Why do guppies have to die so young

[Elisabeth83]

I really wonder how old guppies are when you buy them from the pet shop? They only live about 4-6 months after I buy them. I have a bunch of 3-4 month old fry and they are so darn cute. I'm so attached to them It just breaks my heart to know they will only be around for such a short time

One of my beautiful males that I bought from my lfs about 3 months ago is wasting away. He's getting thinner and moving slower. Still eats but you can tell he's on his way out. I know with the short life span guppies have that hes dieing of old age and nothing else.

 

[Angry_Platy]

I was under the impression that guppies, like platies can live 3-4 years.....

I haven't had guppies long though so....

 

[WILDER]

I've had no look with them either, it would be great if you could get them in good condition in the first place, i've given up, and getting another shoal of harlequins instead, even though i adore guppys, but can't cope with the deaths all the time.

 

[Elisabeth83]

Yeah when I first bought mine I just assumed they lived a few years but as I've read up on them and read posts on here I've found out most of the time they only live to a year or a little over a year.

My fry who are 3-4 months old are half the size of the males I've bought from the stores. Considering that the males at the stores must be 6 months + already and if they only live to a year your already buying a fish thats already approaching the end of his life.

Wilder I'm with you...I lost 2 of my absolute favorite boys a couple months back. Now I'm loosing another who I adore I can't deal with the deaths either. I think once all of them die I'll get something different that lives at least a few years.

If I would of known that their life span was so short I dont think I bought of started keeping them. Too hard to deal with in my opinion

 

[ferrikins]

because guppies have been bred to death.

I given up on guppies twice, have a tank full again now, but this will be the last attemted. (well proberly won't)

It just us humans once again playing with nature to get what we want, even though wile male gup's are lovely anyway.

 

[desley]

I haven't had any luck with guppies either.

I get females who have fry once and then that seems to kill them off ... then the males just pester the rest of the females to death.

I have no females left only a few males and one is pestering the other males to death. The fry are too young to tell but as they get older the same process will start I assume.

They are just either too damn active ... and then they kill off the weaker ones.

Platties I have better success with .. but as they are not so different in colour are not as pretty.

I am on the "tropical board" asking about what to restock because I won't ever buy another guppy.

I like livebearers but do all livebearers tend to be a little weaker to disease ? Are barbs tougher and last longer ? I like smaller fish.

 

[WILDER]

Same here, I wanted barbs but my tank isn't big enough, going for a small shoal of tetras, not black neons or neon tetra's already have them, or another shoal of harlequins.

 

[desley]

How big is your tank. I was thinking barbs as suggested by another post .. rosy barbs. They are not very big from my book guide. My tank is 22 us gallons. I also looked up cherry barbs. They are small too.

Never buying another guppy (finally decided no matter how cute they look in the shop window).

 

[Elisabeth83]

I set up my 30 gallon with the sole intention of only keeping male guppies because I was having so many fry being born that I didn't have space for them all. I read posts on here how you could keep all males instead and that they would be very peaceful with eachother HUH I don't think so

I originally had 5 adult males in the tank and they got along pretty well. Then 2 died of old age I had about 25 fry in a 14 gallon tank so I decided to put all the pretty ones in my 30 gallon and give the rest to my lfs. 6 turned out to be males and 5 turned out to be females. I decided to keep the males in the 30 gallon but move the 5 females back to the 14 gallon because I didnt want fry and the girls were too young to get pregnant. Well now that the 6 sibling males are 3-4 months old they have become so aggressive towards the older males.

The male who died today I believe was old age but it was probably due to stress as well because the 6 sibling males were always harassing him. It seems the males only harass the other 2 bright males. I have a black male guppy and no one ever bothers him. The sibling males dont pick on eachother either.

Anyways I posted a week or so ago about this aggression and was told well no duh they are so aggressive they are horny and want to breed. So I ended up putting the 5 females back in with them but nothing has changed.

I have a feeling the 6 sibling males will eventually kill off the 2 bright boys. I dont know what to do. I feel like taking them all to my lfs so I dont have to watch them pick on eachother, die and whatever else. I wouldn't of chosen to kept guppies if I would of known how much trouble they were.

They are so beautiful though and thats why I cant just take them to my lfs. Especially since I raised them

 

[WILDER]

I no how you feel , I have four female platys I have raised from fry, never let them have babies and they are doing great, they are quite large for platys, but I wouldn't want any one else to have them either.

 

[Polardbear]

I'm wondering if it makes any difference if you get your guppies from a lfs or from a breeder? I've thought about adding guppies to my family but the ones I've liked the best I've only seen on places like aquabid. (Purples and reds).

 

[WILDER]

They say try to find a good breeder of guppys, but I don't no of any in my area.

 

[tank212]

ive had a male guppy the first fish i bought getting back in to the hobby about maybe a year maybe longer and he was full grown when i bought him and he just recently passed hes longest living guppy ive had so far i always lose the females tho after they give birth i dont know why that is