one of my guppy died.

Question
QUESTION: My mom bought about 12 guppy on thursday and I bought another 6 on friday because I read that the female should be more than the male.

so then... about 80% of the females are pregnant...

I thought everything was fine at first because they seemed to be eating. and may I ask how much should I feed them? They seemed constantly hungry...

one of the female guppy died today. I assume that it was the one I bought on friday based on the tail. It was pregnant. I don't know what went wrong...

ANSWER: Hi Soely,

What size is your aquarium?

What kind of filtration do you use?

Is the water heated?

I need answers to these questions to give you expert advice. :)

Thanks,
Renee

---------- FOLLOW-UP ----------

QUESTION: I think it was about 20 gallon. I remembered the aquarium shop told me so.

The filtration was... at the back of the aquarium. there's 3 space at the back. 1 left empty, 1 was filled with hard and soft sponge and another had a motor thing that pump the water out through a pipe.

the water isn't heated though... because I live in a really hot place. >< Malaysia.

ANSWER: Hello Soely,

Please ignore the last note from the site.  I can now answer your question better.  I still need some information, but I don't need as much now and I can get a good idea what is happening by your descriptions.

The aquarium is sufficiently sized for your fish.  The filter sounds like a good Hang On Back filter (they are also called a HOB filter), so my next question is how long had the aquarium been set up before you put fish into it and are you doing water changes?  If so, how often?

Feeding guppies - Feed one time a day.  Only feed one pinch.  Enough that they eat it in 2 minutes.  Never feed so much that food drops to the bottom of the tank.  Only feed them what they can eat in 2 minutes.  :)

I hope to hear back from you again.  So far, I am not finding anything that could cause their deaths.  Your aquarium isn't too small, and the filter seems good.

It has to be something related to over-feeding or to the temperature, or water conditions.  Have you used tap water?  If so, did you use a dechlorinator in the tap water?

Please let me know and I will write right back next time I check (approximately 12 hours from now).

I'm so sorry you lost your fish and I hope to help you so this doesn't happen again. :)

Renee

---------- FOLLOW-UP ----------

QUESTION: I set it up 2 or 3 days before I introduced the fishes... I think it was 2 to be precise.
I changed the water after... I think 3 days I introduce the fishes. I thought of changing about 3 bucket of water each week... but before I could change the water, 3 died. :(

I declorinated the water using the bottle of anti-chlorine bought from the fish store. after 2 female fishes died, i actually put a teaspoon of conditioning salt because I didn't know what to do and I was panicking!

I just wanna prevent from killing anymore fishes anymore ><! and the fries.. they are at the back filter... must i take them out? I'm to scared to do anything at them! :S

Answer
Hi,

If the fry are okay, then leave them where they are, unless the other guppies try to eat them.  I would probably put the fry in another aquarium with ample air (an airstone) and perhaps a small filter.  I would keep them there, with a heater heated to 80F, and then when they were big enough, I would again put them back into the main aquarium.

A tank has to go through what is called a cycle.

The cycle means it has to start getting good bacteria before fish are introduced, but you have already put the fish in, so now the cycle has begun.

Keep up water changes.  Every 3 days change out 10% of the water and replace it.

No salt...ok? :)

I hope this helps.

Happy fish-keeping.

Renee