dying baby guppies

[Wren]

I can't breed guppies! LOL! How's that for a fail??

Seriously though, I have a few guppies that I have been trying to breed. Albino topaz blue and red lace snakeskin, if it matters. They are fairly young, I think. Around 5 months old. The females appeared gravid, then suddenly not gravid, but no babies, so I assumed that they ate the babies. Last week I put a gravid red female in her own tank. The babies were born sometime after the am feeding yesterday. The guppies were only fed once yesterday, due to me taking my Grandpa to the ER and being stuck there until midnight. I check the guppies when I got home and she had her babies. I didn't disturb them due to the lights being out for the night. This am I checked them and there were dead babies and a couple live, but weak ones. I think they are all dead now.

I have 3 of the blue guppies (2f,1m) in a 10 gal tank. There are 4 red in a separate 10g tank (2m,2f). The tanks are bare bottom (painted black on the outside). There is java moss and java fern in each tank. I change 1-2 gallons daily. The tanks are filtered with sponge filters. The tank the mom and babies were in is the same, except much more java moss and java fern. There is a bit of mulm from the plants on the bottom. That tank has been up and running a month. Ammonia 0, nitrite 0, pH 8.5, GH/KH 20-21. I feed twice a day on days I work (3 days a week) and 3-4 times a day on my days off. I feed a couple different types of flakes, a couple different types of micro pellets, frozen brine, frozen bloodworms.

I know the water has a high pH and is quite hard. But these are guppies...

What do I need to change? :help2:

 

[jetajockey]

sometimes when guppies are young they have some that don't make it. If your water parameters are in check, as in no ammonia/nitrites then IDK.

I have a similar setup for my guppy tanks, they are 15g painted black, bare bottom with some java moss and sponge filters.

One thing to note, I kept guppies in mid 7s for a long time with no issue, I moved them into a tank with aragonite sand buffer and didn't get any fry out of them for 2+ months. Not sure if it was pH related but that was my experience in keeping them in that high of a ph.

 

[cryeth_the_raven]

There is no guarantee that your guppy fry will survive. If your parameters are truly as you state then just keep trying. The worst you can do it give up. And enjoy the guppys you have now- there will be more over time.

 

[tanker]

The PH is a little high, but I do not think that is the problem. What is the nitrate level??

 

[Rjb3]

Try a smaller food. Some kind of fry food powder. If you use flake, crush it to a powder. Micro type worms are good, too. I use several types of fry food powder with eggs, liver, and freeze-dried Grindal worms that I make myself. BTW Don't look for these at the LFS because I prepare the egg and liver powder. And I freeze-dry the Grindals. Remember, these small fry need to eat a lot more that you think. They need to fill their little bellies with food and not pick at large pieces.

When I was breeding lots of fish, I also did 20% water changes twice a day in the fry tanks making sure the water was the same temperature as the tank.

 

[LiveMermaid07]

I don't remember the species cause I've read so much tonight, but a couple of the fish that I was reading about said that too high a pH can cause sterility. ?

I only got baby guppy's once, they were eaten, except for the last one that I found dead, and all the adult/juvie guppy's died too (didn't buy them all at the same time or have them all at the same time). Don't know why, they just don't like something.

(I had platies for a year, but they only had the babies they were bursting with when I bought them.)

I wish you luck!
I too know what it feels like not to be able to breed the most breedable fish in the world LOL!

 

[Ashes2ashes]

sometimes when guppies are young they have some that don't make it. If your water parameters are in check, as in no ammonia/nitrites then IDK.

I agree. The only time I have had fry be weak or die from a livebearer was if the female was very young or very old, so maybe it's an age thing. If your water parameters are ok, I would just keep trying though. Not like you have a choice since once they are hit once they just keep going and going and going and going...lol

 

[Wren]

sometimes when guppies are young they have some that don't make it. If your water parameters are in check, as in no ammonia/nitrites then IDK.

I have a similar setup for my guppy tanks, they are 15g painted black, bare bottom with some java moss and sponge filters.

One thing to note, I kept guppies in mid 7s for a long time with no issue, I moved them into a tank with aragonite sand buffer and didn't get any fry out of them for 2+ months. Not sure if it was pH related but that was my experience in keeping them in that high of a ph.

I'm really not looking to mess with my pH at this point in my life. Hopefully it is just an age thing. It would be fun to get some babies out of these guys. There were several albinos in out of the 8-10 babies that were born. I know the breeder was working with albinos, and apparently this line will throw some.

Thanks!

 

[Wren]

The PH is a little high, but I do not think that is the problem. What is the nitrate level??

I didn't test nitrates. The tank has only had the female guppy in it. I will have to see if I have a kit still...

 

[KarlTh]

Ack, guppies'll breed in seawater. They'd probably breed in pickling brine. It's not the pH or the hardness, whatever else