dying after giving birth

[wongy008]

hi guys

ive got a relatively new tank and after the water condition scare/ cycling all is well now and i only lost 3 fish in the process which aint bad as most said all will die

anyway on second day of purchasing guppies a female had fry and the female died after a couple of days. then a few days ago another female had fry and the female died again

is there a way of saving females or increasing the chance they survive. they were feeding as normal after giving fry

 

[JobySp]

I wouldn't know - but on the odd occasion I still lose the pregnant females after giving birth.

It must be extremely stressful something so tiny giving birth to around 40 fry.

 

[DrOizo]

Guppies have a habit of doing that with new tanks they get damaged during the cycling process and whe it comes time to give birth the extra strain kills them off. Guppies are not a Good fish to cycle with!!! Learn from our mistakes

 

[rain-]

I have noticed that the guppies that have died after giving birth have usually lived in a tank where the water hasn't been uhm, hard enough. I mean total hardness, GH. Well, that's the case here in Finland. Our water is soft, pH around 7, KH 1-3, GH 2-6. And if the water in livebearers tank isn't hardened, they tend to have a really short life span.

I think that in your case your guppies died propably because of the stress/damage they had from the new tank & cycling. Just like DrOizo said.

 

[guppymonkey]

I have noticed guppies die frequently after giving birth, especially in a new tank. Its best to have a tank cycled before the fish are added. There is info about fishless cycling at the top of this forum. The female guppies in pet stores are usually still young. When young guppies give birth it can be very stressful for them.

 

[Dragonslair]

I have bred guppies, all types and my tank is full of them. They are really colourful. I agree with guppymonkey's statement about dying when they are young, however after several past post mortems on dead guppies, I have found that in a lot of cses they die because they have a congenital disease. The fry that are ejected, you will find will be "distorted" in some way and die days afterwards.
The few that survive will be the lucky ones, but a breeder will use these as feeder food.
The reason for these anomolies is simple, these fish have been inter-bred for so long to obtain a perfect colour and shape, they carry mutated genes within their DNA and so it spreads.

 

[snowyangel]

I've only had one female guppy die from giving birth and that was when i wasnt testing my water. Now that i know alot more about bacteria, fish keeping, etc I haven't lost a female in over 4months. I have one female who's coming up on her 3rd batch of fry and i have another female her coming up on her 4th batch of fry and all the litters are strongand no deaths(besides some getting eaten by their rents). I also feed mine 4 differents kinds of nice brand foods so they're strong.
Im not trying to brag, i just dont know how all these females are dying elswhere. Maybe the strain they came from was weak But i do agree with cycling with guppies wont work.