neighbors guppie

Question
My neighbor's little girl has had a guppie for over a year. Her family went on vacation two day ago and brought it over for us to sit while they were away, They explained to give it a small amount of food 2x per day. I fed the fish, put him up high on a shelf (away from my cat and children)  the next morning I fed him and when I went to check on him that evening he was dead?  They are to return in a couple of days and we have to replace it of course or the girl will be devasted. but what do you suppose happened?
Nefertiti

Answer
Hi Nefertiti,
 Oh dear.. you have a big problem on your hands.

 First, replacing the guppy.  I strongly suggest you not even try to replace the guppy with one that "looks like it" because unless the girl is only 2 or 3 years old, she will easily tell the difference -- each guppy is unique and the differences are very obvious to young people, who typically watch their fish very closely.  You can however explain to her that the guppy was feeling bad and you talked to the fish doctor (me, which I am) and sadly we could not save it.  It is very likely that the guppy was getting very old at one year of age and old guppies get sick and there is nothing that we can do about that.  If you want, you could explain that a one year old guppy is like a 90 year old person.

 The second issue: why did it actuallly die?  Please explain to me exactly what the conditions were, ie. what size of bowl/tank/aquarium and whether there was a filter, or anything else in the tank.  

-- Ron
  rcoleman@cichlidresearch.com
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