Pale guppies

[Jimmy]

LFS had great looking mutt guppy tanks to look through. I brought home 3 females with nice red tails who appear to be from the same stock. Also grabbed one lucky male too keep them company. He’s nothing high end just good health initially.

I’ve had the fish in my care for 2 days.

Water is moderately hard, 0 ammonia and nitrite. Temp 74~. All four guppy’s look kinda washed out but in great health otherwise. Eat like voracious pigs. I haven’t brought home fish in awhile so I’m a little jumpy. Should I be concerned? Do some guppies  take a length of time to color back up? 
Pardon my ignorance, I don’t typically keep guppies!

This is a particularly bad photo they are squirmy buggers. 

Edited September 14, 2021 by Jimmy

[RyanU]

How long ago did you put them in there? With new surroundings they may be a little unsure of things. Give them a few days and they should color back up.

[Beardedbillygoat1975]

Good food and a couple water changes before judging them would be my recommendation.

[Jimmy]

On 9/13/2021 at 6:56 PM, RyanU said:

How long ago did you put them in there? With new surroundings they may be a little unsure of things. Give them a few days and they should color back up.

I edited my post, I’ve had them for 2 days now.

[Jimmy]

On 9/13/2021 at 7:00 PM, Beardedbillygoat1975 said:

Good food and a couple water changes before judging them would be my recommendation.

Ok 👍. I prefer to leave the water alone if possible. Slightly cloudy from new aragonite. Feeding them Xtreme currently 

[RyanU]

I would give them another couple days. 

[lefty o]

sometimes it can take a few days for them to get back to full color. from the picture, he looks healthy.

[Jimmy]

On 9/13/2021 at 7:06 PM, RyanU said:

I would give them another couple days. 

I guess my concern is weak guppies. People talk about the strains not being what they used to be. Every guppy they had in the shop looked great. Not they call for 75 bucks for a trio great but they looked healthy and active. 

[Jimmy]

On 9/13/2021 at 7:36 PM, lefty o said:

sometimes it can take a few days for them to get back to full color. from the picture, he looks healthy.

I’m going to monitor them

[Hobbit]

I don’t know anything about guppies, but I know some fish shift their color slightly depending on the color of their surroundings.

[Guppysnail]

When my one heater stopped working my guppies became pale. I have had them do well from 76.5-80. 77.5-78 seems to be the sweet spot for them in my tanks. I don’t know what your other stock is but if they remain pale maybe slowly increase temp. 

[ARMYVET]

I have hard water...TDS above 200 out of my well which is perfect for livebearers.  I do not heat the water at all in my fish room...in fact it is air conditioned.  My water remains rock solid at 80-81 deg. never below or above even though I have tried to lower it a bit it says nope and doesn't budge.  All my Guppies are thriving and look fantastic plus breeding like they have nothing better to do.....well I guess they don't but that's besides the point.  

I think 74 is on the low side.  If you have mod hard water then i would just bump the temp up a bit and give them clean water and quality food and they will reward you with dozens of little surprises very soon.

[Jimmy]

On 9/13/2021 at 10:46 PM, Hobbit said:

I don’t know anything about guppies, but I know some fish shift their color slightly depending on the color of their surroundings.

I’m going to give it some time maybe it’s the aragonite substrate who knows 

[Beardedbillygoat1975]

Aragonite is great for guppies! I’m sure just giving it more time will do the trick. 

[lefty o]

ill disagree with the others on temp. for me guppies have always done great in 72-74 degree water.

[Beardedbillygoat1975]

With guppies the higher the temp the higher their metabolic rate. They’ll mature faster and not live as long. Breeders keep them hotter to get them to breed quicker and the fry to mature fast to sell. Keeping them cooler allows you to have them longer. Raising the temp can induce them to breed and drop fry.

[lefty o]

On 9/14/2021 at 11:12 AM, Beardedbillygoat1975 said:

With guppies the higher the temp the higher their metabolic rate. They’ll mature faster and not live as long. Breeders keep them hotter to get them to breed quicker and the fry to mature fast to sell. Keeping them cooler allows you to have them longer. Raising the temp can induce them to breed and drop fry.

and if they are happy, even at 70 you will get more babies than you know what to do with.

[Jimmy]

On 9/14/2021 at 6:44 AM, Beardedbillygoat1975 said:

Aragonite is great for guppies! I’m sure just giving it more time will do the trick. 

I sure hope so! I’m a pretty decent aquarist so bringing them home to have them drop their color is a hit to my ego. I’ve never been into guppy’s it’s just a fun and inexpensive way to get some immediate life to my brand new fish room. They are high activity all over the water column which I find fun

[Brandon p]

@Jimmyhas the substrate changed. I had some guppies that were in a grow-out with white sand. I moved them to a dark substrate and the fish got darker over the weeks time. Just a thought. My tank is not heated but I’m in south Florida and my house is about 78 and there water is about 76

[Jimmy]

On 9/14/2021 at 10:00 AM, Brandon p said:

@Jimmyhas the substrate changed. I had some guppies that were in a grow-out with white sand. I moved them to a dark substrate and the fish got darker over the weeks time. Just a thought. My tank is not heated but I’m in south Florida and my house is about 78 and there water is about 76

They were on dark at LFS. I have them on aragonite. I’m willing to believe it’s the substrate but they are dumb guppies who seek WELL acclimated 

[lefty o]

On 9/14/2021 at 12:00 PM, Jimmy said:

I sure hope so! I’m a pretty decent aquarist so bringing them home to have them drop their color is a hit to my ego. I’ve never been into guppy’s it’s just a fun and inexpensive way to get some immediate life to my brand new fish room. They are high activity all over the water column which I find fun

if they are active and all over, i would not be concerned. when guppies are ill they tend to hang out high in corners, or sit on the bottom.