problem with male guppies

[petcrazy213]

Hi,

I'm having a bit of a problem lately with only my male guppies. They keep dying! It's not the females though, just the males. Anyone know why this might be happening?

I had a group of 4 female guppies and 4 male guppies and over the past couple weeks that I've had them all the males have died off and I'm left with only 4 females. I don't think they were all that old, 2 were smaller then the other 2 so they should have been younger. I did notice a bit of fungus on one of the females last week and treated the entire tank. All the females are alive and well though, even the one that had the fungus. My tank currently houses ...

5 cory cats (4 albino & 1 panda)
5 tiny zebra danios
4 black skirt tetras
4 cherry barbs
4 female guppies (what's left of my 8 pairs)
3 fancy tail mollies (1 male/2 females)

It's a 29/30 gallon tank
filtered by a Proaquatics 1600 canister filter (for up to 75 gal tanks)
has a bubble wand in the back and is kept at a temp of about 76 degrees
also has a bunch of live plants (1 fake) and some java moss

While I may be overstocked a bit it's not been a problem, the tank has been up since last summer. The guppies are the only fish having problems and I was wondering if male guppies are just less tolerant then females or maybe I got a bad batch of males. Any suggestions?

 

[tricksterpup]

Hi,


also has a bunch of live plants (1 fake) and some java moss

While I may be overstocked a bit it's not been a problem, the tank has been up since last summer. The guppies are the only fish having problems and I was wondering if male guppies are just less tolerant then females or maybe I got a bad batch of males. Any suggestions?

How often do you do water changes on your tank? Livebearers are tolerant fish but need clean fresh water. So you may have to pick up your water changes to a higher pace. I find that many of the store bought guppies are of low quality. Are these Fancy Guppies or of common stock? If they are common guppies, just keep on trying. If you want the more fancier breeds well, I would try a local breeder. Try joining a local fish club and then start to talk to some of the people there. You will find someone who breeds guppies in your area and they may able to supply you with a few from their colonies. But good healthy guppies can be very costly if you order them on line. Check out www.showguppies.com. For more information about breeding and owning guppies. Its a very helpful site.
jim

 

[petcrazy213]

Thanks.

I think they are fancy guppies but they are from Petsmart so they are probably highly overbred like you said.