My wife & fancy guppies

[Cloud]

Every weekend my wife and I walk down to our local LFS and talk to the owner and see the new stock he has.

Just about every time we go she tells me how much she wants the fancy guppys and how pretty they are. I am hesitant because of their tails that they will be nipped at...I tell her this every time.


Now that we got the Betta and it seems to be working in our community tank, I am thinking about surprise her with a few of her fishies of choice.


my question to you- Have you ever had Fancys in a community tank? did it work? if so, how many should I get?

Thanks in advance.


Current stock is 3 dwarf gouramis- Opaline gourami- male beta- and 7 bleeding heart tetras- 55 gallon tank.

 

[rich311k]

It could work. You may have a problem with the betta attacking the guppies. The fancy males look like other bettas to bettas.

 

[An t-iasg]

I have seen some kinds of tetras attacking a betta. The tetras are attracted to the flowing fins and the slow-moving tendencies of the betta. Guppies would probably be attacked by the betta since, like Rich said, the betta mistakes the guppies' long and flowing tails for another male betta.

A 55 gallon tank may be big enough for them all to live peacefully with the addtion of the guppies, but - if this tank is working out now - the betta is not being nipped by the tetras, and the betta and gouramis all get along - I would not disrupt this mix, IMO. You could easily set up a 10 gallon tank for 4 or 5 fancy male guppies.

 

[ace]

When I was 9 I bought a couple of fancy guppies for my african cichlid tank. (not my brightest moment) Thinking of it now I really feel sorry for the little guys and how they must have felt being put in a tank with about 25 African Cichlids. Needles to say they did not last the night.

 

[BrianNY]

Probably the best thing to do would be surprise her with a 10g guppy tank of her own. Communty tanks require a bit of luck too. Often fish which are sold as community fish turn out not to be. I'm leary of any gourami species being housed with fish that have long flowing fins, or are slow swimmers. JMO

 

[Cloud]

Thanks for the advice everyone...Kind of supported what I've been thinking all along.


I'll keep an eye out for a good deal of a tank of her own so she stays out of mine!!!!

 

[Rondory]

Probably the best thing to do would be surprise her with a 10g guppy tank of her own.

Heck, get a 20g! Guppies are the most fun when you can breed them and keep the young.

 

[tropicfishman]

my sister in law and brother had a bunch in there community 55 with mollys and sword tails, worked fine till i dropped one out of the net opn floor on accident, and beleieve it or not it actually fell in the AC vent

 

[Guest]

if you do get guppies keep in mind they breed like CRAZY. When mine breed i scoop out as many babies as i can and dump them in my african cichlid tank.

also as was stated. Betta's will attack fish that look like them. Guppies have a longish body and flowing fins!

 

[jrp1588]

I second the idea of getting her a little tank of her own. I'd be leary about putting guppies in with somewhat aggressive fish. Gourami's can be a little mean at times.