safe stock for 10g?

[thutton33]

Hello,
in addition to my other 3 aquariums, I have setup a 10g out of spare and old parts lol...

I am going to be stocking it with Guppies (nestalgic as they were first fish i ever owned)

What I am uncertain/want opinions on is:

How many guppies can safely go into a 10g tank with an aquaclear 20 (up to 20g) HOB, without it becoming over stocked, I am VERY good with my water changing schedule BTW.

Thanks for your help

 

[runninwoof]

i have
6 danios
2 cories(i nooo they like more frends!)
3 black tetras
3 neon tetras
1 dwarf pleco
3 black mollies
18 fishies total
i do 50% water changes 3 times a week
i usually have about 10 nitrates on a good day
my fish are happy and active!
i wouldnt do much more tho

 

[Johnny Tuttle]

With guppies, here's my recommendation, and I assure you that I received this or similar advice when I set up my 21 G late in the summer, and I may or may not have followed it (Check the sig)

Get 1 m, 2 f......only. That way, you can still put in a bristlenose pleco or a few pygmy cories or something like that if you wish. Here's the advice I may not have followed: plan for fry. Don't stock too much more unless you have a definitive plan for the fry.

I'd get the prettiest male you can find. I got a yellow jaguar myself, and I purposefully did get a slightly smaller one to assure myself he'd be young enough to want to breed (At another LFS later, I saw a lyretail version of the yellow jaguar and was sorely tempted, but I didn't want the two additional females, too.) Then, I got the nicest looking female at that store. (Well, I got two, but one died just after giving birth a couple of weeks later. I replaced her with another female from a different store so that the male wouldn't harrass the female I had too much.) Then, go to a new store and get their nicest looking female. This way, when you get fry, you'll get varied and interesting genes. And those females you buy will invariably be pregnant already when they come home.

I've had fish for 2 months now, and from the three guppies (with one female swapped out), I've had three rounds of babies, and the oldest of them are really showing their sexes and colors now. I'm going to have to give up all but a couple, and it's kind of sad, given how attractive they already are. I have quite a bit of genetic variety in them, too, as the male in the tank is the father for only one of the three rounds (and even that isn't guaranteed--livebearer females can store sperm for quite a while).

If you have other tanks in which you can add the fry as feeder fish, I would get a second trio (1m/2f) and really be very judicious about a bottom feeder option. Guppies are small, but the fry will inevitably up their bioload.

With guppies only, I think MTSs, an apple snail, and two kinds of shrimp would really be quite a nice little boon for the interest of the tank without upping bioload terribly.

 

[mike47517]

Babies the whole story with guppies is babies they have about 20 a month. And most females you buy from the lfs are all ready pregnent so if i were you i would just go to the lfs, then i would find a pregnent female ( look for a fat female with a gravid spot [ dark black spot near her butt, right before her tail ]), then i would bring her home and put her in the tank, then just wait for her to give birth. But watch out for the babies cause when the female gives birth to them they become prey and she will eat them for a quick snack. After you seperate your babies from the female thhen grow them up in a different tank (or you could get a divider for your 10 gallon) and once they grow to about twice the size they were born. soon they will have their colors and look pretty in your 10 gallon. And if there are any you dont like then you can just go give/trade/sell them back to your lfs. always remember to have a ratio of 1 male and 2 females because if the male is with 1 female he will harass her to death. or you could keep all males. I would say you could keep about 12 males in there alone or 10 fish if you want to have males and females. If i were you i would get maybe 3 guppies, a small school of another intresting fish (tetras, rasboras) (a cool fish is the Galaxy rasbora), and a couple of cories or ottos. Just to add more class. Have fun good luck. oh and dont forget to cycle your tank.

 

[Johnny Tuttle]

It's been my experience that if your adult guppies are well fed, they won't touch the fry. Nothing in my tank eats the fry even though I'll confess I would be pleased if they did.

 

[mike47517]

in my 10 gallon i only have 5 fish and im happy with that i'd rather the fish be happy then me he's the one that has to live there.

 

[mike47517]

It's been my experience that if your adult guppies are well fed, they won't touch the fry. Nothing in my tank eats the fry even though I'll confess I would be pleased if they did.

oh ok. i guess that would work too. But probably not with all the fish. it matters whats in there diet. baby guppies make a real healthy snack.

 

[mike47517]

Oh and if you dont want the babies in your tank you could get all males or maybe a large school if cardinal tetras they would look nice.

 

[Sparkles12]

If you plan on breeding them, I would try 1 male and 2 females (anyone correct me if I am wrong here) Maybe you could raise the fry in another tank and sell them or keep them. I'm planning to buy a pair of platys and 5 neon tetras. I'll raise the fry in my other 5 gal tank or let them be the day's special.

 

[mike47517]

(anyone correct me if I am wrong here)

your all right

 

[haykay]

for color, i personally would get all males but they can be fussy together.. Otherwise like stated above 1 male to every 2 or 3 females, but your tank will very quickly be over run with fry as the females will have 20-30 fry about every 30 days!

 

[mike47517]

The males wont be fussy if there is nothing to fuss about so as long as theres no females and you give them there space they will be fine.

 

[thutton33]

thanks for all the input, I no of the fast reproduction, this isnt a problem my other tanks contain Angels (can be fed Fry) and my main tank is a Severum and an Oscar (can be fed pretty much anything)...

the question itself was with a Aquaclear 20 (up to 20g filter) on my 10g tank how many guppies can be in it at one time safely?

Thanks

 

[Johnny Tuttle]

With only guppies and no concern for fry, you could probably go as high as 12.

 

[mike47517]

I was going to say 10, but Johnny probably knows more about guppies than me.