how many guppies

[fisharefriendsnotfood32]

Daughter wants to take up fish keeping so we bought a 30L aquarium.

I have previously kept cold water fish so we are venturing over to the tropical side.

Have tested the water this morning and the empty tank is cycled.

After lots of time spent in the fish store she has decided on guppies. How many would fit in a 30L? We were thinking 5-6 but I am getting conflicting advise.

Is there anything we need to put in the tank as it is bare at the moment with only gravel in it?

How did you cycle the tank?

To be honest with you a 30 litre is too small for fish generally. Your choices are severely limited to some of the more delicate micro fish species (e.g. chili rasbora) or a colony of red cherry shrimp. You could keep a single Siamese fighting fish, although I personally would prefer a bigger tank.

Small tanks need a lot more attention and regular maintenance than a larger tank. With such a tiny volume of water any issues can quickly affect water quality and poison the inhabitants.

I used fish food to cycle and have readings of Am 0 nitrite 0 nitrate 5 using a master kit. The cycle has taken place on cold water but I have a heater now and will go tropical.

Will guppies not work in a 30L then? The fish shop was rather knowledgeable and said that would be fine with 1/4 water change and gravel clean weekly however even if it's twice weekly that's ok.

I need to get the water upto temp before deciding what fish.

I'm undecided with the fighting fish as I may look to upgrade in a few months so would like something that may mix better with other fish. I've seen a rather nice 150L that I'm keeping my eye on. I do like the fluval edge as they have just brought out a new one but it's only small, if they bring it out in the larger form I may get that instead. But accessing it for maintenance seems to be tricky.

If you only have 5 nitrate then your tank isn't cycled enough for fish I'm afraid. Most tap water has 5-10 nitrate in it to start with. At the end of cycling nitrate should be high off the scale (I'm talking 100+). You can't really cycle cold and then heat the water, you'll likely kill the bacteria that have cultured in cold conditions. Please take a massive pinch of salt with the advice from the shop. Most places will not give you correct advice.

Cycling a tank properly will take several weeks, normally at least three.

The Fluval Edge is not pleasant for fish as it completely restricts the surface area. It's not conducive to good oxygen absorption either. They may look neat but are a massive pain to clean.

The tanks been running for 6 weeks now and the nitrate did go upto 140ppm of the top of my head it was way over 100. And has been reducing over the last 2 weeks. Is it not done yet?

My H has said he would be happy to have a bigger 2nd tank so I'm looking for something to get the hang of that can live happily in there until we can get a larger tank that mixes well with other fish. Can you think of something or a small group that would happily live in a 30 that mixes well.

We would love a reef tank but after reading up on it and talking to the shop I just don't think it will be for us. So looking for the prettiest tropical fish really,

Love the look of the fluval edge but the shop even said about the surface area as it has to be filled right up to get the seamless look and the lid is tiny so it's not a option.

Hate the biorbs so we will be looking for a classic tank but modern not wood. But it will have to fit into my lounge theme of white and red.

Nitrate is only removed by:
A. Changing water, or
B. Plants utilizing it.

If you don't continually provide a source of ammonia to the bacteria they will die off.

You could look at Juwel tanks. They are fairly smart and the internal filter works well when paired with an external filter in addition.

If you're set on guppies, be aware that they multiply like mad so you'll need a plan for what to do with the babies, unless you keep all males.

I've been led a stray. We only had to go to the garden center to get some bags of soil and we have ended up buying a new tank and stand.

It was a ex display model and is a modern looking unit with slab doors tank and pelmet and is approx 182L they worked it out as. it was a bargain price of £350 should be over £600 as the cabinet sits quite tall.

It's light wood effect but we are going to replace the doors with IKEA ones that match out tv surround and are going to get some sticky back plastic and cover the visible bits with that.

We just had to get it. Have quite a bit more fish swimming place to fill now.

Will have to work out what we are doing with the smaller tank now. The guppies I had my eye on were all male. H wants to get goldfish I want to go tropical on both but no idea what I want or what mixes well.

Goldfish are big and messy. They will shred any plants you buy. If you can stick to tropical you'll have a lot more choice, especially if you stick to relatively small fish.

It's a great size tank you've chosen. Now to plan what you want in it. Rocks and gravel, dirt and plants, aggressive fish, peaceful fish, schooling fish, shrimp, do you want a species setup or a mixed community?

Think we will be going for gravel. The small gravel. H is fascinated by the bubble ornaments a few in the store had little air stones in so we will no doubt be incorporating those into it.

The garden center near us specializes in marine so we didn't see too many tropical. I think a school of smaller fish would be nice but we would really like different sizes of fish as colourful or as many colors as possible.

I would love marine but the special salt water puts me off as its finding a place to stock it and extra cost. Would love to get as close to the marine prettiness as possible.

Loved the colours of discus but they don't do much would like more active fish. And heard they are hard to keep. Our water PH is around the 7.6 mark.

PH is less important than water hardness. Discus need very soft water to do well, meaning most keepers of discus won't use tap water, they'll use filtered, RO water. It's a massive investment in time and money to keep them well. I find discus quite boring myself. I think you're right to dismiss them as a beginner (and I would not recommend marine unless you're a massive geek and are willing to learn a lot very quickly, let alone the financial investment).

If you want gravel does this mean you're not interested in plants?

You seem quite preoccupied with colour rather than behaviour. I'd recommend you browse fish shops and note down the species you like the look of. Then you can match what suits your water parameters and see what will be compatible temperament-wise.

Not looking at real plants possibly a few artificial ones to hide some of the filtration.

But we are looking at a bit of a wait at the moment as our tank got delivered this afternoon, was due to come this morning. As it was a ex display it wasn't packaged. The stand and hood are here but they unfortunately they smashed the tank loading it. They managed to contact the manufacture and it wasn't great news, no tanks to fit in stock so they are having to build a tank for us on Monday. Been told it should be with us between 1-2 weeks BUT as it is brand new it will have a do not fill until date on it due to the glue drying time. The garden center can't tell me how long that will be. They said we can decorate it and set it up it absolutely no water can go in until that date.

Ah that's a shame. Still, at least you have plenty of time to plan what you want.

My new tanks arriving tomorrow!

I cannot wait now. Just crossing my fingers it get here safely this time.

I may have accidentally signed myself up for some fish, can you tell me honestly tree sparrow. Can fancy goldfish survive in a outdoor pond? My friend had some terrible advice from a chain pet store not p@h but another that I can't remember the name who are normally very clued up sold her 3 fancies in a tiny tank 15-20L I believe. So she rehoused them into a water feature / pond. It looks like a wicker planter but it's a pond. In her defence the picture on the box and Internet did have fancies on it.

I've said if they can't survive in it, I will consider rehoming them for her children as they come to mine quite often anyway?

Thoughts greatly received?

They may survive summer but definitely won't survive winter outside. They cannot deal with freezing temperatures.

Thankyou for your honest advise.

It gives me a bit of time to get mine up and running. It's taken me 2 hours to get to grips with the filter.

I've upgraded my filter to a 300L one in a 182 ish approx tank.

I'm going to have the fancies out of my friends pond. 1 is smaller than your average fancy I would say and two are diddy little things all 8 months.

I hope the size won't be a issue?

So how many fish in how many litres?

182 L tank and 3 fancies. 2 diddy ones approx 1 inch and one larger at 3 inches. Fish are 8 months old so not sure if they will get much bigger.

It's really a case of staying in the pond water feature, my tank or back in there teeany tiny tank?

182 L tank and 3 fancies. 2 diddy ones approx 1 inch and one larger at 3 inches. Fish are 8 months old so not sure if they will get much bigger.

It's really a case of staying in the pond water feature, my tank or back in there teeany tiny tank?

Fish will grow more depending on the size of tank, particularly goldfish. So are you having cold water or tropical now?

I think this fish keeping stuff isn't for me.

Spent all day setting up my tank and filter.

All set up ready to go, I have a canister filter. It says pump the leaver 4 times to start water flowing into the canister. Wait for the bubbles then you know the airs out and you can switch it on. No bubbles - kept on filling, yep next thing I know it's pissing out the sides and is flooding my house. All up the walls carpet all the electrics have got soaked.

I know my mistake, I didn't plug it in in time. I don't know if I can even use all the electricals now. £90 lamp, air pump and over £100 filter.

What the hell am I going to do

No canister should leak so there's a problem with the seal, it's nothing to do with the timing of you turning it on. The canister should fill and just stop when full because it's water tight. Have you forgotten to put the rubber sealing ring in the lid?

Ignore the previous comment about fish growing to the size of the tank, that's a dangerous myth and bad advice. As to the size of the tank for three fancy goldfish, it's a good size.

Try not to be disheartened, we all make mistakes early on.

The seal was in the wrong place.

I put it in the correct place But as soon as I went to put the in outlet in it turned into a massive syphon and poured water everywhere again this time worse and it's all up the walls and floor.

The outlet pipe is fine no issues there but the in just will not let me reconnect without water everywhere.

I cleared up and temporary put the in tube in the tank so both ends were in so water couldn't go anywhere where the hose jumped out and started pouring water everywhere for the 3rd time.

I've taken it out and will be returning it now.

I may be crazy but I think I may go back to a internal.

I think you're jumping the gun a bit. Have the tubes EMPTY before connecting to the filter. Then pump to fill the canister. When full turn it on. It's not that complicated when you learn what order to do things.

Please do try to make it work as a canister will do a much better job than any internal filter.

Thank you.

I wanted shot of it as after flooding the place 3 times I'd lost hope.

Took it back to the place I bought it from and the lady was fantastic.

Originally when I put the seal in I had it in the correct place when it flooded but the seal was very baggy.

When I tried the second time it was it the wrong place under the teeth as it was baggy I assumed I had done it wrong the first time.

She replaced the seal for me and the new one looks different it's shiny and looks more sticky mine was dry when I opened the bag.

It seems I made the biggest mistake when the canister overflowed as instead of turning the handle into the off cut out position I disconnected the pipes instead as I panicked as water was flowing out at a alarming rate.

So when I tried to reconnect the second time as soon as I pulled the pipe down it created a huge syphon effect.

I'm going to reconnect it all again and give it another go.

Thank you.

I wanted shot of it as after flooding the place 3 times I'd lost hope.

Took it back to the place I bought it from and the lady was fantastic.

Originally when I put the seal in I had it in the correct place when it flooded but the seal was very baggy.

When I tried the second time it was it the wrong place under the teeth as it was baggy I assumed I had done it wrong the first time.

She replaced the seal for me and the new one looks different it's shiny and looks more sticky mine was dry when I opened the bag.

It seems I made the biggest mistake when the canister overflowed as instead of turning the handle into the off cut out position I disconnected the pipes instead as I panicked as water was flowing out at a alarming rate.

So when I tried to reconnect the second time as soon as I pulled the pipe down it created a huge syphon effect.

I'm going to reconnect it all again and give it another go.

Thank you.

I wanted shot of it as after flooding the place 3 times I'd lost hope.

Took it back to the place I bought it from and the lady was fantastic.

Originally when I put the seal in I had it in the correct place when it flooded but the seal was very baggy.

When I tried the second time it was it the wrong place under the teeth as it was baggy I assumed I had done it wrong the first time.

She replaced the seal for me and the new one looks different it's shiny and looks more sticky mine was dry when I opened the bag.

It seems I made the biggest mistake when the canister overflowed as instead of turning the handle into the off cut out position I disconnected the pipes instead as I panicked as water was flowing out at a alarming rate.

So when I tried to reconnect the second time as soon as I pulled the pipe down it created a huge syphon effect.

I'm going to reconnect it all again and give it another go.

Im under strict instructions today not to flood the house again.