guppies dying

[Featherfin]

so, in my 75 gallon tank, i regulraly put feeder guppies in - about 10 a week. They all disappear, right? like 3 a night. Except for a few - some simply get really thin looking and die. the fish might be biting them and spitting them out. and it's true that I don't feed the guppies much - some flakes, and they also eat bits of cricket guts leftover from other meals.

could these deaths be indicative of any other kind of problem? the other fish seem fine.

 

[severum mama]

They are likely diseased when you buy them, given the terrible conditions that most feeders are kept in at the LFS. They can pass infections on to your other fish, so I wouldn't bother with them at all. It's much safer to breed your own, or to just feed frozen and a high quality staple food. This is more nutritionally complete for most fish than feeders anyway.

 

[jm1212]

feeder fish are usually diseased ridden when they come to the store...

 

[Featherfin]

well. that would explain the sudden puitbreak of ich, wouldnt it? ugggh.


no feeders for me anymore

just crickets, meal worms, and blood worms

 

[wataugachicken]

i've tried to keep feeders in an attempt to breed them. 2 dozen put into a cycled tank - only three were still alive after two weeks. if you try to breed them, you might be better off just spending the extra money on a trio or two of regular guppies - they reproduce the same, are usually older when you get them, and don't die as easily.

 

[severum mama]

That's what I meant, not that you should buy more feeder guppies.
Platies would work well too.