Hi,
I am new to the forum so hope this is the right place for this.
So here goes an account of the drama over the last 5 days and the story of survival...
I have 100 litre tank with tropical fish. We have 8 male guppies, 2 mollies (it was 4 but l’ll get to that) and 4 penguin tetra.
After introducing the new mollies something wasn’t right. Our water quality levels were off and 2 of the mollies died. The first one within a couple of days after spending time on the bottom. The other several days later and during that time we noticed the issue and went to pet shop and got a treatment for swim bladder...it was just too late.
We continued with the swim bladder doses (I think it was 3 or 4 we had to do and at the point it had just been 2) just in case any other fish had it and we hadn’t noticed. Glad we did as our yellow guppy was then looking a bit weaker, swimming slower, hiding more, and although not on the bottom all the time, like the molly who died, he was definitely spending more and more time on the bottom and it looked like it wasn’t a choice.
It got to the point he was on the bottom a lot and other fish were crowding him. I watched and realised they were pecking at him and he couldn’t get away. I separated him and put him in a bowl with water from the tank and in hot place in the house to maintain the right temperature. After two nights in the bowl he looked brighter again and started eating and was swimming all around the bowl and not stuck on the bottom. He has a patch of scales missing but otherwise seemed better.
I put him back in the tank and watched. He looked to be ok for the first 5 seconds or so, then an orange guppy spotted him and swam so fast over to him and started pecking. It was stressful! I couldn’t get the yellow one back in the net as he kept swimming behind stuff to get away from the orange one and then out again as the orange one caught him, he just couldn’t get away. I didn’t want to catch them both for obvious reasons. I ended up catching the orange one and separating him so I could then get the yellow one out. I put the orange one in the bowl and went to fetch the yellow one, whilst my husband made a new bowl with the tank water in preparation. In the 5 or 10 seconds it took me to get the orange one out the net in the bowl and turn back to get the yellow one, there was another 4 guppies all attacking the yellow one! It was like I was watching his murder!
I struggled to get the yellow one in the net because they were all around him and pecking at him but eventually I did and I got him to safety and got the orange one back in. Then a few hours later my husband checked on him and couldn’t find him in the bowl. I suggested he was hiding as we put in some ornaments to let him hide. When I did the bowl I did this and put a cover on so he could use the darkness to desires. I didn’t notice the cover wasn’t on and turns out he had jumped out the bowl.
We found him on the floor having jumped out of the bowl on our kitchen worktop. He wasn’t moving. We had no idea when it happened but at least 30 seconds had passed since my husband started looking for him. I tried to lift him and he started flapping around. I got him in the bowl. He was a bit lifeless but then started to slowly swim. He looked like he was swimming to the right only and hitting shins the bowl. However a little while later he was backed to swimming normally. I put the cover on and we gave him some peace. We half expected him to be dead when we next checked but he was fine. Given the fact a little stress can kill a fish we’re amazed this guy is still going!
So I decided we were out of out depth and we went to our local pet shop that thankfully had their very knowledgable fish guy on shift.
The guy suggested we could put in some female guppies but that would give us lots of babies so not an option. Although he was surprised we were given 8 male guppies as he thought that was a lot without females. He also said there’s so much space in the tank it won’t be territorial and told me we have 22 points left for adding fish to the tank. The guy said it seems that just because he was weaker for those few days the others saw an opportunity for some food. I have read many an article which suggest the same thing.
He recommend a hatchery to save us the hassle of bowls and keeping them the right temperature. At £5 it was an excellent spend.
We now have the yellow one in a hatchery inside the tank so he can be in the same tank water but separated from the others. I had hoped doing this the others would get used to him again, and let him get stronger and less stressed being in the tank before we released him into the tank properly again.
He has been in this hatchery for a few days now and although they aren’t over at him all the time they are still over at him quite regularly. One fish in particular was basically head butting the hatchery as if trying to get him. there’s another 3 also over at him often. The other 3 guppies don’t bother, neither do the mollies or penguin tetras.
The guy have suggested we wait a few days and then add some new fish along with the yellow one again and hope then other fish don’t notice. We have also redesigned our aquarium and created more hiding places.
I am concerned that the situation won’t fizzle out and this wee yellow guy won’t be able to survive when we eventually put him back in. I know he’s just one wee fishy but we’ve gotten so invested and I feel like he’s survived all of this that we owe it to him to do what we can. The pet shop guy and his colleagues are also invested after hearing this wee guy’s journey and are rooting for him.
What else can we do? I am convinced they will still go for him. As I am typing this, there are 4 at his hatchery as if they want to eat him! The same 4!
Apologies for the massive post but it has been so much drama over a few days
Any advice will be much appreciated
Thanks,
Elizabeth
