why wasn't there a nice, new, soon-to-be-fish-filled aquarium anywhere in there?
I'm shocked, I tell you, shocked...

 

[kribensis12]

lol, you should see my male guppies! I have fallen in love with them, even thoguh i am trying to get rid of them.

 

[Sparnon]

I'm even worse, I fall in love with fish I haven't even got yet, nor have the room for!

I think out of all the "fish shop basics" my favourites are platies. Colourful, peaceful, satisfying, and form a solid, satisfying shoal in a quiet shop. I always like to go look at the platies whenever I'm in a fish shop.

Corys are another one. I *love* my corys with their little whiskers, nosing around the tank and cleaning the algae off all my plants and decor. They have tons of character, especially when there's a bunch of them together.

Tiger and green barbs are awesome too. They're available in basically every single fish shop, and they're SO impressive in large numbers in bigger tanks.

 

[Cantbesaved]

what the mrs wants the mrs gets!!

LOL! My GF picked guppies... and they all died... So she picked the Black skirt tetras, and they are my 2nd favourite!! The neons are still my favourite, just because they went through so much and are a lot calmer. They seem to school a lot nicer and appear to be more playful rather than aggressive. But the skirts are doing fine!

Good luck with the guppies! I hope they are better for you, than they were for me, tenohfive!

 

[tenohfive]

It wasn't to be it would seem. I got them before I started a night shift - when I got home two were being shy but the third was quite happy.

Just got up and two are dead with their fins chewed up and the third is missing. My other half thinks the Rams may have had a pop at them

 

[jimmyringo]

what the mrs wants the mrs gets!!

I have one of those !!!

 

[tyyrlym]

Just got up and two are dead with their fins chewed up and the third is missing. My other half thinks the Rams may have had a pop at them

Well that took the wind out of the sails of my reply. The rams are a possibility, guppies are considered top dwelling fish but that never stopped mine from swimming along the bottom. Yours might have as well and gotten cross-wise of the rams. However it's just as likely the transition from the LFS to your tank did them in. Fancy guppies are disgustingly delicate little buggers.

 

[Sparnon]

Fancy guppies are disgustingly delicate little buggers.

Guppys are easy to care for and very hardy. You'd have to be a total moron to kill one with water conditions. They'll survive everything from 19c to 29c and are very tolerant of chemical fluctuations and small spikes.

They need to be kept in groups of 5 or so, they're more secure in a group like this. They're very peaceful community fish, and need to be kept with fish of a similar nature. Having a lone guppy is not a good idea for any length of time if you want it to be at it's happiest, otherwise you'll get a lot of hiding behaviour.

After reading your blog I've noticed that you seem to suffer a constant epidemic of fish dropping like flys. You're also adding too many fish at once by the sound of it. And, according to your blog, you're considering putting 8 serpae tetras in at once. Not only would that create an ammonia spike but serpaes are notorious fin nippers. Blue rams are small fish, only reaching around 2 inches, and they have a peaceful nature, so it would be unusual for them to nip a similar sized guppy. Usually blue rams are the target of nipping. Personally I'd take a closer look at your LFS next time, look out for any dead or unwell fish in the tanks, because they may be giving you bad stock.

If you've got the serpaes already then I'd say they're very likely to have been the culprits. If not, then I don't know. If you have any fish bigger than 2 inches in the tank then it's likely that they might have done it, because guppys will sometimes follow other fish causing them to become aggressive/defensive. The fin nipping might also have happened after death.

I'd say you should change the LFS you shop at, because with so many dying the stock can't be all that great. Either that or you're doing something seriously wrong. Did you do a water test after you found them? If so what were the results?