help with male guppies

I have been having some problems with keeping my male guppies alive. When the
tank was first set up I started with 1 male and 1 female guppy. They lived
for about 3 months then both died a few days appart. So I went to PetCo and
got 2 females and 2 males. The males then both died a few days later, the guy
at PetCo said it was because the males fought for the females and killed each
other. So then I only bought 1 male to put with the 2 females and he just
died and I only had him for less than a week. It is driving me crazy! If
anyone has any ideas to why this is happening or what to do, please help!

"fishqueen" u25426@uwe wrote in message news:64ebfb414ab77@uwe...
I have been having some problems with keeping my male guppies alive. When
the
tank was first set up I started with 1 male and 1 female guppy. They lived
for about 3 months then both died a few days appart. So I went to PetCo
and
got 2 females and 2 males. The males then both died a few days later, the
guy
at PetCo said it was because the males fought for the females and killed
each
other.

Guppies don't kill each other. You need to look for another cause.

So then I only bought 1 male to put with the 2 females and he just
died and I only had him for less than a week. It is driving me crazy! If
anyone has any ideas to why this is happening or what to do, please help!

What are your water parameters? What is the PH, temp, Harness etc.? What
is the ammonia and nitrite readings? Is the PH in the water they came from
close to what is in your tank? I can't buy goldfish from the Petco here as
the water is so different it's not worth the time to try and acclimate them.
Most die in days.

I found guppies did best for me in water over 7 and slightly hard with some
salt added. Please check back later as a guppy pro may show up.
--
KL....
Aquariums since 1952.
My Pond & Aquarium Pages:
http://tinyurl.com/9do58
~~~~ }((((* ~~~ }{{{{(ö ~~~~ }((((({*

"Köi-Lö" $##$$@$##$$.#$$ wrote in message
...

"fishqueen" u25426@uwe wrote in message news:64ebfb414ab77@uwe...
I have been having some problems with keeping my male guppies alive. When
the
tank was first set up I started with 1 male and 1 female guppy. They
lived
for about 3 months then both died a few days appart. So I went to PetCo
and
got 2 females and 2 males. The males then both died a few days later, the
guy
at PetCo said it was because the males fought for the females and killed
each
other.

Guppies don't kill each other. You need to look for another cause.

So then I only bought 1 male to put with the 2 females and he just
died and I only had him for less than a week. It is driving me crazy! If
anyone has any ideas to why this is happening or what to do, please help!

What are your water parameters? What is the PH, temp, Harness etc.? What
is the ammonia and nitrite readings? Is the PH in the water they came
from close to what is in your tank? I can't buy goldfish from the Petco
here as the water is so different it's not worth the time to try and
acclimate them. Most die in days.

I found guppies did best for me in water over 7 and slightly hard with
some salt added. Please check back later as a guppy pro may show up.
--
KL....
Aquariums since 1952.
My Pond & Aquarium Pages:
http://tinyurl.com/9do58
~~~~ }((((* ~~~ }{{{{(ö ~~~~ }((((({*


A couple things as said above may help.
Use some aquarium salt in your tank, get the guppies used to your water by
adding a little bit at a time instead of putting them from the store water
to your water. In most cases I have three females to one male. Try to keep
your temp in the tank between 78-80 and make sure its not going up and down.
Try buying your fish some place else and see if you get better results.
Nik

On Thu, 17 Aug 2006 21:38:41 GMT, "fishqueen" u25426@uwe wrote:

I have been having some problems with keeping my male guppies alive. When the
tank was first set up I started with 1 male and 1 female guppy. They lived
for about 3 months then both died a few days appart. So I went to PetCo and
got 2 females and 2 males. The males then both died a few days later, the guy
at PetCo said it was because the males fought for the females and killed each
other. So then I only bought 1 male to put with the 2 females and he just
died and I only had him for less than a week. It is driving me crazy! If
anyone has any ideas to why this is happening or what to do, please help!

I had funny thing happen with male platties and mollies. I separated
the boys from the girls, tired of too many kiddies. I lost all of the
males within a week, some of the girls are still living 2 years later.

Could be chance or combination, poor stock to start with, poor male
genetics and water parameters. Hey, look at humans, the women
consistently outlive us weaker males. Look where the money goes.

dick

Ok..... what would prob work pretty good is.....
ask your local fish shop when the new fish come in
be there on that day
get 3 very fat female guppys straight from the shipping bag if possible
take them home to a tank with a nice fresh bunch of weed
raise up the horde
guppys do best when raised up from fry in your particular death water
other than that you should prob look at your basics
filter first as it needs to be working biologically and not blasting the
guppys to pieces
Food is next, don't be cheap!!! some spirulina flake or frozen brineshrimp
will get you well on your way to success
water... as mentioned salt and I recon a handful of shell grit never hurts
livebearers..
guppys have hundreds of diseases but with good water and food they are still
tough *******s!
:-)
don't keep the tank too clean
wash the filters in water from the fishtank NEVER in tapwater
try only do 25-30% water changes....
works for me anyway
good luck