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?

[fisharefriendsnotfood32]

Oh bloody hell triple post.

[TreeSparrow]

Good work.

[fisharefriendsnotfood32]

It works. It's up and running and I'm pleased to say all 182L remain in the tank.

I am very impressed with it, it's very quiet compared to my tiny fluval mini on my other tank.

[Buggers]

Glad you getting on ok with it now, I have fancy goldfish, their beautiful fish when they get bigger. what type are the ones your getting?

[fisharefriendsnotfood32]

These 2. These photo was taken from my friend before they moved into the pond there currently in.

[Buggers]

The bottom one is very pretty. If you have any questions about fancy goldfish I'm happy to help .

[fisharefriendsnotfood32]

Fab thanks. I'm getting those two and they also have another that is identical to the small one.

I used to have two 10years ago but one was a complete bully and one morning I came down to find the other fish dead on top of the filter. They had a huge tank all to themselves.

I then decided the tank was far too big for 1 fish so got two white worm fish things that I don't know for the life of me what they were called. And some small silver fish possibly danios and I had 3 fish go missing no body's were ever found I've always expected my fancy ate them.

My friend who I am taking the fancies from has already said the large fish has eaten some of the shrimp that was in the tank. She could see they were unwell at the bottom but we're not dead. She went to get a jug to take it out of the tank and when she came back it had vanished. She took everything out and it wasn't in there.

How many have you got? And what colors are they? I saw some stunning large ones today that were brown and gold with the biggest fan tails I have ever seen.

[fisharefriendsnotfood32]

Back to my original subject of guppies.

Daughters 30L tank has been cycling for 9 weeks. Took some tank water in to be tested by the very knowledgable fish shop today and they have said its cycled. I originally was trying to cycle at 20 oc but took your advice got a heater and have been keeping it at 25 oc for the last 3 weeks.

She got her guppies today she opted for a rainbow butterfly tail, a purple butterfly tail, a neon blue and a orange/red. They are stunning. The only slight issue is in the shop the colours were amazing and so bright. She has a LED light built into the tank and it unfortunately doesn't do the fish justice.

Do you know what lights they use in these fish shops?

She loves them dearly, I am a tad disappointed the light we have got doesn't show them off to there true potential.

Am cycling our new large tank with ammonia off amazon, the 3 fancies I was hoping to rescue has now become 2. The small one in the picture above unfortunately died in my friends pond.

I have been offered cycled filter sponge off my husbands friend. He has a huge shark tank. What would happen if I take him up on the offer just pop it straight into my canister filter. I'm assuming if the tank is as massive as my husband says the filter will be massive also.

Does cycled filter sponge = instantly cycled tank? Or does it depend on how much filter media I get?

[TreeSparrow]

It'll kick start the cycle and help things along quicker. It won't instantly cycle the tank unless you get a colony of bacteria big enough. You'll know if it's cycled as they'll clear the ammonia and nitrite very quickly and your tests will read 0 for both. If you're still registering anything they need more time to multiply, but it'll be faster. Just pop the sponge in your filter.

Not sure about the lights but shop lights tend to be a lot brighter than your average domestic setup. You could look to add a strip light (fluorescent tube) in addition to your LED but you'll need to buy a nano fitting for it. Is the tank glass topped or does it have a hood?

[fisharefriendsnotfood32]

It has a hood that clips on but it's a very strange shape. It's plastic and I'm not sure if I can attach anything too it.

Our main tank light had suction cups and sticky pads. It only lasted two minutes before it fell off so we had to drill that on.

I'm wondering if a submersible LED bar may work. We have one set up in the large tank but as the small set up is in her bedroom I won't attach a air pump as its very loud. Just use it for the lights.

If I use the filter sponge do I need to do frequent water changes? I have been doing tests every other day.

Last water test reading I did yesterday on the tank I'm trying to cycle was
Ammonia 0
Nitrite 0
Nitrate 5

I'm slightly confused as I don't think it should be so good so quickly

[steppemum]

guppies
The prettiest ones are male, but really you shouldn't keep a tank full of male fish.
the best thing is one male to 3 females.
If you choose well you can find colourful females.

Swordtails go well with guppies. Again one male to 2-3 females.

Swordtails and guppies will breed if tank conditions are good.

[fisharefriendsnotfood32]

Really makes don't do best on there own? Bugger, but I don't want any guppy babies and I don't want to overstock the tank.

The shop said at the very very most we could have 8. But I feel that's a few too many. We have chosen 4 at the moment. We are keeping our eyes peeled for a fancy red but I have said no more after that.

[TreeSparrow]

Male only guppies is fine. You don't want endless babies, you'll be overrun in that tiny tank.

You need to test every day when cycling a tank and you MUST redose the ammonia when it reaches zero. This feeds the cycle. Only having 5 nitrate is very odd and is daddy you weren't cycled. Don't do ANY water changes during cycling. It'll mess it up.

[TreeSparrow]

Daddy = means!

[fisharefriendsnotfood32]

My big tank is cycled and the fish are arriving tomorrow.

I was supposed to be getting the fish last week as the cycle has been done for a little while. But my friend who's pond they were in decided the day before to move them from the pond to a storage container. She attached the 2 fancies old filter and put the old tanks ornaments in.

The fish have grown quite a bit since being in the tiny 15L and the small one got wedged in the castle. She found it the next morning and managed to free it but it had a bit of tail damage. It's side fins were a little bent and torn, it's lost a few scales and had what appeared to be blood marks underneath. She felt she didn't want to move them until the little one perked up.

So they have been stuck in a uncycled plastic storage box with a tiny filter for the last week.

The blood spots have now disappeared so I've been told they will be delivered tomorrow.

I really hope they survive now after being moved so many times, at least they will have a home for life now that is cycled won't freeze in the winter and that has more adequate filtration.

[TreeSparrow]

Sounds great. You'll have to post a photo when you have them in there. You've done such a lot of work to get them a good home.

[fisharefriendsnotfood32]

There in, can't upload a photo tonight as the light is not on.

I left them a few hours and put the air stone on, it's new for them and I was concerned it may spook them how wrong I was. They have both been constantly playing in the bubbles it's lovely to watch.

I hope they are happy in there new home, I'm still concerned the 182L may not be big enough. The larger one I've been told has definitely got larger since it got moved to the pond but the smaller has not. We will not be adding any more to the tank so hopefully it will do. The ornaments are a lot larger in real life than the dimensions online but if they grow much bigger I can ditch them.

The previous owner did say in the tiny tank the big fish was bullying the other 2 constantly, no sign of that yet they don't stray too far from each other.

I plan to do the same maintenance on this tank to the guppy tank. Midweek I take out 1/3 just in a jug. Then on the weekend do 1/2 to 2/3 with the gravel vac, filter squeeze and clean the ornaments and glass.