Mixing Tetras with Livebearers, Guppy Q's

[Jenn.S]

Hey everyone.
I recently lost quite a few fish in my 36 gallon tank to ich.
3 guppies and one pleco. My husband and I have been using a malachite green treatment and most recently, Melafix, plus water changes galore and then some...
The fishies who have survived are happier than ever. However, one of my turquoise fancy male guppies has a hole in his pretty tail. Any advice?

Also, I have a 14 gallon BioCube that I reserved for tetras. I had to move a few from our 15 gallon to rescue them from a very aggressive gourami. Now I feel the tank is overstocked. The water is crystal clear, but we know that doesn't mean anything. Note: I know I stocked the tank quickly but I had to rescue the tetras ASAP.
Ammonia 0
pH 7.2
Nitrite .25 ppm
Nitrate 20 ppm

We'll be doing a 50% PWC in a few minutes.

The 14 gallon BioCube has:
- 2 Black Widow tetras
- 1 black skirt tetra
- 2 Buenos Aires tetras
- 2 Lampeye tetras
- 1 bristlenose pleco (he's tiny now - we'll move him soon.)

I'd like to transfer some tetras to the 36 gallon which now houses
- 5 platys
- 2 guppies
- 3 scissor tail rasboras

Now, how long should we treat the 36 gallon to make sure all the disease is gone? After that, when is it safe to consider adding more fish?
Also, the 14 gallon BioCube is loaded! Who, if any, can move to the 36 gallon?


Talk about stress.

 

[Randi]

Your guppies tail should grow back, at first it will be almost transparent but eventually the color will return. Usually, tetras do fine with livebearers but I have a group of unusually aggressive serpae tetras (this is how I know about guppy tails). I guess it just depends on the temperament of your particular fish.

Sorry, I know nothing about medication.

 

[Jenn.S]

Thanks, Randi. We lost another guppy today, and I don't think it was from disease. My husband thinks the guppies died from stress whenever he sticks his arm in the tank to fix something.

 

[siva]

Hey again Jenn Unfortunately I don't know much about ich, but I do about the other stuff.

Guppies tails will heal..sometimes pretty slowly but they will heal. IME they heal slower than say a platy does, for some reason.

To my knowledge black skirt and black widow tetras are the same thing. I just looked up some pics to double check myself and yes, they are the same. Just wanted to throw that out there.

Guppies should not, and dare I say will not, die from the stress of a hand in their tank. Guppies are fairly carefree fish that usually swarm my hand when it enters their tank.

You should swap who's in which tank. All of the fish in the 36 are appropriate for a 14 gal. All of the fish in the 14 gal are not appropriate for a 14 gal. Easy fix Most tetras thrive in groups of 6 or 7. Once the 36 is disease free, I would stock it with:
6 Black skirt/widow tetras
6 Buenos Aires tetras
6 lampeye tetras
BN pleco
Maybe leave the platties in here if you want so you have something to swim up top more as the tetras will be mid - bottom mostly.

Also keep in mine that gourami is much too large for a 15 gal tank. I would think about re-homing him if you don't want to give him the 36 gal.

 

[Jenn.S]

siva, Thank you SO much for your wonderful advice and I'm sorry I haven't replied sooner.

Unfortunately, I lost all of my guppies. I feel so horrible about it. An employee at PetSmart told me that I needed female guppies in the mix. I had all male.

Now I have a BioCube with just a pleco; I moved all the tetras to the 36 gallon. We'll be finding a home for the plecos and the gourami soon. I found a store that takes fish. We feel like idiots.

Again, thanks so much.

 

[Jenn.S]

Oh -
the 36 gallon -

- 4 lampeye tetras
- 4 serpae tetras
- 1 big black skirt, 2 small black skirt tetras
- 3 scizzor tale rasboras (the pet store said they only get to be 4", but I'm reading 6" everywhere else.)
- 6 platys

 

[siva]

No problem You're definitely not idiots. Most of us start out messing things up a bit and after years I still mess things up sometimes!

Oh that's not true..about the guppies needing a female. I've kept as many as 20 males together and I never keep females. They are so full of it. LOL The guppies did go through some trauma, and if they came from a chain store like petsmart to begin with, I'm not at all surprised they didn't make it. I gave up on guppies from my petco ages ago when I realized I could pay $1-2 more from my local mom and pop and they would live 20 times as long! I do have lots of fish from my petco living long and happy lives, but the guppies, oh how they died on me. Maybe you can find a local mom and pop and get better stock next time. Nothing against petsmart

In your 36, if you could slowly get the other groups up to 6 each as well, that would be best for them and help keep them from their tendency to get nippy. The rasboras can get up to 5", but on that paticular fish it's not as big as it sounds, they are perfectly suited to your tank.