Weak Guppies... Fact or Fiction?

We keep hearing about pet shop guppies that are apparently weak and doomed to die. I think we should investigate this a little. How is it possible that they would be weaker than the guppies supplied by the trade 20 years ago?

 

Overbreeding (is there such a word?) inbreeding, lack of new bloodlines etc. A year or two ago I had a couple of guppies in a small tank, they bred like crazy, I didn't think they were weaker than guppies I kept decades ago. Maybe we overbreed them, females that are constantly pregnant and giving birth probably won't live very long, and the males...they never take a break...

 

I have heard that breeders tend to keep the temperatures higher, and overfeed, in order to raise the metabolism and promote rapid growth.
Whether it is true or not I have no idea, but it makes sense if you are planning a rapid turnover of fish.

 

I agree. I would also guess that, if indeed there is such a thing as a weak guppy, it would have to do with feeding and environmental conditions during breeding. Sure, they have been inbred heavily to produce the colourful varieties that we see, but so have other fish. Angelfish are just one example. Do they fare any better than guppies? Hard to say.
Anyhow, I don't think premature guppy mortality is a genetic thing. All of the guppies that I've bought from pet shops have bred and are as tough as nails. They can easily be transferred between warm or cold stagnant ponds, to fish tanks, without even an acclimatization period.
I wouldn't be surprised if the weak guppy thing is just a numbers thing. What I mean is, our happy guppies breed like crazy, with all of the fry that we notice surviving. We can't even get rid of the bloody things! Then we buy an expensive trio from the shop for the purpose of breeding them. One dies and we're screwed... No more breeding them... That's a massive failure percentage compared to our happy home guppies, merrily breeding away. In effect though, it's only a 30% mortality from the pet shop side. A fairly standard figure?

 

Maybe topic for another thread, but 30% mortality I would not be happy with, but this is probably not uncommon, two different lfs havectold me this being their average casualty rates.
I bought 14 fish over the last 2 month, lost 2, a banded leporinus and a clown loach, both the casualties were tiny specimens around 2-3cm, (at 2cm these were the smallest clowns I have ever seen) With larger fish I have very low deaths, probably no more than a few %. I prefer to buy fish that have been at the lfs for a couple of weeks.

 

I'm just guessing on the percentage... There are too many variables and it wouldn't fair include us conscientious fish keepers in an average with people of Walmart starting their first aquarium. But you get the gist of how numbers can skew ones perception.

 

Bought a few guppy from a LFS to cycle my new tank in Jan and they dropped dead one after the other.
Got a few from my friends green tank a day later and they are still fine.
Have since passed them on to another friend to make space for my actual fish but one girl remained by accident...and she had fry two weeks ago so might have a "free to good home" offer soon.
Haven't lost any of the green tank guppy or a single neon, cory, khulli or pleco i bought at the same LFS.


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I have often wondered if they are not adding something to the LFS water.

You get there and the fish looks all healthy and active. You buy them and two days later.......

 

This is an intresting topic with lots of awnsers . I think thr difrence with angles and other fish is they are harder to bread and the guys that bread them usauly now a thing or two about breading and inproving your stock and culling where your guppy breader just dont care and so the genetics of the fish is just getting worse and worse as the weak ones are left to bread and bread agen .

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Personally I've managed to keep a couple of fish alive over the years, but Guppies (bought at the lfs) failed to get onto my survival list.

 

Interesting topic,out of 12 guppies I bought 4 males 8 females about 2 months back .
Only 2 males and 3 females are still alive ,although I have about 30 fry .

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only time ive ever lost a fish from a pet store was when I got them the same day as when they arrived ( was only a few guppies so didn't really worry )

and 3/4 of my hi-fin plecos, had to leave home for a week and the people only added fish flakes and didn't add any pellets or wafers for my plecs ( was kinda p!ssed )

but then again I'm verry picky about my pet shops.

bought fish from 2 shops where you had to stand like 2cm away from the glass to see any fish and they also managed to make it.

I really don't think the problem lies within the LFS ( they make it worse ), I think the problem comes from the breeders.

I supply 2 LFS with guppies and never had a complaint about deaths. but that's because I make sure to get rid of my old breeders and get in new ones round about every 3-6 months. ( depending on age and how many blood lines I have in the tanks )

 

Lost guppies from LPS numerous times but never one from a fellow breeder.

 

I bought 3 imported cobra males and 2 imported cobra females recently. They are very large and active and beautiful tough fish. On the same day I bought 6 imported blue males and a bunch of local blue females to breed them to. The blue males were quite a lot smaller than the cobras, although they had extremely big tails. One blue male committed suicide, and 3 died. Of the remaining 2 one is compromised (spine is bent to the side) and the other is still okay but has low energy levels. I keep these two separate in a small tank to save their energy and treated them with antibiotics for a while just to keep them alive. Obviously I won't breed with the bent spine male. I want to see how tough the babies are if I cross the remaining blue male with the tough local blue females.
PS: The huge imported female cobra had babies and they are doing well thus far, but only 2 weeks old so let's see. Some already have pitch black fins and half bodies.
Edit: I just want to add they are all treated the same. Same temp, same food, same water, same equipment so differences are not due to environmental issues at my place.
Another Edit: All males were bought at the same LFS.

 

Post us some pics, who imported them? @Anonofish

 

I will try to get some pics, my phone is really crap, but will try. Which ones do you want to see?
Fish for Africa was the store, not sure who the wholesaler was.

 

All, we always want too see everything.

 

I am definitely finding the guppies are not lasting as long. I have also discovered that they love cooler water and they also like a bit of turbulence in the water.
Check next time that you are doing a water change. It is always the guppies that swim into the water that is pouring in.
A hand full of aquarium salt is also a must for guppies.