Fancy Guppy Disease?

[MyBabyTex]

I've had two fancy guppies for about two years. I had a male at the beginning, he impregnanted them and died. Then I had a number of babies fromt he two females, only 5 survived. The first female, her back began deforming and sloping down. She died a few months after. Now my other female is having the same thing happen to her. Her babies are fine.

Is this a fancy guppy disease or am I doing something wrong??

[Lexus]

No its just inbreeding. Guppies reproduce so often and so much and they dont exactly check last names before mating. They are getting so overbred and inbred that its really hard to keep them alive. Unless of course you get them from a breeder

[Damon]

Childbirthing isn't easy. Add that stress to the fact that many fancy guppies are so interbred that the strains in LFS are very weak. It equals very shortened lifespan of fancy guppies.

[sbsociety]

Last month, I saw a fancy guppy in my LFS's (99 cent returned fish) tank... It was so huge and weird lookin. The tail sloped down SO much, that it literally made a C shape. And it was huge! (for a guppy) It was about the size of my full grown sailfin mollies. I asked the guy about it, and he said he wouldn't recommend buying it. (down selling, I love it when they tell you the truth, at least he cared more about the customer than getting rid of that thing) Evidently someone bought it, a week later it was gone. It was actually cool lookin, but knowing that it's not SUPPOSED to look like that made it a scary sight. lol.

[MyBabyTex]

Thanks guys, I was wondering if it was maybe something I was doing with my tank.

Figured it might be inbreeding.

Is it safer to breed your own guppies or buy them in pet stores? Because I just bought a new male guppy and have three females, excluding the twisted one.

[doggydad38]

Breed your own. Most petshop Guppies come from Asia and are so drugged up and stressed that they are either sterile or die shortly after arriving in the States. Mixing different bloodlines will keep your fish vigorous and healthy. Be very careful when picking your breeders. Look for large, chunky bodies, bright colors, very active and curious fish. The thicker bodies will allow your male to carry his finnage and you shouldn't have to worry about him swimming around with his tail dragging him down. That is some serious inbreeding that allows a fish to end up like that. Feed your fish the very best foods that you can afford and you will be rewarded with a tank full of healthy, active fish. Remember to introduce some new "blood" every 4 generations or so to keep the line from going downhill. You can send me a message if you wish. I have been raising fancy Guppies for 5 years now and finally have my lines ready to start showing. Hope this helps.
Tony

[sbsociety]

Tony, have any pics of your fishies? Would love to see the show quality ones.