Your pregnant guppy fish is swimming up and down because it is under stress that can be caused for a variety of reasons. In this article we are going to look at some of the most common reasons of stress in guppy fish and how you can eliminate it to the maximum level so that fish feel safe and live in a healthy habitat.
Is Guppy following it’s own reflection?
Sometimes it is found that your guppy even if she’s pregnant is perfectly healthy but just trying to follow it’s own reelection she sees on the fish tank glass.
Many fish tank owners have mentioned these particular problems in a guppy tank where the female or the male continuously swims up and down for a while. This could be because they see their own reflection on the tank glass wall.
A simple solution to this problem is to add a vertical plant or a decorating item, so that the reflection of the fish is temporarily vanished and fish gets relieved of it’s own image. Watching it’s own exactly identical in the fish tank can be a little stressful for the fish and it can be really exhausting for him to chase it’s own image. It’s even possible that because of fear it is trying to run away from the reflection to find a safe spot but getting tired and going under stress.
If adding a simple plant or a piece of vertical decoration doesn’t work, you can move on to diagnose the issue by considering other causes of stress or disease of any kind.
Reasons of stress in fish
1) Bad water conditions
Bad water conditions is the primary reason of stress in not just guppies but all fish that live in a fish tank. Not following a strict maintenance schedule can cause water to lose it’s required purity for healthy life of fish.
Fish survive on dissolved oxygen in the tank water but if levels of other toxic gases start to increase then this can he really dangerous for fish. The first things that happen with fish are that they go under stress and this reduces their immunity a lot.
With such a weak immunity they attract lots of disease and in many cases much of these disease are contagious. This means when one fish gets affected, he transfers this to another fish and the entire tank gets affected because of negligence.
2) Swim bladder disease
Fish are likely to swim up and down due to a disease called as “Swim bladder disease”. A swim bladder is an internal organ in a fish which is filled with a particular gas. Fish can control the amount of gas in this swim bladder by inflating and deflating it’s gas volume. By doing so they can move up or down in the fish tank water column.
If for some reason the swim bladder gets affected fish lose the ability control it’s inflation and deflation and fish start swimming erratically, sideways or lose the ability to maintain a steady level in the tank.
3) Bullying from dominant fish
A pregnant guppy could be possibly swimming up and down because of bullying from other dominant guppy fish as well. In a community tank “survival of the fittest” is the rule and other dominant male fish can try to dominate the female for mating purposes. Such bullying can cause a lot of stress easily.
4) Overcrowding
Avoid overcrowding your tank with too many fish. Many new fish tank owners commit this mistake of buying too many fish at once out of excitement when they start out. Many people buy fish because they look good or are attractive and end up crowding the fish tank with too many fish.
If your tank is big enough then fish will have room to move around and play with habitat but if water volume is small then the biggest downside of this is it will quickly get filled with toxic gases.
It’s obvious that too many fish will contaminate less water quickly. It is always easier to maintain a bigger tank than a smaller one because the more the water volume, chances of getting it toxic takes much more time than a smaller tank with less water volume.
In a smaller tank with too many fish the solid waste generated by those many fish gets settled at the bottom of the tank and start decaying. If the water volume of small it quickly becomes a toxic gas chamber and maintaining it frequently becomes a necessity. Poop, uneaten food particles, dead plants and other material start to decay at the bottom of the tank and get converted into extremely harmful ammonia.
Partial water change is the only way to maintain healthy levels of dissolved gases in a tank. Another way to maintain healthy levels of toxic gases is to have a planted tank but it required a learning curve and new people entering into this hobby may not opt for this set up right from start.
5) Sudden water changes
Avoid sudden large water changes in your tank. Water in fish tank contains toxic gases but at the same time also has beneficial bacteria that break down toxic gases into less harmful one. If you remove too much water from your tank these beneficial bacterial will vanish and it takes a while to build them up again. This can send your fish into shock and lead to great amount of stress.
Any sort of stress in fish can be identified by erratic swimming patters such as swimming up and down, relaxing at a corner, staying or hiding behind plants and decorations, not eating, loss of appetite, loss or fading of skin color etc.
6) Male to female ratio
Maintain male to female ratio in your fish tank. This is another common mistake new fish tank owners commit. They buy fish without thinking of the fact that these are animals and they have mating instincts. If you keep too many male fish and just one female then they are bound to fight and even kill each other over mating for the female.
Aggression and bullying from other fish is a major reason for stress in a fish tank. To avoid fights and deaths you must maintain male to female ratio. If you see female pregnant fish moving up and down of the tank constantly then observe this male to female ratio and see if this is the reason or not.
Causes of swim bladder disease
- Constipation is considered one of the reasons of this disease. Due to constipation the intestine exerts a pressure on the swim bladder and fish lose the ability to control the amount of gas coming out and going in the swim bladder.
- The second reason for a fish gets affected because of swim bladder disease could be internal parasites. These can enter a fish body through infected water or if you introduce an already sick fish in the tank.
How to cure the swim bladder disease?
If the swim bladder disease is because of constipation then there is a simple sure to it.
- Don’t feed your fish for 48 hours hen start this treatment.
- Boil handful of green peas and peel off their outer cover.
- Then crush the green peas and feed them to the infected fish.
- You can separate the infected fish to a hospital tank and do this experiment.
- By doing so you’ll see fish getting relieved of constipation and then he’ll be able to control the swim bladder in a much better way.
- If you do not see any substantial improvement then you can add Epsom salt to the hospital tank where you can separated the infected fish. The recommended dosage for aquarium salt is 1 tspn per gallon of water volume.
Shift a pregnant guppy to a hospital tank
Not just guppy but every fish in an aquarium needs a habitat that makes them happy and as the owner and creator of this tank it’s your responsibility to make sure that fish get the kind of environment where they feel safe and live a longer and healthy life.
If your guppy is constantly swimming up and down the tank, like glass surfing then it’s definitely not normal and needs careful attention. When a female guppy is pregnant then it’s time that anytime soon she will give birth to hundreds of fry and this can be a stressful situation as the fry in her belly exerts pressure on internal organs.
In most cases a pregnant guppy is separated in a breeding box or a hospital tank because of the threat from other dominating male guppies. To protect newborn fry from eating by other dominant male guppies it is better to shift the pregnant guppy to a new tank where she can give birth safely.
To feel her safe it is necessary that you follow all the required parameters of water quality, water temperature, required minimum equipment, fish food diet etc.
By shifting her to a new tank alone it will be easier to observe her erratic swimming patters, (if any) change in food consumption, changes in color, mood swings etc. When a fish is under stress normally he or she will display visible changes in swimming patters, energy levels, drop of appetite, etc.
If you find visible changes in her behaviors, it will easier to start any treatment if required. Most treatments in fish do not require anti-biotics if your spot them at an early stage. Fish like guppy are tiny and extremely sensitive to slight changes in water parameters like temperature, changes in dissolved oxygen levels, or increase in toxic gases like ammonia. etc.
If you find your pregnant guppy swimming up and down constantly then maybe she in under stress and requires immediate attention.