I have been keeping fish for years and years and years with little to no problems. Everything from goldies to tetras to gouramis to bettas to barbs to catfish. In the past two months, I decided to give guppies a shot.

Well Im telling you! I have had more troubles with loosing guppies than you can imagine. The tank has been fully cycled for over a year. Parimeters of the tank are perfect. Its a 25 gallon, the smallest of my tanks, stocked with about 15 guppies + about 8 fry. But I keep loosing them. Every morning I wake up dreading to look at the filter because Im sure to see one stuck to it.

Is this just a hard fish to keep?? What's the deal?? I had heard that guppies were one of the easiest of the fish to keep.

Thoughts??

i have some guppies in a tank i have in my bedrm and it is a tall 18 gallon i think and i started with about 4 guppies and have about 20 now , but i didnt do anything special ........i do get this food from aquabid called FPG gold baby formula and then they have one that is a bit larger for adults and that is what i feed them.

I have a 10g densely planted tank that started with 2 guppies and now have 30-40 guppies. I keep the tank temp at about 78F and do a 25% water change once a week. For filtration, I use a penguin filter with an output of 100 GPH and a fluval 2 internal filter as well as an airstone. I noticed before I added the fluval and the airstone that the guppies seemed rather lethargic. I've lost maybe 4 adults to unknown causes and recent fry due to cannabalism from the adults. Perhaps it's the filtration/aeration or the temperature?

Shawna, how is the stock at the petstore, are they healthy looking?

Guppys are definitely not the hardiest of fish. They're said to be easy fish to keep simply because they can withstand a wide range of water parameters. If you haven't already (and there's nothing in your tank that would be harmed by it) perhaps try adding some salt to the tank.

What kind of filter do you have? Sometimes filters that are too strong or have big intake openings will cause problems with small fish. They could just be getting sucked up to the filter.

Just a thought, I had that happen with neon tetras once... .
Good luck!

I meant to say the filtration/aeration on your tank. Sorry if I confused anyone.

I find that people are divided as far as guppies go. Some say they are easy and others say they are a difficult fish. I have some guppies and some endlers and so far so good.

I like to keep a pair of male guppies in my tetra tanks just to add some color/variety. I have found that they last a long time (my past two pairs over a year each) but when one goes, the other is guarenteed to die soon after. Maybe they are just very sensitive to infection? I'm not sure about that, just my theory

Chrissy