This Is Embarrassing

[kribensis12]

I can't keep plants. Plants, and guppies are about all I can't keep. I've tried everything for plants. They just die. I feed Spirulina flakes and Tropical Flakes. I do some frozen food, but not that often.

 

[dazza2123]

I used to have the same problems with Guppies,
I believe this was just due to poor water qualitys, not that i can test my water & have a bigger more highly filtered tank i never seem to have a problem,

 

[Knox213]

Guys Give him a break..

For all we know it could of been the LFS Or stress...

Not trying to start a arguement or anything.

I just think your all taking it too far on him... i appreciate the fact your helping him but you know... We all make mistakes at times...


(Sorry if Im Wrong But yanno. Just having people saying "Oh its not the genetics its you and your poor water quality") etc.

SOrry again if i am wrong.

 

[kribensis12]

I HIGHLY doubt it's the water quality. I do weekly 25-35 percent water changes, I don't overfeed, since I began testing my water 2 years ago, I have not once detected ammonia or nitrIte in my water. I have found nitrAte, which hasn't been over 40 in a while (it was due to the fact I wasn't at home to clean the tank). I just don't know why I have never had luck with them. I have never had guppies as active as these ones are. They are constantly zooming around the tank.

 

[nosoup4you]

Just to clarify, I did not mean that Krib's tank water was somehow of poor quality. I meant that it may have something to do with the hardness of his water out of the tap or some such.

 

[finalfantay85]

I'm like you I've had 8 guppies, bought in 2 batches, and of 3 varieties and i've had one of each die within days of buying them. I think it's to do with poor quality stock from the LFS a lot of the time...just my opinion

 

[kribensis12]

My water is incrediably hard. The pH is high, and the hardness is not readable. These guppies I have were raised in the same water.

 

[kribensis12]

I believe I am moving the guppies into their own tank tomorrow , unless plans change. A 30g tank for 4 guppies, 3 which are heavily pregnant may be a spectical.

 

[OldMan47]

With 3 females, that tank will fill up quickly for you Krib.

 

[Nick16]

Your problems with guppies is down to you not all due to genetics!

im sorry but that is total pish.
over the last 20 or 30 years interbreeding and crossbreedding have caused guppies, platies, mollies and swords to become unhardy. They used to be considered good fish for newer people to the hobby. Its now got to the point where im not sure i want to own them anymore.
Natural mollies are bland and pale, often white/silver with dabs of black on them. Its due to the cross breeding that we get all these wacky colours.

 

[ricefish]

Unfortunately many fishkeepers blame inbreeding and poor genetics for too many things.Fish48 has a good few years experience in breeding many livebearers so i would take his advice rather than dismissing it.

 

[fish48]

nick16

Yes over the last 20 or 30 years more and more people are buying guppies . mollies and swords have become the most Popular fish and there for is a big demand for these fish .so it’s not about quality any more but about quantity and makeng money so the more fish the fish farmer breeds the more money he makes
fish farmers breed these fish by the millions and we some times end up with poor quality fish in our lfs. many new fish people go and buy fish without knowing what to look for in a fish.


When buying fish from a shop do you ever Ask the owner what conditions he keeps the fish in. he may have salt in the tank with mollies ) and how long the fish have been in the shop for. some shops will sale fish the day after delivery this is not good for the fish they need time to settle in

do you stop and think about the conditions and how much stress the fish as gone through by the time it reaches the lfs



There are many reasons for poor quality fish It is not all caused by interbreeding and crossbreeding

.
What problems do you have with them ?

 

[kribensis12]

Plants have changed. I believe that they still may have the tanks to themselves. For a while. But not for too long.

 

[OldMan47]

Yes over the last 20 or 30 years more and more people are buying guppies . mollies and swords have become the most Popular fish and there for is a big demand for these fish .so it’s not about quality any more but about quantity and makeng money so the more fish the fish farmer breeds the more money he makes
fish farmers breed these fish by the millions and we some times end up with poor quality fish in our lfs. many new fish people go and buy fish without knowing what to look for in a fish.


When buying fish from a shop do you ever Ask the owner what conditions he keeps the fish in. he may have salt in the tank with mollies ) and how long the fish have been in the shop for. some shops will sale fish the day after delivery this is not good for the fish they need time to settle in

do you stop and think about the conditions and how much stress the fish as gone through by the time it reaches the lfs



There are many reasons for poor quality fish It is not all caused by interbreeding and crossbreeding

There are indeed many reasons that a fish does not thrive in a particular tank. Inbreeding is seldom ever a factor nor are poor care practices by those whose livelihood depends on producing large quantities of good salable fish. Modern economic reality says that a fish shop cannot stay in business if they hold fish for a period of time to make sure they are safe to sell. When something comes into the shop, it is for sale quickly because otherwise it must be fed and must take up space that could otherwise be used to hold the fish that are for sale. Those newly arrived fish have often been in containers of one kind or another for several days since they left the fish farm. Shipping and customs inspections do not happen overnight. As Fish48 said, the fish really could use some time to settle in and for the shop to remove any fish that have been excessively stressed by the shipping. That cannot happen unless you set up a store twice the size that you otherwise would need, so that you have a place out of sight to quarantine the new arrivals and cull the sick ones.

I will go farther than that. I have a heavy demand for my guppies but they are very common. The only thing special about the ones that I have is that I took a small few from a local fish shop, gave them good food and care, allowed them to breed without any selection on my part and can offer them locally to people who happen to like them. Those fish look 10 times better than the fish in the tank they came from only because I allowed them to settle in and do their own thing in one of my tanks. If anything they are even more inbred than the stock that I bought, I have not added to their numbers at all yet. On the other hand, simple care, such as I would have given the same fish 30 years ago, has given me fish that people really want to get their hands on. If I ever decide that I have had that group long enough, I can safely sell them all and replace them at the same local fish shop with the same trashy looking fish that have just arrived from Singapore on an airplane. I would expect the new ones to be in equally high demand a few months later, it is not genetics at all, it is the reality of world wide shipping and pet shop economics.

 

[kribensis12]

I moved the guppies into the 30g today. There are also 6; 1 inch Brichardi in there. I also got some duckweed today. It's all over the place, so plenty of places for the guppy fry to hide in!