To be honest, guppy can live quite long (up to 20 months) if proper cares are being given.
First of all, you need to cycle the tank water first if it is a new set up.
Let the water runs for a week before releasing any fish into the tank.
The purpose of doing so is to remove all unwanted and toxic chemicals that may be found in the water.
The water is colourless and odourless, Nitrate (NO2) and Nitrite(NO3) can be very toxic to the guppy. Guppy wont die immediately , but gradually they will lose their appetite and internal organs will be harmed and eventually die.
Secondly, when guppy are purchased and brought back to home.
One has to acclimatise the water parameters inside the bags to be as close as the water parameters inside the tank.
This is to prevent pH shock and temperature different.
Many people will just open the bag and pour the fish into the aquarium, this is the wrong way of introducing the new fish into your tank.
The fish will suffer from pH shock as a slight different of pH can cause a big impact to the fish.
Furthermore, the bacteria inside the water might also go into your tank together with the fish.
The correct way is to pour the newly bought fish into a small container, use a silicon tube to siphon out the water from the tank, buy a dropper so that u can control the water to be siphon out to be one drop per second.
Slowly acclimatise the water for at least one hour before using a net to scoop the fish and release into your tank
3rd is feeding method. Do not overfed the guppy. Feed only dried food and not live food( worms) accept brine shrimps(this is the major source of protein especially to new born guppies).
4th, change the water regularly, at least twice a week, 25% every time.
Clean the filter media also every 6 months if you are using a canister filter .
Guppy is not a hard fish to take care! lets learn together and enjoy the fun of breeding guppy.
Please enjoy some pictures of my pure strain guppies:
4 months fish
