How Long Can Guppies Go Without Food?

Adult guppies can survive without food for up to 2 weeks. Guppy fry can survive for about 3 days without food. However, there are few things to consider before leaving your tank for such a long time. Guppies can live without food for weeks, so long as the water conditions are right. If you have guppy fry, you need to feed them at least once a day. So it’s not a good idea to leave fry unattended.

Before You Leave

• A few days before leaving do filter maintenance.
• One day before you leave, do a water change (50-70%).
• Put aquarium lights on a timer (your guppies need to sleep and won’t do so with constant light)
• Get rid of decaying plant matter or dying fish.

Things You’ll Need

• API Quick Start – Use this to add nitrifying bacteria to help keep the colony stable after you perform the huge water change.
• Timer for lights – if you can’t buy a timer then leave the lights off completely and allow for natural light to reach the tank. Your plants need light.
• Automatic Feeder – For guppy fry, automatic feeders are a great option to feed them while you are away.

Things To Note

• In some tanks, where microfauna and algae are present, guppy fry can survive for much longer.
• Set the automatic timer to feed the fry once a day.

External resources:

• How Long Can Guppies Go Without Feeding? | Guppy – Fishlore – https://www.fishlore.com/aquariumfishforum/threads/how-long-can-guppies-go-without-feeding.414612/