Okay so I got guppies a few days ago and I'm very sad to say two of them died yesterday. (Miguel and Sarabi.) I couldn't find anything wrong with the water and one died unexpectedly... the other however was looking incredibly sick a few hours before she died. She couldn't swim and was floating on her side, gills wide open gasping, and not to mention she had a bunch of discolouration. Her usually white scales had taken on an orange-ish tone and her gills looked inflammed. I put her in a Ziploc container (without the lid obviously) with her tank water, and a small piece of cucumber. I then added a teaspoon of salt but she still died two hours later.

Just thought I should mention that in case it could mean I need to do something for my remaining two guppies. I have a male and a female left. The male is pretty mellow and doesn't eat very much or very often. I would be worried except he still looks healthy and swims around a lot and just... seems healthy. He hasn't really eaten since I bought him though aside from an occasional nibble... anyways, sorry I keep getting side tracked.

The remaining female is pretty, er... aggressive. She's always darting around and at feeding times she will actually chase the male away. Which is upsetting considering he barely eats as it is. When the now deceased female started to have trouble swimming I noticed this female actually biting her and chasing her around. Don't get me wrong, it's great that she's got a personality but I'm worried that she could be hurting the remaining male. She also tends to follow him around the tank, occasionally swimming into him almost aggressively. He doens't look hurt or sick but I'm not sure it's good. Of course it could just be her way of flirting, I really don't know the behaviours of guppies well.

I'm also wondering if she could already be pregnant. I've noticed her belly is a bit swollen and it could just be the fact that she goes unchallenged during feeding time but because my tank has only the two little guppies in it, babies are actually a welcomed addition. How can I tell if she's going to be a mum or if she's just got curves? Also how early can you tell if a guppy is expecting or not?

Oh, and as a side note she's got a small dark spot near her anus. The guy at the petstore told me that you can tell when a guppy is about to have babies because she'll get an almost black spot near her anus. I doubt she was pregnant in the petstore tank since they at least seem to have done a good job seperating them by sex (there were a grand total of four female guppies in a seperate tank and none of them looked very colourful and all had small tails,) and she's certainly not heavily pregnant now... so does the dark spot mean she's pregnant, about to give birth, or does it mean nothing really?

Just wanted to say I'm sorry about your dead gups--that happened to me too the first time I got 5 males and 2 died in a couple days. I got 2 more to replace them and all 5 are doing great now. They are all food hogs and very active so I hope your male is ok.

Anyway since I only have males I don't know about breeding/prego behaviors but I think I read somewhere about female platies getting a dark spot there when they are pregnant. Platies are related to guppies. I'm sure someone will know--hope she is so you can populate your tank!

I wish she'd stop chasing him. It's sad to watch him scurry away to find shelter. His scales are looking a little dim on his back too but I suspect it's her doing. I'm wondering if adding some more fish would stop this behaviour since it wasn't like this before the two others died. Could this loss be affecting her attitude towards the male.

When a female guppy is pregnant she will get a black spot by her anus called a gravid spot, and you never can really tell when she is about to give birth, so you kind of just have to watch her.

Good luck, and I am sure someone else can come along and give you more information than what i just did.

Well, I have noticed that my female guppies always have sort of a dark spot there but when they are pregnant it will get darker and bigger. It is hard to tell if they are pregnant, I usually don't notice any behavior change, but they will get fatter and a day or so before they give birth, their tummies will take on a boxy look - like they have become squarer or something. Other than that I cannot think of any way to tell for sure . Anyways, I am very sorry about your guppies - I too suffered some losses when I first started with fish keeping. Good luck!

Oh, also, I forgot to add that guppies do prefer to be in a 3 female to 1 male ratio but I am not sure if a loss of females would account for her aggressive behavior.

three to one? Oops, I just went out and bought another male. I suppose I thought he'd be more dominate then my remaining male and just keep her from getting too rowdy.

So far it seems to have worked, but I only added him in an hour ago.
At first she chased him around pretty aggressively. But I put in a small pinch of food which she devoured and seemed to mellow out a touch. I then found him chasing her a tiny bit when she tried following him again. So that's good. I hope he does alright because my tank is only in the third week of cycling and it's not a very good idea to add new fish half way through. But I bought and added some Cycle, so that should help a bit.

Anyone else have any info for me?

Hmm...how big is your tank? Just my opinion, but if you have the room it might be a good idea to get a few more females once the tank is fully cycled . Oh, also, quarantining new fish for a few weeks is always a good idea just in case, even if they look healthy in the store. Good luck! Hopefully your female will calm down a little more!

I'll definately do something after the tank has finished cycling. I just needed one more to help that poor male. Of course, I really don't want to add any new fish unless I MUST during the cyling process.

I would've quarantined him if my current guppies weren't just a week old (under my care.) It seemed a bit silly to not put him in with fish who are relatively new.

Yeah that's true - no need to set up more tanks!!! I was just mentioning the QT thing for the future . Has your female been doing better? I bet you're going to end up with guppy fry before you know it!

EDIT: oops...double post...my computer is a spaz!

Yeah that's true - no need to set up more tanks!!! I was just mentioning the QT thing for the future . Has your female been doing better? I bet you're going to end up with guppy fry before you know it!

Hmmm, it seems like all my guppies are doing better. I just feel horrible that I added a guppy in half way through a cycle from a tank that was fully cycled. I hope he'll be okay.

Anyways, I'm very pleased with what I'm seeing. With this new male Calypso (the female) seems to have found a proper friend, they follow each other around, eat together, and sleep together (or rest, do guppies sleep?) And during feeding time, he'll distract Calypso for a bit and Tulio (the longer owned male) will even eat a little now.

My only concern is that he looks tired out, and has just started sitting on the bottom of the tank. All the guppies seem to have a little trouble breathing which is normal for a cycling tank I guess, but I feel guilty because I know he came from great quality water to water that's hurting.

What can I do to help him be okay? I've already added Cycle. I don't know how to cycle the tank any faster.