Fasting guppys?

Fishman1995

Superstar Fish
May 11, 2010
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North Carolina
#1
Okay, i added in my fish this past saturday for my 5.5 gallon. PLEASE dont fuss at me, i am going to be upgrading according to my mom since she told me to get a Chinese Algae Eater. I have 2 Tequila sunrise Male guppys in with him/her. The algae eater is VERY young he/she is roughly maybe 3 inchs. I feed him Shrimp Pellets and i give the guppys a varied diet of Freeze dried brine shrimp, freeze dried bloodworms and flakes. they also eat some of the shrimp pellets. Now my issue is one is looking uncomfortably fat. and i need to be able to get him to loose weight but he must stay in the 5 gallon with his other guppy buddy and the algae eater, i still have to feed the algae eater of course so should i just put in a tiny shrimp pellet towards his mouth and feed the guppys 2-3 flakets (word for tiny flakes) a peice? Or should i just do the shrimp pellet and not feed the guppys for a day or two? Also, are they going to be snacking on the snail eggs if they ever find them? cause if so they are gonna explode cause i find at least 1 clump every 2 days. Ive had a guppys stomach come out of its body and it lived til i just uthenized it. I dont want that again of course and as i repeat, i will be upgrading within the next 2 months and setting up my 10 gallon again also for the alage eater and then il buy Oto's for my 5.5. A pair probably. Luckily my LFS is successful at getting them on Alage wafers and theres a life plant in there for extra food. So what do you guys think besides the fact that im a insane crazy teenager who really isnt suited for tanks under 55 gallons?
 

misterking

Superstar Fish
Aug 12, 2008
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Manchester, UK
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#2
Don't even get me started on the algae eater.. All I'll say is it will outgrow your 10.

Your guppy sounds ill, not "fat". Is it only that one which is swollen? Any scales sticking up/redness in the belly/other odd signs? Pictures may also be a good idea here. Female guppies are getting fancier by the day.. are you absolutely certain yours is a male?
 

Last edited:
Apr 1, 2006
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South England UK
#4
Wow haha, well if it's just fat it wont harm to not feed any of the fish for a day at least.. i had to stop feeding my bottom feeders for 2 and a half days just to get the otto's to start eating algae.

I'm gunna have to do it again now... growing out of control.

haha
 

Fishman1995

Superstar Fish
May 11, 2010
1,341
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North Carolina
#5
Its like the people at the pet store overfeed there fish or something. And yes Ryanoh, i have had a male guppy's intestines come out of its skin and it still go on about its daily life. Here is some pictures, first one is the "fat" one (right) skinny one (left) and the second one is just the fat one and they third is my alage eater and btw both guppys are males because A they were labled that at the pet store and B the both have Gonopodiums :D
 

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Oct 29, 2010
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#6
I feed him Shrimp Pellets and i give the guppys a varied diet of Freeze dried brine shrimp, freeze dried bloodworms and flakes. they also eat some of the shrimp pellets. ?
Do you give them this varied diet daily?

They just look like they have very full bellies. They only need a couple crumbles of one type of food daily, at most. That's total, not each. Then you can alternate foods for variety.

Fishman, that algae eater will grow to be a foot long and extremely vicious. It needs to be returned. And your five gallon won't healthily support otocinclus - they're too delicate. Nerite snails would fix any algae problem and look totally awesome *thumbsups
 

Oct 15, 2010
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#7
Ok. You know about the algae eater (as you said- needs a HUGE tank). Freeze dried bloodworms, and brine shrimp CAN (and do very commonly) cause bloating in fish.
1. What kind of flake food?
2. How much of each food, and how often are you feeding the fish?
 

Oct 29, 2010
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#8
Ooh, good point betta lover! I'd forgotten about the problems with freeze dried stuff.

Fishman, to avoid that problem try soaking bloodworms/brine shrimp in tank water for ten minutes or so before feeding :)
 

Fishman1995

Superstar Fish
May 11, 2010
1,341
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North Carolina
#9
I do soak them, and the brine shrimp are applied to the tank wall, you simply break off a tiny chunk and press firmly to tank wall and it sticks and they can feed. I give them ONE type a day. For example: Today they got brine's, tommorow they will receive some flakes and wensday they will get bloodworms, thursday they will get flakes and so on (dont like to give them 2 freeze drieds back to back) also, i give them TINY amounts, and i feed them once a day. But they also eat some of the shrimp pellet the algae eater does.

Yes i know i must eventually get rid of the alage eater, but as i was in the fish store lookin around i picked the 2 guppys and mama says "Now pick a bottom feeder" and i was thinking Oto's but obvioulsy i doubt theyd live and mama seen the CAE's and said " Ya know i had one of those and he did good in my tank" (her 10 gallon did great and she didnt even set it up right and she loves to rub it in) so i got it, as we were paying, the LFS lady goes " what size tank you got?" i said 5 gallon, she said "hes gonna wanna upgrade soon" mama said "oh hes had a 20 gallon before" so im assuming im getting an upgrade or something.