# Guppy problems.



## IanF94 (Oct 12, 2008)

Hey guys,
I'm not big on fish but I do have a community tank. I've just 'stocked' it with 4 male guppies, 4 neon tetras and a small plec. I was told by the shop assistant they wouldn't fight, but I had my doubts. Anyway I've seen some chasing going on and today I found one of them dead.
So, can you tell me wether they're fighting because they're not compatible and need females or because they're just hungry.

Thanks for any advice you can offer me.


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## daftlassieEmma (Oct 23, 2008)

i can't see guppies fighting to such an extent that one dies, many people just keep males (so they don't get any unwanted babies)

it's possibly due to the stress from moving, keep an eye on them, hopefully it will just be a one off

also; do you know what kind of plec you have? i only ask cause i see a lot of fish shops selling baby common plecs and gibbys for community tanks (dunno how long you've kept fish in case you already know this :blush


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## IanF94 (Oct 12, 2008)

daftlassieEmma said:


> i can't see guppies fighting to such an extent that one dies, many people just keep males (so they don't get any unwanted babies)
> 
> it's possibly due to the stress from moving, keep an eye on them, hopefully it will just be a one off
> 
> also; do you know what kind of plec you have? i only ask cause i see a lot of fish shops selling baby common plecs and gibbys for community tanks (dunno how long you've kept fish in case you already know this :blush


 Thanks, I just saw a few bite marks and assumed it was fighting, but you're probably right. As for the plec, not a clue lol.
Looks like this but lighter and obviously still young.


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## CoinOperatedGirl (May 7, 2009)

^ That's a Sailfin Pleco. I've got one just like it. Leopard Sailfin Pleco


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## Esfa (Apr 15, 2007)

Have you cycled the tank?
Neons are shoaling fish and they can look like they're chasing each other. 
If you haven't cycled the tank then the ammonia levels could have killed the guppy and then the fish nibbled him once dead, hence the bite marks.


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## Adam98150 (Jan 12, 2009)

Neons and Guppies are pretty sensitive fish to start off with, how long has the tank being running? Also, that sailfin is going to get huge.

: victory:


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## Samuel-Bennett (Jul 3, 2009)

I had male Guppies and they also died, I actually asked for a male and a female but the stupid fish shop gave me 2 males. They fought non stop, well they chased and it looked like they bit each other, I think they stressed themselves out that much that they died. I then got one male and 4 females and they are fine, the male guppy behaves himself


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## vashe (Jun 30, 2009)

Well guppies are premodonnas they get into shock and stress out way to fast. Are you adding salt to the water and the stress coat stuff? also how fast are u throwing them into the tank when u get them home? When i use to buy guppies I would ask for a bag with alot of water from the same tank and then when i got home i would use a 1 gallon tank and use the water from the fishstore and with some stress coat and alittle saline. Also the PH levels in the tank might be to high or low and that is stressing them out.
just putting the bag in your tank for a hour or two is more then likely not enough so doin what is just said above would make the chance of survival go way up.

also They are a nipping fish so feeding them everyday usual cuts that down low.
I had a 10 gal community tank with 3 guppies 2 neons 3 tigerbarbs and a pleco and i had them for a good 5 years with out any problems. The guppies and neons usually swam together.
Sadly they all died when we went on holiday we had a power outage and that killed the filter and came back to dead fish.
The tiger barbs were a good 4 to 5 inches and the pleco got to about 10 inches and he was only a inch when we bought him. my wife cried since it was her favorite.


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## TUBBS (Mar 16, 2009)

no one seems to have asked the simple question of, how big is the tank? for all we know it's a 20L job...?

the bite marks on dead fish would likely be afterwards when they scavenge the body

but guppies always chase each other, they are trying to breed (they try it with anything that moves that doesn't turn on them, hence why if u get females with them you must get a higher ratio of females to males so that the girls aren't pestered to death


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## Esfa (Apr 15, 2007)

vashe said:


> also They are a nipping fish so feeding them everyday usual cuts that down low.
> I had a 10 gal community tank with 3 guppies 2 neons 3 tigerbarbs and a pleco and i had them for a good 5 years with out any problems. The guppies and neons usually swam together.
> Sadly they all died when we went on holiday we had a power outage and that killed the filter and came back to dead fish.
> The tiger barbs were a good 4 to 5 inches and the pleco got to about 10 inches and he was only a inch when we bought him. my wife cried since it was her favorite.


I don't think you've got that right, LOL.
Guppies surviving for 5 years?! Bull.
A 10" plec in a 10gal tank!? Bull.
5 inch tiger barbs?!!?! Bull!


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## vashe (Jun 30, 2009)

dude its not bull. I really have no reason to lie about my fish. I am really tempted now to go to my old place and dig up the pleco body just to take a picture of the bones.:bash: as for the other fish kinda hard when u flush them. but it wont really matter u all would just say it was from a bigger tank. the tigerbarbs may be 2 and 1/2 to 3 inches all i know is they were big. Its been a couple years. as for the guppies they been with me since i started the tank and that was for about 5 years. meh


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## daftlassieEmma (Oct 23, 2008)

Samuel-Bennett said:


> I had male Guppies and they also died, I actually asked for a male and a female but the stupid fish shop gave me 2 males. They fought non stop, well they chased and it looked like they bit each other, I think they stressed themselves out that much that they died. I then got one male and 4 females and they are fine, the male guppy behaves himself


 when buying livebearers it's better to have a ratio of 1M 2F (preferably 3F)

also, two males are more likely to fight as there are no others to distract them i.e. 3 or 4 males would be a safer number together : victory:


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## daftlassieEmma (Oct 23, 2008)

vashe said:


> dude its not bull. I really have no reason to lie about my fish. I am really tempted now to go to my old place and dig up the pleco body just to take a picture of the bones.:bash: as for the other fish kinda hard when u flush them. but it wont really matter u all would just say it was from a bigger tank. the tigerbarbs may be 2 and 1/2 to 3 inches all i know is they were big. Its been a couple years. as for the guppies they been with me since i started the tank and that was for about 5 years. meh


he's not saying the plec wasn't 10" - he's saying a 10" inch fish wouldn't fit comfortably in a 10gal tank (though by rights the chances of a plec reaching that size in such a small tank is very slim) :whistling2:

2/3" tiger barbs yes but you did say in the first post that they were 5" which would indeed be an impressive sight


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## vashe (Jun 30, 2009)

Now that i pull the ruler out 5 inches was a bit to big. I was just going off of memory cause i remember them being really big and plump. as for the pleco he seemed to enjoy himself in the tank. but I dont know what a happy fish is vs a sad fish lol but he was a big boy when he was on the glass upside down sucking on the glass from tip of nose touching the gravel his tail was always sticking out of the water and the water was pretty much to the top. He was always active cause i could always hear him/her sucking on the rocks like there was no tomorrow. 
After the fish died it was kinda creepy cause every now and then and even while i was asleep I would wake up to the sound of gravel being shuffled around.:gasp: kinda creepy yah lol


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## IanF94 (Oct 12, 2008)

Hey guys, forgot about this thread. The tank was cycled yes, I'm not completely new.:Na_Na_Na_Na: For about 2 weeks. I have kept Sailfin Plecs before, just didn't know the name, so I'm aware of the size.
The rest of the guppys are fine and doing well so I geuss it was the stress. Everythings doing fine now, thanks for the advice.: victory:


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## Richyroo (Jun 7, 2009)

Esfa said:


> Have you cycled the tank?
> Neons are shoaling fish and they can look like they're chasing each other.
> If you haven't cycled the tank then the ammonia levels could have killed the guppy and then the fish nibbled him once dead, hence the bite marks.


ive been keeping fish for nearly 14 years and in my opinion, neons are hard to keep in my area as the water obviously isnt right for them and guppies were meant to be an easy fish to keep but since so many are interbred there life span are very short now compared to before......
But please if you havent already, invest in a water test kit as there worth weight in gold in the long run............... 
Good luck 
:grin1:


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## Gemificus (Jan 26, 2007)

I have Guppies and neon tetra living together in harmony, I've never had a problem with fighting although i have had a neon pop is clogs on me but put that down to it being very small and the change from pet shop to tank having that affect,

Guppies i have 1 male and 3 females, 
my issue is he keeps hanging around by the top of the tank, i read some where it could be due to stress so i left him a day to see if he would come down and he did then soon as some thing makes him jump he's right back up there otherwize hes perfectly healthy,


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## Love_snakes (Aug 12, 2007)

Esfa said:


> I don't think you've got that right, LOL.
> Guppies surviving for 5 years?! Bull.
> A 10" plec in a 10gal tank!? Bull.
> 5 inch tiger barbs?!!?! Bull!


Although at first it sounds like it could be lies if you think about it its not so impossible. I once had a female guppy live for around 4 years, she was my frist guppy (drab female, grey body and dark blue/black short tail). 

My neighbour had a 9-10" pleco in a 70 litre tank but it died, 10 inches isnt as big as it sounds when it comes to plecos.

and I have never seen/herd about a 5" tiger barb so cant really argue with that.


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## Cleopatra the Royal (Nov 29, 2008)

People all say guppies are very easy to keep, but the Wild Caught ones are imposible!
The neon are very sensative fish and need shoals of 8+ as well as tall plants to hide among. Try more hardy tetras next time.
Also, all of the fish in there aren't hardy and so will probably get very ill or die from the new tank. Next time introduce them at a steady pace after introducing very hardy fish.
As for the bite marks, the Plec may have taken a chunk out AFTER it had died. Their brain shapes indicate an 'eat then sense' as humans have a 'sense then eat'. If you put a large slice of cucumber buried in the substrate, the Plec will eat that and not worry about any casualties.

Hope this helps

Harry


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## Trillian (Jul 14, 2008)

IanF94 said:


> The tank was cycled yes...for about 2 weeks.


Then your tank probably wasn't cycled properly as fishless cycling with ammonia usually takes 3-4 weeks. Let me guess - you left the water ""stand" for two weeks which meant that, at the end of two weeks, you just had a tank of water i.e. no filter bacteria. This may explain some of the problems your fish have been having. :hmm:


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