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My Guppies Personally Hate Me

3K views 40 replies 19 participants last post by  JJVanier 
#1 ·
I bought 1 female and 2 male guppies. I was worried about a reverse trio, so I went back and got another female and another male. The female died within 12 hours, so I had a reverse quadruplet of guppies. I finally went back and got another female which looked pregnant but had dropsy. She died a few days ago from dropsy.

I was left with one female and three males and they were doing great. I usually feed with a turkey baster because it is so easy. Yesterday I was about to feed and noticed the water level was too high, so I stuck the siphon into the tank. Little did I know, they had all gathered in their pecking order (biggest to smallest) to get food. The remaining female guppy was the biggest. Within a few seconds of starting the siphon, she was sucked in. She turned red and her eyes popped out.

These aren't pure guppies, they're guppy-endler hybrids. It's the "black tiger" kind which is yellow with black stripes. Luckily she had a large drop a few days ago and I have at least 10 babies that are thriving and now swimming around the outer boundaries of the many plants.

Today I came home and went to feed my fishing. I made the blood worms ready and started feeding with my turkey baster. All 9 neons ate. Both dwarf puffers ate hardily. I saw the guppy fry swimming about the plants freely... Yet none of the 3 male endlers were out.

All three were in the back corner swimming around. I couldn't get them to even come out for food. They're all in perfect health.

This makes me feel even worse about brutally, slowly and painfully murdering my most important fish. The three males swim away when I get near the tank. It's like they remember I murdered their only female 24 hours ago. Is it even possible for fish to possess such emotions? :icon_roll
 
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#37 ·
Not necessarily. Some fish can be affected and go down quick. Others suffer for a long time. And still others seem bulletproof. Testing will give you an idea what your parameters are, so you know how much and how often to do water changes. How many fish do you have in what size tank, and what size filter?
 
#40 ·
Update... All of the fish are fine. The males are much less shy than the females, but I see the females out as I walk into the room. When I get to the tank they hide in the plants. I'm working on making them like me. They'll associate me with food eventually.

Those unaccepting turds... At least the babies aren't afraid of me.
 
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