(Fancy) Guppy Questions

[Chevko]

So, I posted this on my Tumblr page for the fish community to take a look at, but I don't think that many prowl the guppy tag (if I put betta on it I'm sure I would have gotten two responses by now, lol). The reason I'm posing it to you guys is that I'm impatient, I will admit this, and I don't know of any really reputable websites for guppies, fancy or no.


So, I might be starting out with guppies instead of a betta like I was hoping for. And it’ll more than likely be mixed company since the person I’m getting them from has a guppy problem. They might be fancies, they might not, I can’t remember at the moment.

So, I want to make sure...

• Is the differentiation between sexes determined by tail size? Males have larger tails than females, fancy or not?
• Would a 10gal be big enough for 4-6 of them? (I’m sure this will explode.) How about a 5? (Explained below.)
• How do I ensure safety from a guppy explosion?
• Would a divider work? It's the easiest thing that comes to mind.
• Would you recommend fine gravel or sand for guppies?
• And would it be safe to put in shrimp as “waste disposal” or would a mystery snail be safer?
• ---Or anything else that might eat fry but not adult fish to help also prevent explosions.
• Can fe/males coexist with the same gender without wanting to eat each other like bettas?

This time around I’m going to my parents for Thanksgiving and have every intention of taking my tank with me. It has a mesh lid, so I’m not positive what it was for originally, but I intend to find another lid that is more suitable with a light and space for a filter.

If the tank I have at my parents is too big for my desk, my boyfriend swears up and down it is, I'm thinking about going back to a tank I was looking at when I was betta shopping - one of PetCo's 5gals. That one I was seriously all over. Would this one work as an isolation tank? It's a 1gal. Or does anyone know of a cheaper alternative for an iso tank? I'm also considering a rather large cheesypuff drum I cleaned out last year and was using for plants, right now it's got some cactus potting soil in it so I need to clean it out. If any of you are familiar, it looks like this. It's the largest of them that Utz sells. The sticker isn't on mine anymore so I can't tell how many ounces it is due to me doing a heavy cleaning on mine with hot water and potentially a bit of rubbing alcohol about two years ago for the cacti I put in it. I'm pretty positive that the rubbing alcohol was on the outside though, because I needed it for the sticker residue. I can easily get the measurements of the drum if anyone needs it.

(Sorry, got a bit off-topic there.) But I'll just leave this here now. And attempt to work on more patience ^_^;

[Oldfishlady]

Guppies (Poecilia reticulata)fancy or not- are all a social fish (shoaling)-not schooling per se' and like to be kept together. To avoid over population-get all males-If you do get females-do a 2 female to 1 male ratio.
*Remember, a female guppy that has been with a male guppy can drop fry every 28-31 days for 6 months or longer-even when the male is gone. Female guppies can hold sperm packets and use them as needed.

In a 10gal filtered tank-without live plants-you could do 2 females and 1 male and within 30-60 days-You may or may not have more guppies from the females-This depends on how the tank is setup-some guppies eat the fry and others don't. Sometimes they eat all of them and others only a few or even none. If the tank has lots of places for the fry to hide in both the upper and lower areas-the odds of some fry surviving is higher. You also can have fry loss due to the type of filter. The HOB type can suck the fry into it-some will survive the trip through the impeller and others don't. Same with UGF or gravel that is too large in diameter-the fry can get stuck in the gravel and die-they sometimes will try to hide in the gravel to get away from adults that are chasing them.

The male guppy-usually will have more color and larger tail-along with a modified anal fin called the gonopodium that he uses to inject the sperm packets into the female.
The female-is usually much larger than the male and more rotund/rounder-less colorful, however, some female can have color on the tail. The female also has a dark spot on their tummy near the vent called the gravid spot and this gets bigger and darker as she nears term.

They can tolerate water temps that vary from 70's-90'sF-Ideally about 76-78F and need hard water to do best.
Diet for both adults and fry-flake food, dried or frozen bloodworms, veggies and live food...they eat just about anything IME. The fry will do fine on finely crushed flake food-What ever you feed the adults you can feed the fry, however, you might need to crush it up for the fry to be able to get it in their tiny mouth.

Mine do fine with both shrimp and snails, however, just like anything else-the adult guppies can and will eat the tiny shrimpletts.

[thekinetic]

Typically with guppies it's one guppy per gallon. If you want to prevent an explosion don't mix males and females. And they can coexist with either sexes.

As for substrate honostly anything will do, I use common black gravel from the pet store and it hasn't harmed them in the least. But as with any fish in a newly set up tank there is the chance of shock so float them or better yet temper them with a side tank to the water conditions in your tank first.

Now tank mates and clean up crews, in my opinion guppies are rather peaceful so anything will do just fine with them. But of course with shrimp there is always the chance they'll get eaten so to help prevent this make sure the shrimp have lots of cover and hiding spots.

Hope this helps! ^_^

[Chevko]

Thanks for the info, both of you :D It's been a while since I last had fish myself, or gotten new ones, but I did vaguely remember something about floating them, my mom always made sure that that was done, once you mentioned it - thanks for that ♥

I'll keep that in mind for the guppy/gallon ratio, I didn't know if it was anything special or what.

Now... Snail or shrimp or both... ... Prolly should wait to see about the tank first.

[ChoclateBetta]

Female Bettas eat fry. Ten is enough. Anal fin is gender identification have seen long finned females. I would reccomend five in a ten gallon.

[Chevko]

I won't be getting bettas with the guppies, just doesn't seem right, especially not without knowing how big the tank is or if I need to go with that container.


Would moss balls be good to toss in with them as well?

[Freyja]

My fry seem to enjoy crushed omega betta pellets more than the crushed omega flakes. A moss ball will be fine with them.

[emeraldmaster]

i like having snails with my guppies, as they help to clean my takn between water changes. i am told that shrimp might be attacked by the guppies, but i am also told that this is rare. they too can clean the tank. so either one or bot would be nice. i use an apple snail in my tank. be careful though, snails poo alot.

[Chevko]

@Freyja
I'll keep this in mind in case I want to have more and I get a larger tank :D

@EM
I'll keep this in mind since the shrimp will be more bottom-dwelling and the snails... not so much. I'll be sure to look for hides for them :3


What about sleeping things? I know that bettas adore things to lay on to sleep, should I look for the same with guppies? If so, what would you recommend? I'm also starting to eye bettas again because of bubblenests and I trust myself a bit more with bettas over gouramis... Would it be safe to put in a female betta with the guppies over having a male since they're stereotypically the more aggressive? Or would it turn to be safer for a gourami? What's the tank size for both with about 5 guppies and one of either? Just curious. I need to also figure out the gallon size of my previously mentioned barrel... I have a feeling I may need this.


Oh yeah. Also. I might be getting a snail immediately when I get things figured out at my parents house... How would you recommend travelling with it? It's about an hour and a half drive with my boyfriend from Arnold to my parents in near around Poplar Bluff, MO. There will be temperature fluctuation in the car... Should I go with a plastic bag or go with a critter keeper? Would the bag be warmer or would it be safer for the keeper?

[Chevko]

So, I lost the edit button or I'm locked out of it, but I got the barrel figured out for gallons using the interwebs. Turns out, when I went to look at it, it was a good time or time and a half smaller than I remembered. And when I got it figured, it's about 5gal. A lot smaller than I thought. Probably the mammillaria cacti I had in it at one point that probably caused my confusion. Sooo... probably no guppies in it. They'd get a bit cramped there quick.