Why Guppy Fry At The Bottom Of The Tank? Reasons & Solutions

Guppy fish fries have been active and fast swimmers since they are born. But sometimes, they do not actively swim here and there and lay at the bottom of the tank.

Baby guppies can swim at the bottom, which is not abnormal. But if all guppy’s fry stays at the bottom, then there should be a reason, and you should solve it quickly.

Why Guppy Fry At The Bottom Of The Tank? Newly born guppy fish fry will naturally lay at the bottom of the breeding tank as they cannot swim properly and fast. But once they become fast swimmers after one week and still lying at the bottom can happen due to water pollution such as high toxins and low temperatures.

Read the entire article, and we will elaborate on why your guppy fry is swimming at the bottom, and we will guide you on how to identify these situations.

Guppy fishes are not dwellers like Kuhli Loaches and Corydoras catfish. They are fast swimmers and stay middle of the tanks most of the time.

Why does guppy fry stay at the bottom of the tank?

What can I do if my guppy fry swims at the bottom?
Conclusion

Why does guppy fry stay at the bottom of the tank?

There can be many factors, and we need to find them carefully. We will explain a few main reasons why you saw your fry stay at the bottom of the tank.

They are newly born guppy fry.

Guppies are not bottom swimmers. They always like to swim middle of the tank. So we should not expect guppy fry to stay at the tank’s bottom.

But it is not mean that behavior is always a sign of trouble because you should know how old your guppy fries are, as you know they need a few days or maybe one week to start free swimming in the tank.

In the juvenile stage, they cannot swim fast like other fish. So it takes time to get mature and start free and fast swimmers. Guppy juveniles always hide behind the live plants and have no strength to swim, so they will mostly stay at the bottom of the tank.

Act as an investigate.

It would be best if you did not always suspect your guppy fry behaviors in their early stage.

When they start their free swim, they will also begin investigating the things in the tanks. Most of the time, they search for something at the bottom of the tank.

Many guppy fries swim to the bottom and start to seek food. Because they like to eat live feeds, they search for it in the bottom of the tank. Even if you provide floating pallets of food, they will investigate the bottom of the tank.

So make sure are they seeking food or not in the bottom of the tank.

Water pollution and ammonia levels rise.

You should check your water condition constantly and ensure it is in good condition. You can use a water test kit to do this job.

Test the water condition daily because ammonia will harm your baby guppy’s growth, and it can become a serious threat if you neglect to check the water condition.

If ammonia rises in your fish tank, it will direct to guppy fry lying at the bottom of the tank. Not only that, it will badly affect your guppy fry health. Baby guppies are still weak and have no excellent immune system strength to fight ammonia or other toxins.

Sometimes ammonia is not only the reason to guppy stay at the bottom. If you use direct tap water, then it will help to raise chlorine in your tank. So be careful when you do a water change and refilling times.

Use a powerful water pump, air pump, or filtering system.

A high-power filter system or air pump will generate a powerful water current in the tank. Baby guppies can’t swim if you make a higher water current in the tank.

If this happens continuously, baby guppies become stressed, and they will swim to the deep in your tank and stay there.

So make sure your breeding tanks get a limited and well-controlled filtering system and air pump lines. Even though, you should not stop your filtering system or air pump because baby guppies need an excellent oxygen system in their tank.

High or low temperature

Guppy fry does not expect high temperature or lower temperature. If they get a higher temperature, they will stress and lay down in the tank. And if they get lower temperatures than expected, they will easily be exposed to the diseases.

They will suffer from breathing issues, which will lead to death. So buy a suitable heater and adjust the correct value of it. Place it into the tank and monitor the tank water temperature from time to time.

Disease

The disease can be a significant factor that baby guppies stay at the bottom of the tank. So many common diseases are there. So you need to check carefully which type of disease they are infected with.

A white spot, swim bladder, fungus, and fin rot are the most common diseases to which your baby guppies can be exposed.

You can control these types of diseases quickly using medicine properly. Use always clean water and maintain the correct temperature in the tank. You can eliminate these diseases quickly in your fish tank.

What can I do if my guppy fry swims at the bottom?

You can do many things if your baby guppies do not swim or lie at the bottom of the tank. Do not let them die; you quickly follow these steps to recover your fries if you use the steps below correctly.

Properly identified symptoms

Do not take any fast action or decision until you observe troubling symptoms. The reason is some fishes like to get rest lying at the bottom of the tank. So don’t do anything until you complete your investigation.

Leave the baby guppies for a few hours and monitor what type of illness they are suffering. Set the heater to the correct value and keep watching.

Check and maintain proper water condition.

Water conditions play a primary role in the fish breeding tanks. So always check the water condition using test kits.

pH 6.8 – 7..2
General water hardness 2-20 dGH
Ammonia 0ppm

Nitrates: <20 ppm
Water temperature 29-31° C

Don’t adjust the temperature to higher or low levels suddenly. You should do this slowly and monitor the situation once you adjust the temperature. If you suddenly raise or lower the temperature will do more harm to your guppy fry than you think.

Also, if the ammonia level is higher than expected, use a conditioner to control the situation. Later you can slowly reduce water in your tank and improve the condition without shocking your guppy fries.

Feed your baby guppies properly

A proper nutrition diet will help sick guppy fries to recover quickly. Baby fries need a higher protein feed. If you can use live feeds such as Moina, brine shrimp, or vinegar eels, it will fulfill their protein requirement.

Here is the table that helps you what guppy fry need to eat depending on their age levels.

Infusoria	First 07 days
Brine shrimp	First 3 weeks
Dry pallet	From week 4 and beyond
Blood worms	From week 6 and beyond

Try to feed them more than three times per day in small amounts. Providing a few times will help to increase their growth fast.

Please don’t provide a large volume of feeding per time because it will help to pollute the water condition and raise the ammonia level.

You can use good quality build sponge filters to keep your water condition healthy.

Add air stone and filter into the tank.

If you have seen guppy fry has any oxygen or breathing issues, immediately add the extra oxygen line into the fish tank. Sometimes if you have a small breeding tank and crowd it with baby guppies, they will suffer oxygen issues.

Especially at night time, this problem will arise because live plants also absorb oxygen and release carbon dioxide. You can remove live plants at night; it will be a nice trick if you have a small breeding tank.

Identify the illness and start treating it.

Sometimes guppy fries may suffer from illnesses such as white spot, fin rot, gold dust, or other common diseases.

So first, get advice from an expert such as the nearest pet fish stall seller. Read the websites and watch YouTube videos and gather information.

Buy a small fish tank, and you can use it as a hospital tank to treat if there are any serious fish in the breeding tank.

If you do not have any serious diseases fish, start to treat the entire breeding tank. Always use recommended medicine from your nearest pet fish stall seller.

Why Are My guppy Fry Dying? Reasons And Practical Solutions
tiny fish tank

Conclusion

During the early stage of life, baby fries will stay at the bottom of the tank, and don’t expect a fast swim here and there. This can happen during the first week or maybe two weeks due to they have no strength to swim well continuously.

But once they have passed more than seven days, they should start the free swim in the tank.

Even if they are not swimming well, you must check what will happen to them. Try to identify what they are suffering. It may cause a loss of appetite or other reasons.

You can get assistance from your nearest pet fish stall and buy recommended medicine. Keep monitoring your breeding tanks until the problem will solve.