Fry here one day, gone the next?

Justin · Joined: 16 Aug 2007 Posts: 2

Hello,
While I am a fish enthusiast I have never bred fish at all.
Here is my story,
Friday night I purchased some guppies to add to my 10 gallon tank.
4 females and 2 males.
Everything was fine. Saturday I returned home only to find little fry
swimming in tank.
Not sure how many were released as 5-6 hours passed from when I saw
tank last.
But I was able to round all 10 up. Placed them in separate container,
one of those hang on the aquarium type things,
only facing in the aquarium. Place small bubble stone in there to add
aeration. Fed them twice Saturday and then again once Sunday morning
with crumbled up flake food, and noticed they were eating it.
Returned home Sunday evening and all 10 were dead to my amazement.
What gives? Also, when first noticed fry the mother was dead in the
aquarium. Had disected her and found another dozen or so dead fry
still in her that day. My water temp is 78 F. Do water changes 20%
every week. Only other fish in there are 3 cories and 4 platies.
Tested water and had theses results:

NO3- around 20ppm
NO2- 1.0ppm
Kh- 80 ppm
Gh- 75
Ph- 7.0

Is there anything seriuosly wrong so that hopefully in the future I
can avoid this mishap again? All other fish are doing fine.

Thanks,
Justin

Archived from group: alt>aquaria>guppy

Cheryl Rogers · Joined: 16 Aug 2007 Posts: 3

You did the best you could. I think that when you added 6 new fish, the
tank started to re-cycle. You don't mention a reading for ammonia, but
it's a safe bet that it went straight up. The female was probably
stressed due to pregnancy and relocation. Naturally the fry would have
been stressed also. Then you added lots of food, which didn't help the
cycling problem.

Do a good-sized water change. Read up on cycling a tank. Don't worry
about it. With three females, you will soon have more guppies than you
can possibly imagine.

Each female can produce 50 fry every month. That's 150 new fish every 30
days.

What are you going to do with them? Your 10-gallon tank is already full
with 12 fish in it. Just food for thought.

Cheryl

Justin wrote:
> Hello,
> While I am a fish enthusiast I have never bred fish at all.
> Here is my story,
> Friday night I purchased some guppies to add to my 10 gallon tank.
> 4 females and 2 males.
> Everything was fine. Saturday I returned home only to find little fry
> swimming in tank.
> Not sure how many were released as 5-6 hours passed from when I saw
> tank last.
> But I was able to round all 10 up. Placed them in separate container,
> one of those hang on the aquarium type things,
> only facing in the aquarium. Place small bubble stone in there to add
> aeration. Fed them twice Saturday and then again once Sunday morning
> with crumbled up flake food, and noticed they were eating it.
> Returned home Sunday evening and all 10 were dead to my amazement.
> What gives? Also, when first noticed fry the mother was dead in the
> aquarium. Had disected her and found another dozen or so dead fry
> still in her that day. My water temp is 78 F. Do water changes 20%
> every week. Only other fish in there are 3 cories and 4 platies.
> Tested water and had theses results:
>
> NO3- around 20ppm
> NO2- 1.0ppm
> Kh- 80 ppm
> Gh- 75
> Ph- 7.0
>
> Is there anything seriuosly wrong so that hopefully in the future I
> can avoid this mishap again? All other fish are doing fine.
>
> Thanks,
> Justin