Guppy owners weigh in

[wildroseofky]

I want to add more fish to my 29 gallon. Right now I only have two mollies, ghost shrimp, blue pearl shrimp, and mystery snails. I want a small, colorful schooling fish. I am leaning towards neon tetras but I recently saw some scissor tail guppies that I really liked. I have stayed away from guppies because I don't want to be overrun with fry. If I can sell them to the local pet place for feeders or something that might work. I haven't talked to the owner yet about it. She is going to buy my extra mystery snails though. Possibly shrimp too depending on how they breed. I checked out her fish and she had some amazing looking guppies. They were listed as fancy guppies and had the most amazing colors I have ever seen. Never seen guppies that colorful. Of course most of what I have seen where ones people where trying to give me because they had breed like rabbits. LOL

I was thinking about male only guppies but how to you sex a guppy? I have two female mollies and one male. The adult female molly is in her own tank right now because of some health problems. My two young mollies haven't breed yet. One is male and one is female. Only two surviving fry from my original two female adults. Is there anything I could add to the tank to control fry population that wouldn't eat the shrimp? I really wish someone would come up with a way to sterilize live bearers.

 

[BBradbury]

Keeping Guppies

Hello wild...

A 29 G is pretty small for a Guppy tank, unless you want to keep all males. There are better community tank fish than Guppies, too. Most fish make a target of the male's fancy tale. Any other aquarium fish with a mouth large enough will have the Guppies for lunch.

I've only found Corydoras that won't bother the Guppies. It's best for these fish to be kept in larger, well planted tanks and by themselves.

I don't think pet stores will by your extra Guppies as feeders. Guppies have very little nutritional value, because they have a high fat content. You don't want to feed your fish a high fat diet. It would be like us eating fast food all the time.

It's completely your decision, but I'd pass on the Guppies. Though I've never kept them, a true schooling fish, like Tetras, might be the better choice.

B

 

[Mebbid]

From my experience, I've never had problems keeping guppies in a 29g and they like it even more since I switched up to a 55. Also, the only fish I've had that has attacked any of my guppies to date was a temperamental killifish. If you choose to go with guppies I would suggest getting 1 male to 2 females. If you can try to get guppies from the same batch so when they breed you can pass along their babies. Also, guppies seem to be less schoolers and more explorers. they will go all over your tank but not really stick together.

Another good schooling fish to look at are Harlequin Rasboras. They are an attractive schooler that is very active and very very hardy.

 

[FishCr8zy]

From my experience, I've never had problems keeping guppies in a 29g and they like it even more since I switched up to a 55. Also, the only fish I've had that has attacked any of my guppies to date was a temperamental killifish. If you choose to go with guppies I would suggest getting 1 male to 2 females. If you can try to get guppies from the same batch so when they breed you can pass along their babies. Also, guppies seem to be less schoolers and more explorers. they will go all over your tank but not really stick together.

Another good schooling fish to look at are Harlequin Rasboras. They are an attractive schooler that is very active and very very hardy.

+1 for harliquin rasboras.

 

[Autumnsky]

You can do several male guppies together and they pretty much chase around the tank looking for a female, but since there isn't one they chase each other. Occasionally there can be a mean one, which if it were the case could be traded/given back to the store. Guppies have a higher waste than a tetra, limiting your number of them allowed for the tank. And as BBradbury said it is a little small for them, a 40 breeder is a good smaller size.

Most all those shrimp's babies would get eaten by the fish you have in there, they are a delicacy for the mollies and even larger guppies. Moss and lots of loose floating plants can help in the survival rates.

Shrimp only (with Mystery, Nerita or ramshorn snails, all ok) or with certain tiny micro rasboras/teras CAN work. Though any size shrimp they can fit in their mouth is fair game. Also some shrimp breed quickly and people don't notice much about how many are missing due to the larger populations/reproduction of them.

So far for me only the tiniest micro fish seem to have mouths so small they must not get to eat many before the shrimp grow too big to eat. The Boraras brigittae and a newer on I have stay very small which is the sundanio blue/aka axlerodi blue neon.

Other fish I have had in there with them ate like little piggies all tiny babies. Had baby Kuhli loaches and baby CPO dwarf crayfish and even White Cloud Mountain Minnows, caused my shrimp populations to decline considerably! Other fish recommended to go with dwarf shrimp like Dario/Dario aka Badis and Celestial Pearl Danios (CPDs) main prey is small invertebrates.

 

[Mebbid]

You can do several male guppies together and they pretty much chase around the tank looking for a female, but since there isn't one they chase each other. Occasionally there can be a mean one, which if it were the case could be traded/given back to the store. Guppies have a higher waste than a tetra, limiting your number of them allowed for the tank. And as BBradbury said it is a little small for them, a 40 breeder is a good smaller size.

Most all those shrimp's babies would get eaten by the fish you have in there, they are a delicacy for the mollies and even larger guppies. Moss and lots of loose floating plants can help in the survival rates.

Shrimp only (with Mystery, Nerita or ramshorn snails, all ok) or with certain tiny micro rasboras/teras CAN work. Though any size shrimp they can fit in their mouth is fair game. Also some shrimp breed quickly and people don't notice much about how many are missing due to the larger populations/reproduction of them.

So far for me only the tiniest micro fish seem to have mouths so small they must not get to eat many before the shrimp grow too big to eat. The Boraras brigittae and a newer on I have stay very small which is the sundanio blue/aka axlerodi blue neon.

Other fish I have had in there with them ate like little piggies all tiny babies. Had baby Kuhli loaches and baby CPO dwarf crayfish and even White Cloud Mountain Minnows, caused my shrimp populations to decline considerably! Other fish recommended to go with dwarf shrimp like Dario/Dario aka Badis and Celestial Pearl Danios (CPDs) main prey is small invertebrates.

Some fish will religiously hunt shrimp, particularly loaches. I also had a pair of gbr, swordtails, killifish, and guppies in with a group of 8 malawa shrimp. When I upgraded I pulled 40 of them out of the tank. As long as there is plenty of hiding places the shrimp should breed like crazy.

 

[wildroseofky]

My two adult mollies never bothered the shrimp. I started out with ghost shrimp and was surprised when I found baby ghost shrimp. My ghost shrimp have steadily increased in number. I have lots of moss and a moss "tree". I shook it out the other day and found tons of baby blue pearls and ghost shrimp larvae. The two mollies I have left are only three months old and have shown no interest in shrimp. I have seen the small rilli shrimp eating along side the mollies. I do have lots of hiding places. My adult molly is in a 10 gallon by herself with some mystery snail babies. She hasn't bothered them. They do eat their fry though. I guess I will stick with the neon tetras or some other tetra.

 

[FishCr8zy]

My two adult mollies never bothered the shrimp. I started out with ghost shrimp and was surprised when I found baby ghost shrimp. My ghost shrimp have steadily increased in number. I have lots of moss and a moss "tree". I shook it out the other day and found tons of baby blue pearls and ghost shrimp larvae. The two mollies I have left are only three months old and have shown no interest in shrimp. I have seen the small rilli shrimp eating along side the mollies. I do have lots of hiding places. My adult molly is in a 10 gallon by herself with some mystery snail babies. She hasn't bothered them. They do eat their fry though. I guess I will stick with the neon tetras or some other tetra.

Do you have a hob, canister, or sponge filter?

 

[wildroseofky]

I have an aquaclear 50 HOB and a power head that I am using to distribute the CO2. I have a sponge on the out flow to buffer the it. It was knocking the tank inhabitants around.

 

[FishCr8zy]

I have an aquaclear 50 HOB and a power head that I am using to distribute the CO2. I have a sponge on the out flow to buffer the it. It was knocking the tank inhabitants around.

You have a sponge on the filter intake or powerhead?

 

[wildroseofky]

Just on the extra power head I have in the tank. Photo follows. I do not have the HOB buffered. It is mounted in the center of the tank. The power head was one left over from an under ground filter that came with the used tank. Diffuses the CO2 very well.

 

[FishCr8zy]

Just on the extra power head I have in the tank. Photo follows. I do not have the HOB buffered. It is mounted in the center of the tank. The power head was one left over from an under ground filter that came with the used tank. Diffuses the CO2 very well.

So you can breed shrimp with a hob filter? I always thought babies would get sucked up.

 

[wildroseofky]

I thought that too. I have the intake tube about 2 inches off the substrate and until recently didn't have any kind of pre filter on it. I got some new shrimp that are smaller than the ghost shrimp so I put a piece of hose around it. My shrimp are breeding like crazy.

 

[FishCr8zy]

I thought that too. I have the intake tube about 2 inches off the substrate and until recently didn't have any kind of pre filter on it. I got some new shrimp that are smaller than the ghost shrimp so I put a piece of hose around it. My shrimp are breeding like crazy.

Huh. That is good to know. Maybe it's because your tank is semi-heavily planted and the babies hide in the moss or something.

 

[Mebbid]

Huh. That is good to know. Maybe it's because your tank is semi-heavily planted and the babies hide in the moss or something.

Some will get sucked into the filter. Some of them will probably be made into paste while others will make it through unscathed. I occasionally have to take shrimp out of my canister filter although they don't make it all the way to the impeller. You should have more shrimp breeding than you are losing to the filter. That being said, it's simple to put a piece of sponge filter over the intake to prevent the problem in the first place.

 

[Autumnsky]

For HOB

Prefilter sponge is much better than other options, like nylon knee high pantyhose stuff, and than bulk filter pad wrapped around and secured to it, and just letting them get sucked up.

Fluval Edge tank filter accessories has one which fits onto lots of HOBs, it stretches a little. If you have a really large diameter you can retrofit a sponge filter - filter, or a pond prefilter from a big box store.

 

[FishCr8zy]

Prefilter sponge is much better than other options, like nylon knee high pantyhose stuff, and than bulk filter pad wrapped around and secured to it, and just letting them get sucked up.

Fluval Edge tank filter accessories has one which fits onto lots of HOBs, it stretches a little. If you have a really large diameter you can retrofit a sponge filter - filter, or a pond prefilter from a big box store.

I'm thinking about the fluval 406 for my 55 gallon. What can I put on the intake? ( what is the best and fits comfortably )

 

[Mebbid]

I'm thinking about the fluval 406 for my 55 gallon. What can I put on the intake? ( what is the best and fits comfortably )

I just use a piece of filter sponge. it works pretty well

 

[GuppyAquatail109]

In my experience of keeping 20(or more) guppies,this might sound wierd but they barely breed and all the babies are often eaten.They tend to be a bit sensitive to disease,and die off more easily.I only have 3 left now.They are beautiful fish,but you should take caution when buying them.And for sexing the guppies,females have dull body colouring but have some colours on their tails.Males are fully coloured with longer tails and a gonopodium(The part used to breed,it is longer and thinner in males)females have fan shaped parts.For Neon Tetras,they are sensitive fish,and easily get stuck in the filter

 

[FishCr8zy]

I just use a piece of filter sponge. it works pretty well

Like the sponge in a canister filter or on a sponge filter?