So many questions, adventures in to fresh water

[emilygupps]

Hello every one, I'm Emily, I have a 30 gal eclipse set up. It's taller than long (does 18 inches sound right?) the last two weeks have been an adventure. Really a series of misadventures.

Originally we tried to do a small guppy pond in our front yard. Sounded like a great idea but we forgot to take in to account the unpredictable Southern California weather. We stocked the pond after the third day with four guppies. Two LARGE females, a small adult male, and a very young male only 1/8 of an inch long. The first day one female died then the second on the next day. We felt horrible so we got a used tank that night and cycled it only for 12 hours before added the two boys because we didn't want to leave then in a rubber ware for a week. All seemed fine for the first week.

Then we added three more fancy males from the specialty lfs. Great for three more days, so we get three long fin dianos, perfect. I come home two days after that with two ghost shrimp.

The day I showed up with shrimp my baby was dead. Poor little guy had been through hell. Over the last few days two of the fancy guppies have gotten dilated eyes and they're hiding in the plants I'm sure one will be dead in a few hours. Every one else seems fine. The dianos are so fun to watch and the third fancy guppy will school with them. The small sole

 

[emilygupps]

(Sorry my son sent that before I could finish) the sole surviving original guppy is healthiest of all. Nipping fins and darting every where.

Idk the chemistry we are buying a test kit Monday. I probably should have bought one first. Ugh. Feel so bad.

Questions: my shrimp are always hiding, and I've only seen one of them eat some fish flake. They come out at night right? Do they need algae tabs? The girl at petco says 3 dianos will be okay, but how would I know if they were stressed? Not adding any thing for a month until every thing settles down but is it truly okay to only have male guppies with no females? How long dies miss take to grow? One of my long fins was reaaaaaaly fat, is that one a female? The other two are really narrow.

Thanks so much for all your help in advance. I've made lots of mistakes but I really want to get this right.