Guppies are live-bearer tropical fish. They are popular among aquarium owners due to their vibrant colors and peaceful nature. Guppies are very easy to keep fish and are great for beginners. Although they are very hardy, often guppies keep dying for no obvious reason.
The main problem is that most beginners have no clue regarding how to keep guppy fish. Therefore, they often face the problem of guppies dying in their aquarium.
I’ve created this article to help beginners figure out why their guppies are kept dying and what to do about it. I’ve also written a complete guide on how to care for guppies, where I talk about the biggest challenges of keeping guppies.
Reasons why Guppies are Dying
I will now highlight the reasons of guppy fish die in your aquarium.
1. Poor Water Quality
The most common reason for guppies dying in your aquarium is the poor water quality. By feeding your fish you actually pollute the water in your tank. Guppies produce waste (they poop and pee), which is polluting the water. Over time the pollution can become so high, that the guppies will get intoxicated and will die.
The lack of oxygen in the water can also cause guppies to die. Putting too cold or too warm water in your aquarium will cause death to your guppy fish.
Tap water contains chlorine, which is deadly to guppy fish. Though using tap water for your fish tank is find, but need to be treated before adding it to your aquarium.
2. Non-Cycled Tank
So you just started you first aquarium and you added some guppies. After one week, all your guppies started to die and you have no idea why that is happening.
Well, you did not cycle your aquarium.
Before you add fish to your aquarium, you have to cycle it first. The cycling process will take 1-2 weeks, depending on the size of your tank:
- Setup your tank and put add tank water into it
- Add de-chlorinator – I use & recommend Seachem Prime
- Add nitryfing bacteria – I use & recommend the API Quick Start
- Wait about 1-2 weeks for the beneficial bacteria to colonize the entire tank
At this point, you can perform a water test with the API Test Kit. You test for ammonia, nitrite and nitrate. Ammonia and nitrite should be at 0 ppm, while nitrate can be at a maximum 20 ppm.
At this point, you can add fish. One day after adding the fish, perform another test to see, if the bacteria can keep up with the nitrogen cycle. Keep monitoring the tank for at least one week.
3. Raising Ammonia Level
Ammonia level in the fish tank should always be at 0 ppm. That said, there should be no ammonia present in your aquarium. The nitrifying bacteria should turn ammonia right away into nitrites and then into nitrates. This is the nitrogen cycle, which I explained above.
- Ammonia can be caused by multiple factors:
- Uneaten fish food will decompose and will turn into ammonia
- Dead fish which is not removed from the tank will decay and will increase ammonia level
- Dirty filter can also be a huge source for ammonia
- Dirty substrate can also cause ammonia problems
Ammonia is very harmful for your fish. High ammonia level usually results in instant fish death. If the fish do not die instantly, because you were able fix the ammonia problem, they will still get ammonia burns. Ammonia burns will also result in death, but at much slower rate.
I love feeding my fish and watching them eat. I bet you also like feeding your fish. However, overfeeding is very dangerous.
You should feed your adult guppy fish once a day or once every other day.
Feeding too much food to your fish, can cause health issues; just like with humans.
Feeding too much can result in uneaten food. As stated above, uneaten food will pollute your aquarium and can be a huge source for raising ammonia levels.
Do not feed your guppies only the amount they can eat in 30 seconds. Repeat the process few times, until you think they got enough food.
Check out my guppy feeding / food guide, where I share a magic homemade fish food receipt, that will boost guppy growth rate significantly.
5. Overcrowded Fish Tank
Guppies reproduce at a faster pace. In a single month, female guppy fish can give birth to 20-120 guppies. That is why; it is pretty common that even larger aquariums with guppies can get overcrowded within a few months.
This can lead to a problem of not just overcrowding but lower oxygen levels. The lower oxygen levels can prove to be fatal for the guppies. That is why it is always important to control the population of guppies.
You can either do so by shifting the fishes to a separate tank or introducing only male guppies to your aquarium. This will allow you to control the population to a certain extent.
6. Water Temperature
Guppies are tropical fish. They cannot survive in cold water.
Guppy fish prefer water temperature between 72-82 °F (22-28 °C ). Guppies can survive in water with temperature as low as 64 °F (18 °C), but the chances of diseases are very high. I don’t recommend keeping guppies in water colder than 72 °F (22 °C).
Warmer water is also dangerous for guppies. As the water heats up, the oxygen level of the water lowers. In water with a temperature over 82 °F (28 °C) the oxygen level can be very low and guppies can die due suffocation.
7. Poor Guppy Genetics
When you are populating your aquarium with guppies, you should always consider guppies from trusted sources.
Guppies you will buy in big pet stores are usually the lowest quality. Although they are colorful, they might have bad genetics, which can lead to early death.
I’ve experienced myself with guppies that I bought from big pet stores do not live for more than 6 months in my aquariums.
On the other hand, guppies which come from guppy breeders can live up to 2-3 years. Sure, they cost more, but their genetics are very good and can also produce very healthy and beautiful offspring.
Some of the breeds which you can opt for are:
- Metal guppies
- Albino guppies
- Moscow guppies
- Cobra guppies
- Grass tail guppies
8. Diseases & Parasites
Due to bad genetics and poor water quality guppies can get sick quicker. There are few guppy-specific diseases. However, the most common diseases which guppies get are ick (white spots on their body), velvet (gold dust on their body), fin rot, and flukes. These common guppy diseases can be treated with the Seachem ParaGuard medication.
Unfortunately, there are diseases, which can be treated. For instance, guppy fish tuberculosis, which is caused by a bacteria called mycobacterium has no remedies. Guppies affected with this disease should be removed from the tank and destroyed to stop spreading to the other guppies.
You can read more about guppy diseases and illnesses in my other detailed article.
How to Keep Your Guppies Healthy?
In the next part I will highlight some of the things you can do to keep your guppies healthy and avoid them dying very early.
1. Proper Feeding
Feeding your guppies quality and a variety of food will definitely contribute to the life-span for your fish.
You can feed your guppy fish commercial food, but try to use food from well-known brands, such as Tetra.
You can feed flakes, veggie pellets, spirulina tablets, freeze-dried brine shrimp, tubifex or blood worms.
If you have the time and the will, you can prepare food for your guppies at home. You can cultivate live food such as daphnia, brine shrimp or vinegar eels.
If you breed guppies for fun or for profit and try to raise guppy fry quickly, here you can read about my secret food recipe for guppies.
2. Regular Water Changes
Doing regular water changes is also a key factor when it comes to keeping your guppy fish healthy.
By changing the water in your tank you will remove the toxins that are harmful to your guppy fish.
You don’t have to do big water changes. I recommend changing 20-30% of the water once a week.
Don’t be lazy and don’t skip on water changes if you want to extend the life of your fish and keep them healthy.
3. Regular Tank Maintenance
Depending on the size of the filter once or twice a month it is necessary to clean it.
If you have a sponge filter, just rinse it in aquarium water. Do not clean it in tap water, because you will kill off beneficial bacteria.
Do the same with internal or external filters. Rinse the sponge and the biological filter media with aquarium water. Don’t expose them for too long to air and don’t let it to dry out, because you want to keep the colony of beneficial bacteria intact.
It is also good to vacuum the substrate of your tank at least once a month. If you can, do some minor vacuuming every time you do a water change. This will help removing a lot of mock, which is a huge source for ammonia.
Cleaning the glass of your fish tank is not necessary but for the looks, you should do it once a week.
4. Prevent or Combat Diseases Fast
The best way to combat diseases is to prevent them. However, occasionally your fish can get sick.
It is important to start the treatment for that particular disease as soon as you see any sign of a problem. Early treatment can save your fish’s life.
If necessary, remove the sick guppy fish from the main tank and add to a quarantine tank.
Before adding new fish or plants into your already established, disease-free guppy aquarium, quarantine them. Keep your new plants or guppies for 2 weeks in a quarantine tank and if necessary treat them for parasites, just to be safe.
Wrapping it up
I really hope that this article has helped you to stop your guppies from dying.
If you still have any questions and can’t figure out why your guppy fish keep dying, please leave a comment below or send me an email describing your tank setup. I will try to help as quickly as possible to save your beautiful guppy fish.
Questions & Answers
I feel like I’ve concluded that my water care is not adequate enough and I need to do better. Thanks for this awesome article. How many fish tanks do you keep?
My guppys are swimming like they busy sinking cant stay up. Like there to heavy to swim. I have fresh plants in and bohama fine stone in the tank
I’ve come here after losing a sapphire scissor tail Guppy for unknown reasons the rest of the guppies are energetic and fine but the one that’s died has confused me
Sorry to hear that! Did this guppy look healthy? Water parameters are good? What about ammonia level?
Monitor your other guppies for a few days and check water parameters. Ammonia can kill guppies without any prior sign.
I had about 25 juvenile guppies one adult male guppy and 2 corys in a 55 gallon…the guppies are losing color then a chunk missing from the tail before dying the next day…have lost 12 of the juveniles so far…basically one a day…the tank is well established and water parameters all testing safe…tails are not frayed just a chunk missing larger than the largest fish mouth…have been doing daily water changes and doesnt seem to be helping…what could it be?
Hey Eric! This could be a sign of ammonia spikes. Guppies are very sensitive to ammonia, especially the babies. Corys are really though fish, often used to cycle aquariums.
When did you start this tank? If it is not cycled yet, then this can be the reason of ammonia spikes.
55 gallons is a decent size to keep 25+ fish in it, so I don’t think that the fish produce a ton of waste.
How much do you feed? Overfeeding can also be a source of ammonia.
Please give me more information!
My water tests are perfect except hardness. Very hard.
My guppies will do fine and then suddenly die after a day of shimmy or hanging at the top of the tank or bottom of the tank. I do a partial change every week. Our thermostat is set to go to 70 every night and maybe the heater isn’t keeping up? Is there a type of springwater I could buy here in Florida that would provide better water? Once I used Crystal springs water and the fish were all dead the next day.
What is “very hard” water? Guppies will thrive in hard water (dGH: 8-12).
Spring water may contain elements, which will harm your fish. To decrease water hardness, you can use RO/DI or distilled water.
Guppies can tolerate lower temperatures (68 °F). Check your thermostat and also water parameters. Sudden deaths could be caused by raising ammonia level. Maybe your filter and water changes can’t keep up with the raising ammonia and nitrite levels.
My guppy’s are dying and I’ve noticed that they have bumps on there heads is that common? Thank you
That is not common at all. Some disease causes bumps on their head. It is hard to say what is wrong with your guppies without seeing them. Could you send me an image using the contact form?
My guppy fish is dying now. It only moves at the certain time and it moves once I touch it. What can I do to make it live happily as before
First of all, test your water parameters. If the water is good, then it is likely some disease. Also note, that guppies like to live in swarms, so keeping only a single guppy is not recommended.
I can see white dots or white surface only guppies. After a week also my 10 guppies died. May I know the reason please
Your guppies are probably infected with ich / ick. This diseases is easy to cure, though you act fast. Check out my guide on guppy diseases to find out how to cure white spots on guppies.
Thanks to your website I will hopefully keep my fish alive and well #love your website
Help! I recently set up a guppy tank to breed and currently have around 10 fry, all was going well. This morning I woke up and one of my male guppies were dead, was very shocked. I have done a 30% water change and everything seemed fine again. However now one of my females is staying in the corner of the tank and her colour is drastically fading away I’m scared I’m going to lose her too. I can’t check my water levels until tommorow when I go to my local pet shop . What should I do??
Hi Maria. If this is a brand new setup and the tank is not cycled yet, probably there is a problem with water parameters. Ammonia and nitrite levels should be at 0ppm.
You can do partial water changes, but it takes time for the aquarium to fully cycle. It takes at least 6 weeks for an aquarium to be considered cycled.
If you do have ammonia problem, I highly recommend using Zeolite (https://amzn.to/2TTYMWS) in your filter for few weeks. This will get rid of the ammonia. But you will need to remove it from the filter, because it will get depleted after about one month.
The tank has been set up for months and is fully cycled. Just recently got the guppies I didn’t get a chance to get my water levels tested still and my female is still staying in the corners I’ll let you know my levels tommorow
Hi, I’ve lost another guppy. I had issues with my previous tank so upgraded to a slightly bigger one with a better filter. By this point I only had 1 guppy left so I got him 2 new friends. I had the new guys about a week. Everything was fine when I went to work then a couple hours later I get a message from my mum saying one had died. She checked the water and it was perfect. I also test for ammonia daily to be safe. My tanks are always cycled before introducing any fish to them. I cant work out why I keep having this issue. The other 2 guppies seem fine. I have 5 neons in the same tank which are also fine. I do have a bigger community tank which never has problems but due to the fish in that tank, I dont think it would be safe for guppies. The guppy Tank temp is at a steady 25c as I was advised this is a good temp for them. This is the only type of fish I seem to have issues with. Please help.
Do you see any type of anomaly on your guppies? Red spots, stringy poop, or anything else?
It is really hard to tell what is the problem with your guppies without seeing them.
Ammonia is at 0ppm and water temperature at 25 °C are good values.
How often you do water changes?
Just wondering if you could help me. I have the Fluval flex 57 litre tank and I keep losing guppies. I had 6 guppies and 10 neons and a lot of plants. I have lost 4 guppys now all at separate times over the last few months (I replaced one 2 weeks ago and he has died). I only have Males. I test my water every week at the local Aquarium (not a pet shop) and sometimes I’m a little low on KH but that’s it, all my levels are perfect. My water temp is always between 27-28 degrees Celsius. I have changed all my cleaning products to natural (and I cover the tank when cleaning the house as well).
I have goldfish in another tank and they are thriving. I just don’t understand why they keep dropping off. They are all spaced apart when they die and they are fine one day and then gone the next 🙁
It is really hard to tell why your guppies are dying, but I have few things I suspect.
1. The filtration can’t keep up with the number of fish. – I had the same problem on a new setup. The filter I got with my aquarium was too small for the amount of fish I was keeping in it. Often ammonia spikes were damaging and killing my guppies. Try to measure ammonia level, one hour after feeding your fish.
2. The water temperature is a bit high for your fish. At 28°C the oxygen level in the water starts to deplete. I suggest lowering the water temperature to 24 °C or add an air stone to the aquarium.
3. Don’t know from where you are buying your guppies, but if they have bad genetics, it could also be a factor of sudden, unexpected death. I found that guppies which are sold by large super markets usually have a short lifespan.
From what you wrote, I suppose your aquarium is already cycled and is running for at least 6 weeks. So this should not be a problem.
I have successfully bread guppies in the past but it has been years. I started a new tank 5 months ago (4 females, 2 males) in a 10 gallon with an African Dwarf frog. Every month or so I lose a fish and what is more odd is that they aren’t breeding. I’ve only had one batch of fry since January. The water tests fine, occasionally a little hard but no other issues. Temperature is at 78 Fahrenheit with an air stone and an Aqueon 10 gallon filter. They get fed once a day (I dont think they’re over fed as I’ve never had this issue with previous tanks) Why are they not breeding? Why are they dying? I dont know what else to try!? 🙁 All the decor was purchased at Petsmart so I dont think anything is toxic. I’ve never seen guppies not breed!?
Hi Sherri. I don’t think you are doing anything wrong. The amount of fish you keep in a 10 gallon tank is OK. Usually guppies you purchase from Petsmart or other big stores do not live long. I’m not exactly sure why, but I experienced the same and many aquarists reported the same problem.
In my opinion your guppies breed, however they might drop the fry, when you are not around. If you don’t have many hiding spaces, adult guppies will eat all the fry and you will not notice anything. I suggest you to take a photo of your female guppies often and watch their belly size. If their belly gets smaller, it means, they gave birth. Any you need to wait another month for a new batch of fry.
If you want to save your fry, add live plants. Add Java moss or Guppy grass. These are easy plants and are perfect for fry to hide.
Thank you ,for this article it is important ,good.
hi this is a great article, I think my tank is cursed. my fishing careers are over. I just cant do this they keep dying I tested the ph and its over 7.
I don’t think your tank is cursed. You just need to understand how an aquarium ecosystem works, what is ammonia, nitrite and nitrate, and how these affect your fish. I highly recommend reading about these, cycle your aquarium, let it mature and then your fish will live happily. Please let me know if you need any help.
I have the tank of death 😢
Tank has been up and running for 3weeks. I know, not long enough. Live plants put in at set up… most of these have died. Some are doing ok. All dead leaves/plants removed and partial water change done at the time. I used some of the biological filter media from my established tank to help kick start this one. The neon tetras that I moved over after a couple of weeks are thriving. Temperature set at 26C. All parameters are good. No problems there. I’ve been checking it daily. I though there might have been a problem with O2 so I added an air stone.
It’s a 63litre tank with 8 neons, and have 7 guppies left. The guppies are either in a corner at the top of the tank or hiding in the driftwood at the bottom of the tank.
So far I have lost 2 Corys. And the last couple of days I have lost 6 guppies – yes 6! Have done a partial water change after finding the dead ones today. Already did one 2 days ago.
In my opinion there are several issues with the setup:
1. the tank is very new and it is not established
2. it is ok for plants to die off while they transition to the new environment (most plants will regenerate their leaves)
3. the tank is overstocked (8 neons, 7+6 guppies, 2 corys) – there are way too many fish in that tank, considering it is 3 weeks old
Most likely ammonia is causing problems here. Guppies are very sensitive to ammonia and probably all of your guppies are affected.
If you keep so many fish in your tank, consider upgrading your filter to a larger one. It is always better to have a bigger filter and overfilter the water.
i dont have a vaccum cleaner, how do i clean the tank- can i empty it all into something temporary to clean the stones and glass?
If you don’t have a gravel vacuum cleaner, you may use a plastic tube to siphon the grave as much as you can. You don’t need to pull out all the gravel from the tank. In fact, you should not do this, because you will ruin the ecosystem of your tank. It is necessary to remove as much debris as you can from the gravel, but not by disturbing the whole tank. You can make your own gravel vacuum. Just search for DIY gravel vacuum on Google or Youtube and you will find tons of ideas on how to do it. Or, you can get a really cheap one from Amazon.
Hi, I’m new to keeping fish in my house and I bought 6 guppies as my first fish! My teacher suggested me to put some pebbles in my aquarium. And I did a lot of research on how to make my guppies living healthily in my aquarium. So I placed the stones with some small holes in it so when my female guppies are giving birth when I’m working then they have a small chance of surviving. But a few days later, one of my female guppies died under a pebble and I thought she is stuck in there and can’t get out so I made bigger holes within the pebbles. But the next day one of my male guppies died under a pebble as well and I’m very confused why and I can’t seem to find the answer in multiple websites. Can you advice me some reason?
I think that your guppies are dying because the aquarium is not cycled yet. They most likely die due to raising ammonia and nitrite levels. There is nothing to do with the pebbles. When setting up a new aquarium, you should wait at least 6 weeks before adding fish.
Hi. I recently became even more addicted to guppies. I just had 5 of them randomly die. They were all about medium sized. I don’t understand what is wrong. Water temperatures are right. I am not over feeding them. They have oxygen in the water. I have no idea. It is a 10 gallon.
Now, all the other ones (big ones) seem happy. I had just done a partial water change. My water is fine tho, because I am on well water. I still treat it though. Please help!!!
( I am going to start breeding soon)
I’ve had two guppies die in a week, the temp is at 26 Degrees and the ph is between 7 and 7.5. No nitrates in the water. What else can I test to see why this is happening ?
First you need to test for ammonia. The absence of nitrate from the water is a sign that the tank is not cycled yet. This is how the cycle process works: ammonia->nitrite->nitrates
Ammonia and nitrite should be at 0ppm and nitrates at maximum 40ppm. If nitrate is at 0ppm, it means that there is no beneficial bacteria that can convert the ammonia and nitrite to nitrates. Until your tank is not established, you will have problems.
Please help! My red tail female guppies have red spots all around her body! I tried to search for the disease and the cure but I found nothing… so
if you know anything please tell me! Thanks!
It is likely to be ammonia or nitrite poisoning. The high level of ammonia might cause internal bleeding. Unfortunately you can’t do anything about your fish, but you can do water change to reduce or eliminate ammonia. I suppose, this is a new tank and it is not cycled yet.
I had 10 guppys and 5 of them died.There was nothing on the body’s.They did’nt look sick.All that they did they swim on top of the tank where the bubble’s is and my tank’s heater is set on 26’C.
If there is no sign of any disease, probably an ammonia spike has killed them. When did you start your aquarium? Is the fish tank already cycled?
I started about 3 weeks a go with gold fish and there was mosquito fish in as well.Then we decided that we want guppy’s.So the lady at the pet store said that i need a heater and i asked her if the 2 gold fish and the mosquito fish will be fine in the warm water with the guppy’s.So when we came home we put the heater in the tank and left the guppy’s in the back in the tank for half an hour.So when the heater turned off i took out the guppy’s and put them in the tank.My 1 gold fish died first about 3 days later and sins then the 10 guppy’s died in the 2 days i took the one gold fish out and there is about 4 baby guppy’s in the tank.The guppys dont swim around they only stayed on top of the water where the bubbles is coming out from the air pump.
First, goldfish like cooler water. You can keep goldfish in water of up to 74 °F (23 °C) temperature. Guppies on the other hand can be kept in cooler water as low as 70 °F (21 °C) – so finding the balance between the two is crucial.
In your case, I think ammonia killed your fish. Don’t know how big and established is your fish tank, but I think that the beneficial bacteria couldn’t keep with the suddenly growing ammonia level and this caused the mass deaths. You should never add too many fish at once, especially in a new and small tank. Larger tanks might be fine, thanks to the higher water volume, but small tanks are very vulnerable to these big changes.
My tank is a 22L tank.if all my fish are dead what must i do to start again.A have life plants in my tank,can i still use them.And i only have the 1 pump with the thing that you put under the gravel thats working to make bubbles..What do i need for the tank and what must i do.Please help.
Well, for a 22 liter tank, that was too much livestock! In a 22 liter tank, which is about 6 gallon, you should not put more than 5-6 guppies. You should not put a goldfish in a 6 gallon tank. Goldfish are very messy and they produce a lot of waste.
The airstone that you put under gravel is useless in this case. The airstone only provides water circulation and does not actually filter the water. You need a filter if you want to keep more fish in your tank. A simple sponge filter will help a lot in eliminating those toxins.
You can certainly start over the tank. The plants are fine, in fact live plants remove some of the ammonia from the water, so you don’t need to dispose the plants.
Here is what I suggest:
1. Make a 50% water change (use water conditioner if you use tap water)
2. Leave the tank as it is for at least 1 week (2 weeks would be better)
3. Do a 20% water change after one week
4. After that you can add 3 guppies, add 3 more one week later
5. Do 20% water change once a week to maintain a healthy environment
You can add more fast growing plants if you don’t want to use a filter. Plants will help remove some of the toxins from the water, which is produced by fish waste.
Don’t overfeed your fish, because that also causes problems. Feed them once or twice a day. Give them a small amount of food that they can consume in one minute. That is enough for them.
Hope this helps you start over your tank. Be patient and give time for the tank establish itself.
Thank you very much for helping me.enjoy your day.
Hi, I had bought 5 female guppies for a 10-gallon tank with 2 bettas and 3 other males
I had another tank for the pregnant females and 2 of the females were pregnant so I moved them to the 10-gallon tank I had set up with no fish.
Less than a day later one died and soon after the other one died too. I all the others are fine and I even got 7 baby guppies from one of the females.
Do you have any clue what happened, if so I would like to know so I can prevent it in the future?
When did you setup a 10 gallon tank? Maybe it was too much stress for the females or maybe it was an ammonia spike, if the tank was very new. It is really hard to tell what happen.
I set up the tank a month before and checked the water and it was fine. I and my family both think it might have been the stress from moving from the pet store tank to a home tank or they both had something wrong with them. A few days after the 2nd female died there was a fungus that killed 3 of my fish including both my bettas and one guppy female I had that was perfectly healthy. I’m a beginner fish keeper but I loved all the fish that died and it almost quit fish keeping but I’m still at it.
There are lots of challenges when keeping fish, but I think with all pets there are some things that can go wrong.
I’m not sure why guppies bought from pet store tend to die faster. I think is due to the stress they are put through the transportation process. Most exotic fish come from the Philippines or Thailand. So you can imagine what journey they have.
I found out that best way to maintain a good guppy colony is to buy a few guppies from different pet stores and try to breed them. Their offspring, which are born and grown in your aquarium will become much more resistant and will live longer. You can also try to find a local guppy breeder or to buy juveniles guppies from someone who has too many.
I agree, I only have 5 adult guppies now but another female gave birth and now I have around 20 baby guppies. They all seem to be doing fine now and I hope something like that never happens again.
Fish keeping is not worth it. You can have perfect water, ph levels, fully cycled tank, perfect balance, everything, and fish will still die. I mean with a day or a few months. It’s like Russian Roullete with fish. Fish just don’t do well with people. I prefer birds.
I’m sure birds are also good pets, but for me they are very loud. Guppies and most small tropical fish have a short lifespan. They live for just 1-2 years. However angelfish, plecos or other bigger fish can live up to 10 years. I’ve never kept birds, but I don’t think they are easier than fish.
Can you leave your birds for two week alone if you go on vacation? Fish can be left for weeks. Guppies for example can survive for up to 2-3 weeks without feeding them. In outside pond, guppies will survive with no feeding at all. I don’t think you can do this with birds 🙂 But we all have our personal preferences.
Thanks anyway for your input!
I own fish and birds. I have 2 African Grey parrots, Kiwi and Smokey. They both are amazing but Smokey likes my dad and will bite anyone else who tries to touch her. I’m slowly earning her trust. Fish and birds both make great pets. Fish can b loving and caring and I had a betta male named Eclipse and he would eat food from my hand and even allow me to pet him. It’s sad to lose any pet that you’re attached to. My birds are both still young and I’ll most likely give up when they die. Yes, some fish are sick and die within a day or week but it’s still fun to look at them while they’re alive.
Fish are actually easy . I also like birds we have a bird aviary in the yard with finches ( I’m in S.Florida ) .