Luananeko
Aquarium Advice Addict
I have a heavily planted 75 gallon community tank that recently had a columnaris outbreak wipe out half my stock... Now that things seem to have stabilized, I'm taking the opportunity to re-evaluate how I want it stocked. I've always kept 8+ male guppies before now but I've noticed while researching compatibilities that they're actually recommended to be kept in more alkaline water than I have... But this seems to be inconsistent. Some sites say 5.5-8.0 ph, others say 7-8.5... Which one is accurate? My tank usually sits around 6.5 thanks to the driftwood and plants, so keeping it alkaline would be difficult and not very good for the other tankmates.
I seem to go through spurts of losing half my guppies (one by one they get reclusive and then vanish, then it stabilizes a while before happening again) and I'm trying to figure out if it's because I have them in more acidic water than usual, if it's because I don't keep females and the boys are just picking each other off, or if it's because they're just relatively short lived in general... I love their looks and activity, but if they just aren't acidic tolerant at all then I guess I'll have to find some other colorful dither fish for my planned restock
I'm fairly certain the other tankmates aren't the issue, as no one chases them (not even the betta or gourami), and their fins aren't getting nipped other than the occasional minor issue by themselves in usual bachelor pad bickering fashion. They're all from different sources and have been bought at different times, so I can't link the deaths to a specific source either...
Any ideas? Are they just not meant to be, do I not have enough boys, or is this just normal for them? Thanks!
I seem to go through spurts of losing half my guppies (one by one they get reclusive and then vanish, then it stabilizes a while before happening again) and I'm trying to figure out if it's because I have them in more acidic water than usual, if it's because I don't keep females and the boys are just picking each other off, or if it's because they're just relatively short lived in general... I love their looks and activity, but if they just aren't acidic tolerant at all then I guess I'll have to find some other colorful dither fish for my planned restock
I'm fairly certain the other tankmates aren't the issue, as no one chases them (not even the betta or gourami), and their fins aren't getting nipped other than the occasional minor issue by themselves in usual bachelor pad bickering fashion. They're all from different sources and have been bought at different times, so I can't link the deaths to a specific source either...Any ideas? Are they just not meant to be, do I not have enough boys, or is this just normal for them? Thanks!
