AboutChris Robbins Expertise I have 25+ years of personal experience as a pet
store employee and manager in the family pet store
business. The main part of our business was
Freshwater Fish. I can answer questions on; Fish care, diseases,
parasites and fish identification, feeding your
fish, breeding and sexing your fish, setting up
your aquarium, cleaning your aquarium, and
"what`s this weird stuff in my tank/on my
fish" questions. I am not an African Cichlid expert, Plant expert or Brackish Expert. No Pond or Saltwater Questions Please.
Experience I worked in and managed my family's fish and pet and fish store for 26 years and maintained the 35 aquariums. My experience also has included occasional in-home consultation and aquarium maintenance for my clients.
Expert: Chris Robbins Date: 4/23/2008 Subject: my fish
Question hi i just bought 4 guppy's for my daughter and 2 of them died last night when i was taking them out of the tank i found 6 babies so i had to change the water because it was a mess from me stirring it up and then i found one more that died i don't no what to do they keep dieing maybe i feed them to much because there was a lot of stuff in the bottom of the tank...i don't have a heater in my tank maybe they were to cold...and its only a small tank what should i do to try to keep the babies from dieing??
Answer Hi Amanda;
Your tank is new so it will be going through the break-in period. Break-in, also called "cyclng" or "New Tank Syndrome" is very stressful to fish. It takes about 6 weeks after your first fish is added to get through the break-in. Make a 25% water change right away to reduce waste toxins as it goes through the process. You may have to make water changes daily to get them through it. Here is a link to my web page about new tanks to explain what's going on in there;
Your tank could also be too small or they are just stressed out and in shock from being moved to a new home. One guppy needs at least one gallon of water. They are cooler water fish so they don't need a heater unless the room temperature drops below 65f. They do need a filter. Here is a web page about guppies;
