# Guppies



## emihawk (Jul 16, 2010)

Hello all, 
I'm wanting to get a tank/very large bowl and keep guppies in it, just guppies. 
I could check fish keeping sites or ask at the pet store but we all know this would probably end poorly, which is why I'm here, asking the experts. 
So, I'm hoping someone here can give me a list of all I need to know eg. food, water temp, what's the litre to fish ratio, filter systems etc, any help would be greatly appreciated.


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## Guest (Nov 6, 2010)

Please DO NOT purchase a bowl, not only are these grossly old-fashioned, there is absolutely no way to use any form of filtration or heating in such containers. The bowl-shape also restricts available surface area when compared to a rectangular tank of the same volume. 

There isn't really any hard-set rule when it comes to stocking fish. The well-known '1 inch of fish per gallon' 'rule' is too vague and it's only a rough guideline, I certainly wouldn't use it. The usual advice that most responsible fishkeepers would give you in regards to this matter is to purchase the largest tank that you can afford and have room for.

If you purchased six guppies for example, a 45-60 litre tank would make a perfect home for them along with a heater and a small internal filter. Guppies can breed like wildfire unless you manage to obtain a single-sex group or a group of females that aren't already pregnant (quite difficult to actually obtain), so I would advise providing plenty of cover in the form of fast-growing live plants such as _Hygrophila_ and _Cryptocorynes_; both will be available from most good aquatic stores and are incredibly easy to grow.

Before you start stocking the aquarium fish fish, you will need to cycle the filter. The term 'cycling' originates from what is called the 'nitrogen cycle', and if you may already know about this as it is a common subject in biology.

The nitrogen cycle in aquariums involves a population of harmless and beneficial bacteria breaking down toxic waste substances including ammonia and nitrite into less harmful waste substances including nitrate, phosphate and harmless nitrogen gas (which simply dissipates from the aquarium water or is used up by plants). Nothing removes nitrate or phosphate however, it simply builds up until it is removed by water changes or by live plants as nutrition.

These bacteria typically colonize the sponge or ceramic media inside the filter. Media of this type have incredibly high surface areas which allows for water penetration and to ensure that the bacteria can receive enough oxygen so they can respire. The bacteria will be non-existent in new filter media, so you will either have to start your own colony or obtain some mature filter media from an aquatic store or another fishkeeper. If you went with the latter option you can start populating the aquarium within a few days.

Starting off your own bacteria population is relatively easy. You will need a liquid test kit for pH, ammonia, nitrite and nitrate (available from an aquatic store) and a source of ammonia, such as fish food or bottled household ammonia. If you used fish food, this will be broken down into ammonia by the ever-increasing population of bacteria. Using household ammonia is a cleaner method and limits the amount of waste that accumulates in the tank.

The entire cycling process itself could take anything between 2-8 weeks to finish, so you will need to be patient. Ammonia and nitrite are highly toxic to fish so this is why it is important to cycle the filter first or use pre-cycled media as I mentioned above. Once the cycle has finished, perform two small water changes and introduce the fish slowly, adding no more than around six every week or so. Try to avoid commercial cycling products that are commonly sold in aquatic stores, they're just a gimmick and very few of them actually work.


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## emihawk (Jul 16, 2010)

Thanks so much for the reply, all the info is really a great help


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## emihawk (Jul 16, 2010)

Oh, and a follow up question that just came to mind. If I have six guppies in a 45l tank and I have a female that's pregnant, or soon will be, how should I deal with that? At what point will my tank because over populated? Should I remove the pregnant female before and get rid of her babies right away or will the guppies eat their babies? Last, but not least, if some of the babies were kept how do I tell males and females apart, so I can stop the cycle of babies breeding more babies (once they're old enough of course )


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## Guest (Nov 7, 2010)

Note this, they breed like wildfire. A small group of mixed-sex guppies or pregnant females could give birth to hundreds of them, and what's even worse if the fact they can store sperm from the males for months. 

Adult guppies can become cannibalistic towards their own offspring, so it would be advisable to remove the fry into their own tank as soon as possible. With potentially huge numbers of fry though, you'll need a lot of spare tanks.

You could however just get a group of males, to save the trouble.


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## livefishcam (Oct 28, 2010)

Guppies never last 5 mins in my Community tank but i know what you mean when they start to brred they do breed very well.

They are really nice looking fish as well so i wouldnt mind them breeding for me


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## livefishcam (Oct 28, 2010)

also usually pet shops seprate the males from the females as the malesd like 5 women to one male lol and they end up killing each other.

so if you buy guppies you usally end up buying the males as they are the ones that look that fancy tales to attract the women grrr lol :thumbup:.


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## Guest (Nov 7, 2010)

livefishcam said:


> also usually pet shops seprate the males from the females as the malesd like 5 women to one male lol and they end up killing each other.


What about when they're in transit from the supplier to the aquatic store, and vice versa? I've managed to visit two fish wholesalers, one in the UK and the other in the US, all of the livebearers are kept in single-species vats with mixed sexes. It's the exact reason why nearly all of them are seemingly pregnant by the time they reach aquatic stores, even if the sexes are separated there and then.

Males can be more accurately differentiated from the females by the differences in the shape of the anal fin. In males, the anal fin resembles a swept-back rod called a gonopodium, whereas in females the anal fin shows the normal round profile.


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## xBubblesx (Jan 20, 2010)

Male guppys are alot more colourful than your females just having a colourful tail, also females mature at about 3 months of age, perhaps sooner in a warmer tank. Males sexually mature somewhat sooner. The males will develop a modified, pointed anal fin called gonopodium, after several weeks. The male with the least desirable traits often impregnates the females, and all chances of controlled breeding is lost. This is a good reason to separate them before the male can develop his gonopodium.

Females from pet store tanks are usually pregnant. Signs of pregnancy are a large belly, a boxy-look from the front view, and a darker gravid spot. The spot, under the fishs tail, is like a stained-glass window where the fry come out.

Endler guppys have nice markings, just incase you wanted to be diffrent with the normal ones you always see about. 

Happy Guppying! :thumbup:


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## holly1 (Aug 10, 2010)

Guppies are much more fragile now,due to inbreeding.
Years ago,they were used to cycle tanks...no longer!
If you are worried about being over run,just buy males.They are more colourful and you cant get better birth control than that!
Tanks are much easier to look after than bowls


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## xBubblesx (Jan 20, 2010)

Forgot to mention try not to mix any of your water from the bags into the tank/bowl as your probably better using a net and float them in the tank for 10-15 minutes, then open the bag and add about a half cup of the established tank water, close the bag back up with air inside, then float again. Repeat this process after 10 more minutes or so. After they have floated for about 20-30 minutes, release them into the tank. Keep an eye on them for the first few days just incase they get white spot from being stressed.


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