where oh where has my little guppy gone?

[kagome]

OMG something is eating my guppies! Ok, I added guppies to my 40g to act as little dither fish and as well to separate the guppies from the platys. I have had several Tequila Sunrise males and some fancy females. All of a sudden they are starting to disappear. I think one of the larger fish is eating them. I have never seen the rainbows go after them, even at night they pretty much just ignore them. And, the fish are disappearing overnight which leads me to believe that it may be my pleco Rocco. A guppy really wouldn't fit in one of the rainbows mouths but a guppy would easily fit in Rocco's. This morning I also found the fins of one of the missing guppies on the bottom of the tank. They had been neatly severed and were still in tact. If the rainbows were swallowing them I don't think they would leave the tails like that, I think the whole fish would just go down their gullet. I think that Rocco is pouncing on them and that one's tail stuck out from under his mouth and was cut off. What do you guys think? Is it possible the pleco is eating my guppies?

[parker002]

I don't have a lot of experience with plecos but I have read stories of them attacking other fish...

[kagome]

I have figured out that it is not my pleco! I found one of the bodies and it had obviously been broadsided by a bigger fish. I think one of the rainbows has become homicidal towards the guppies. I now only have 3 left! I want to move them but I can't put them in with the platys for sure, that's why I put them in the 40g several months ago. The only other tanks I have are the goldfish tanks, and they are large enough that the guppies would last about 10 seconds. I do have the 2 1gallon betta set ups but I was under the impression that you could not keep bettas and guppies together.

Is that right, are bettas and guppies incompatible?

[goldenpuon]

Bettas prefer softwater but guppies prefer hardwater. However, bettas are adaptable and can tolerate neutral or somewhat alkaline water too in my experience.

However, with only a gallon, I don't think the guppies and betta cen get along even short term. If the tank was big enough, I think they would be ok (like 10 gallons) but in this situation, either the betta will be nipped at by the curious guppies or the betta will try to defend its territory from them and attack them.

Do you have any tupoware containers that are at least 3 gallons? I have kept fish in these with heater and no problem (I raised guppy fry in these in fact). You would just want to make sure the tupoware plastic containers are much wider than tall. They bent slightly with the weight of teh water.

Hope that helps.

[kagome]

Good idea Renee! But instead of putting the guppies in a container I can move one of the bettas to a big container and put the guppies in the betta tank with the light and the airstone. The light keeps the water pretty darn warm. I'm going to do that and then figure out what to do with the betta longterm. You rock Renee!

[goldenpuon]

Thanks. And I am glad my idea helped.

[kagome]

I moved one of my bettas to a one and half gallon bowl. I then caught the 3 remaining guppies and filled the little one gallon set up with water from the big tank and put the guppies in there since it has aeration from the airstone and heat from the light. They seem happy. I'm going to get a bigger air pump so I can use a T-valve and run another airstone to my betta. I know they can live without the aeration but I think it makes them happier to have it. I also rigged up a light for the betta using a desk lamp that is the perfect height to sit over the bowl and give him light and provide a little heat.

[goldenpuon]

I am glad everything is working out well. I do want to point out though that I believe guppies do need plenty of aeration- especially in a one gallon.

My guppies did not do well with no aeration (a situation I had a couple times). In fact during water changes, when I turn the aeration off even for a few minutes, they start to go to the top. For that reason, I think giving them a larger air pump is a good idea or just keeping the aeration on in general.

[kagome]

Renee, just to clarify, the guppies went into the 1 gallon that has constant aeration. I moved the betta out of that tank and put him in one with no aeration. Actually, now even the betta has aeration again because I rigged up a t-valve to run to both tanks.

So far the guppies seem to be doing well in there and hopefully they will be happy in there long term.

[goldenpuon]

I am glad to hear they are doing well.