Which Are More Hardy?

[fish48]

guppy's sold in UK shops are usually hardy.

 

[nehpets81]

you dont want guppies from Thailand, Indonesia or even America they have been bread and bread and bread fir specific colours etc and now are from a very week gene pool.

I think it's been said here before that it's not the inbreeding that causes week fish but your post has got me wondering how many suppliers are supplying the LFS's and whether there is one that is not keeping their fish as they should? Presumably most LFS's in this country do import Guppies and not just take them off people who need to get them off their hands who have had a population explosion?

 

[Liam2368]

The best guppys you will get is from a private breeder and not imported, i have worked in a lfs that imported guppies from Thailand and the fatality rate was shocking! guppys can be tough as nails but they are few and far between.

you dont want guppies from Thailand, Indonesia or even America they have been bread and bread and bread fir specific colours etc and now are from a very week gene pool.

I think it's been said here before that it's not the inbreeding that causes week fish but your post has got me wondering how many suppliers are supplying the LFS's and whether there is one that is not keeping their fish as they should? Presumably most LFS's in this country do import Guppies and not just take them off people who need to get them off their hands who have had a population explosion?

 

[fish48]

you dont want guppies from Thailand, Indonesia or even America they have been bread and bread and bread fir specific colours etc and now are from a very week gene pool.

Nice guppies you have!
So you are saying they will become weaker in temp of 80-82f? I can't keep the temp lower than this.

yes they can become weaker when kept at 80f-82f it will also shorten there life span

 

[snazy]

To Snazy - how did the Hexamita manifest itself in your Guppies?

First they became less active and not the usual bubbly behaviour. At this stage I already had a few die on me but didn't think it was a sickness as they were very healthy looking. Then I started noticing white feces on just a couple of them, at first fluffy then super thin like a silk thread.

Some of the guppy bellies were slightly thinner, although not scary thinner but just not the usual very round belly. Just 2 of the fish from many affected, from what I can remember, had their insides hanging from the anus, but that was a couple of months after the first deaths. Also, most of the fish lost a bit of colour.
They didn't exhibit any strange behaviour besides not being active so much, but that wasn't an every day thing. So I at first I couldn't figure out what's happening and did water changes like mad.
Generally, they used to die at a very slow rate, like one fish a week or even less.

 

[willowstwin]

Let me link my original post from the Tropical Fish Emergencies.

Hi All

First off, tank info/background. 48 litres, water changes of 20% weekly with dechlor. Water stats:
pH 6.8
Ammonia: 0
Nitrite: 0
Nitrate: 50
Tempt 28C (due to white spot treatment on tetras, usually it's at 26)

I treat my tank with a very mild dose for white spot (mild due to snails and shrimp in my tank) a few weeks before christmas, and that cleared up nicely.

3 weeks ago I lost guppy number 1 (who has always been fatter than the rest) who had been in the tank for 4 months:
7am - feeding time, all looked well, G1 barging others out of way as per usual for first pick of majority of food.
4pm - get home from work, G1's belly looks bigger (almost like a pregnant female), and poo was clear (like empty casing). Very lethargic. Moved to a storage box with a heater and a small filter with the spare chunk of filter media I keep loose in my own filter. By 9pm he was laid on the bottom hardly moving and by 10pm he was dead with a bloody line underneath his tummy. I thought it could be swim bladder, but as he could submerge, I thought maybe it was because he was greedy and just constipated...

1 and a half weeks ago I lost guppy number 2 - been in the tank 3 months:
A non-feed day. 10am he didn't respond to role call (I tap my fingers gently on the front glass and all the fish come for a look) but sometimes he can be grumpy. 5pm, he's really lethargic with reddish gills (he was tuxedo - silvery white at the front, black at the back, so red ws easier to spot). Other than lethargy and red gills he looked normal in body shape and colour. He died that night.

A few days ago I lost guppy number 3 - been in the tank 7 months:
7am feeding time - I noticed he looked anorexic - his stomach came in and he looked arched (even though his back was normal). Again, isolation into the heated storage tub/hospital tank. He died that afternoon. Yet he looked fine the night before.


So 3 different guppies, 3 different lengths of time in the tank, 3 different symptoms. My neon tetras are fine.

Any ideas?

Willow

I've spoken to a lot of people, and it seems to be pot luck as to whether your guppies survvive or not. As you can see, I've had some of my guppies for over 6 months, the deaths are random. I fully understand that fish that die withing the first 24 - 48 hours is usually something to do with shock and/or the way you introduce them to the tank, however, this is not the case here. My LFS quarantines their fish before sale to try and ensure disease free fish, but I'm not sure where they source their fish from. I'll ask next time I'm there.

 

[snazy]

I am wondering, what is your water Ph, Gh and Kh levels?
Do you add anything to the water like salt maybe? Does the LFS put salt in their tanks, or the guy they get the fish from?
What type of dechlorinator do you use normally, what dosage?
Maybe there is a connection between all as it just seems the guppy keep getting sick very often and there should be a cause for that.

 

[snazy]

you dont want guppies from Thailand, Indonesia or even America they have been bread and bread and bread fir specific colours etc and now are from a very week gene pool.

From what I know, the problem with guppies from those countries is that they are bred and raised in brackish water. We buy them here and put them in fresh water tanks with maximum of an hour acclimating. Guess what, they die or start getting sick over time as they are probably lacking the mineral content they were used to.
I didn't have plants in my tanks before, but I used plant fertilizer to increase the amount of minerals like calcium and magnesium. My guppies developed hexamita at the time, and one of it's causes is lack of certain minerals in the water.
Although everyone seems to be against it, salt is another way to alter the mineral content if your water's gh/kh levels are not appropriate.

 

[willowstwin]

snazy - I can't think off the top of my head but I'll check my water when I get home.

I'd never thought about brackish water... If this is the case, then I don't know what to do, as I don't know how my shrimp, snails and neons would deal with me changing the water.

 

[snazy]

It wouldn't be wise to put salt in your case I guess. Check your water parameters, it's no harm. For minerals, I used plant fertilizer that contained calcium and magnesium, not salt. Although even when I bought guppies from the shop the last time I actually put salt in the water for the first 3 weeks then gradually removed it. But that's me. I can't vouch this is what saves mine from getting sick.

 

[willowstwin]

I'll ask my LFS to give me their water test readings so that I can see what the difference is too.