Tips On Keeping Guppies

[fishy55599]

any tips on how to kee them, as ive had lots of these ad other livebearers in the past, but they always die the same way.
there belly goes very thin and they die a few dys later

 

[Ben M]

Do you know why they have always died? Did you check water quality etc when you last had them? Guppies are a hardy fish in my experience, all they need is a good diet (like any fish), and good water quality (obviously other factors including tankmates come into play). Make sure you are buying healthy fish from a good supplier, and that they are fed well.

cheers

 

[Dylan_89]

+1 to pest controls post.

Put them in a clean tank and watch them breed. Guppies will lose their appetite if the pH is a bit severe (usually on the acidic side of things). test your pH - what are your other stats?? By the sounds of things they are starving - but who knows??

 

[fishy55599]

what ph do guppies like?

 

[fish48]

do well with a ph of 7+

 

[fishy55599]

do well with a ph of 7+

My ph is7.6 so they shuold be alright in my new tank then?

 

[Ben M]

Yes, I can't see any problems.

cheers

 

[fishy55599]

ok, just came back from LFS and got 4 guppies

 

[Kerri Gronow]

I hope all goes well for them!

 

[OldMan47]

I am curious since I have never had any trouble with guppies. What kind of water do you have? The reason I ask is that I know most livebearers, including guppies, do best with water that is fairly high in minerals. If you have fallen into the trap of trying to give your fish very pure water, you may be killing them with kindness. Nearly pure water has almost no mineral content but may have almost any pH. The guppies will do best with somewhat hard water and as Fish48 said, with a neutral to a bit high pH.
I have seen posts in other areas of the forum where people were trying to do right by their fish and were buying bottled water for their fish. If you are one of those people, stop doing that with guppies. Guppies will do far better with nasty hard tap water than with the nice soft water that many egg layers prefer.