Is there a risk putting guppies in my community tank?

[wtusa17]

I have a 20 long with tetras, female betta, and a honey and sparkling gourami. Everything gets along nicely. My lfs has some platinum mosaic big ear guppies and I really love them. It’s very heavily planted so the babies could probably survive. Any risk with adding a pair of guppies?

 

[PheonixKingZ]

The short answer: no. Bettas are not community fish and shouldn't be kept as such, especially with guppies. The betta will mistake the guppies bright/long fins for another betta, and attack them.

I would personally remove the betta (and give it its own 5g-10g tank), and get the guppies a new tank. Guppies need hard water, whereas tetras need softer water. (Same thing with bettas..)

Not meaning to jump out at you like that, I just wanted to give you a heads up.

 

[FishFinatic77]

Guppies are hard water fish, and all your other fish are soft water. You can't add guppies to your tank.
You have some other stocking issues though, mainly the betta. Bettas should not be kept as community fish. Even though it looks like everyone is getting along now, she could possibly just snap and attack all the other fish. Also, bettas should not be kept with gouramis. I would put her in a separate 5-10 gallon tank.
What kind of tetras do you have, and how many?

 

[wtusa17]

The short answer: no. Bettas are not community fish and shouldn't be kept as such, especially with guppies. The betta will mistake the guppies bright/long fins for another betta, and attack them.

I would personally remove the betta (and give it its own 5g-10g tank), and get the guppies a new tank. Guppies need hard water, whereas tetras need softer water. (Same thing with bettas..)

Not meaning to jump out at you like that, I just wanted to give you a heads up.

I have hard water. Ik tetras aren’t wild caught usually so that would mean they aren’t picky about parameters no? The betta is female and I’ve seen many people say they were fine with guppies

 

[FishFinatic77]

If your water is hard, then none of the fish you have will do very well. They all need soft water.
You could try lowering the hardness (not quite sure how you would do that but I'm sure there's a way. I think RO water might be soft? IDK), and then you could keep your fish. If you can't lower the hardness, then I would rehome all the fish you have and re-stock the tank with livebearers.

 

[wtusa17]

Guppies are hard water fish, and all your other fish are soft water. You can't add guppies to your tank.
You have some other stocking issues though, mainly the betta. Bettas should not be kept as community fish. Even though it looks like everyone is getting along now, she could possibly just snap and attack all the other fish. Also, bettas should not be kept with gouramis. I would put her in a separate 5-10 gallon tank.
What kind of tetras do you have, and how many?

I have hard water. Tetras are captive bred for the most part meaning they shouldn’t need specific parameters? I’ve had tetras for months that are doing great. The gouramis are very chill and the betta is so far. I have 6 neons and emperor

 

[wtusa17]

If your water is hard, then none of the fish you have will do very well. They all need soft water.
You could try lowering the hardness (not quite sure how you would do that but I'm sure there's a way. I think RO water might be soft? IDK), and then you could keep your fish. If you can't lower the hardness, then I would rehome all the fish you have and re-stock the tank with livebearers.

This doesn’t make sense. How can a fish thrive for months but then all of a sudden it’s suffering? I understand with discus and rams but these are tetras

 

[FishFinatic77]

I have hard water. Tetras are captive bred for the most part meaning they shouldn’t need specific parameters? I’ve had tetras for months that are doing great. The gouramis are very chill and the betta is so far. I have 6 neons and emperor

Just because a fish is captive bred doesn't mean that its needs change. They're bodies are made for soft water, not hard water.

This doesn’t make sense. How can a fish thrive for months but then all of a sudden it’s suffering? I understand with discus and rams but these are tetras

You won't see the problems on the outside, but being in the wrong water will cause internal issues and will shorten the fishes' lives.

@Byron can explain this much better than I can. Maybe he can help you understand better.

 

[wtusa17]

Just because a fish is captive bred doesn't mean that its needs change. They're bodies are made for soft water, not hard water.



You won't see the problems on the outside, but being in the wrong water will cause internal issues and will shorten the fishes' lives.

@Byron can explain this much better than I can. Maybe he can help you understand better.

How can I not keep a tetra in my water but successful spawn apistogramma then?

 

[FishFinatic77]

How can I not keep a tetra in my water but successful spawn apistogramma then?

I'm not trying to start an argument with you. I'm simply saying that your stocking is not ideal for your water parameters. Whether you do something about it is your decision, but you don't have to get defensive just because I'm stating a fact.

 

[wtusa17]

I'm not trying to start an argument with you. I'm simply saying that your stocking is not ideal for your water parameters. Whether you do something about it is your decision, but you don't have to get defensive just because I'm stating a fact.

I’m not trying to argue I think it’s just stupid that bc I have hard water I can keep live bearers and African cichlids. Most people in the hobby say stuff about stocking and parameters when they should make sense but when you actually try it most of the time it doesn’t work out how you think it would

 

[FishFinatic77]

I’m not trying to argue I think it’s just stupid that bc I have hard water I can keep live bearers and African cichlids. Most people in the hobby say stuff about stocking and parameters when they should make sense but when you actually try it most of the time it doesn’t work out how you think it would

I know it's frustrating if you have your whole tank set up only to learn that it's wrong. The same thing happened to me when I set my first tank up. I know why you're upset.
Having hard water definitely does limit your stocking options quite a bit, but in the end, you have to consider the overall health of the fish first.

 

[wtusa17]

I know it's frustrating if you have your whole tank set up only to learn that it's wrong. The same thing happened to me when I set my first tank up. I know why you're upset.
Having hard water definitely does limit your stocking options quite a bit, but in the end, you have to consider the overall health of the fish first.

I have many tetras and South America cichlids and have bred the cichlids. Still amazes me how strict they apparently are about the parameters hmmmm

 

[utahfish]

I’m not trying to argue I think it’s just stupid that bc I have hard water I can keep live bearers and African cichlids. Most people in the hobby say stuff about stocking and parameters when they should make sense but when you actually try it most of the time it doesn’t work out how you think it would

Im not sure how water hardness effects breeding i dont nor never have bred any fish.
Having said that, fish have evolved over 1000s of years to adapt to their natural water ways. Most tetras come from the amazon where the tributaries they are found in have very low hardness levels and are soft acidic due to the large amount of tannins in the water, like black water bio topes. As such those fish bodies have evolved to function in soft acidic low GH water. When they are kept in water that is opposite that hard and alkaline for extended amounts of time this has adverse effects on their bodies as their bodies havent evolved to be able to function properly in that water. Some side effects can be organs that harden due to the build up of calcium that the fish hasnt evolved to process. At minimum this can cause stress, stress leads to disease disease to death. As for hardwater fish like mollies guppies other live barers the lack of calcium which they have evolved to use in biological process of growth in its absence can cause physical problems as well as the fish need that calcium to live.
In my experience soft water fish are more adaptable to hard water than hard water fish are to soft water. Maybe the build up of calcium/ magnesium takes longer to cause adverse effects in soft water fish than it does for the lack of calcium in hard water fish??? Not sure but put a molly in soft acidic water and it goes downhill pretty fast where as a neon in hard water may live a few years before showing any signs of disease. Keep in mind neons can live up to 10 years. Having said that some fish like plecos can adapt to a wide range of water where as a fish like a discus or rummy nose cannot. Personally i try to keep fish in water parameters that are closest to what their bodies have evolved to live in. For pretty much every tetra other than a silvertip that means soft water,for live bearers and african cichlids that means hard water. Now some will argue that most captive bred fish are bred in neutral water or maybe in water they arent suited to and kept in water in fish stores that may be the same so why not in my home tank? Keep in mind most fish spend a small amount of time in fish stores, most are very young when in fish stores and the best chance one has of keeping that fish as healthy as one can in a glass box in ones basement is by keeping it in water that its body has best adapted to live in over 1000s of years of evolution.
Good luck! Hopefully i made sense if not im sure some one will hopefully correct me.

 

[wtusa17]

Im not sure how water hardness effects breeding i dont nor never have bred any fish.
Having said that, fish have evolved over 1000s of years to adapt to their natural water ways. Most tetras come from the amazon where the tributaries they are found in have very low hardness levels and are soft acidic due to the large amount of tannins in the water, like black water bio topes. As such those fish bodies have evolved to function in soft acidic low GH water. When they are kept in water that is opposite that hard and alkaline for extended amounts of time this has adverse effects on their bodies as their bodies havent evolved to be able to function properly in that water. Some side effects can be organs that harden due to the build up of calcium that the fish hasnt evolved to process. At minimum this can cause stress, stress leads to disease disease to death. As for hardwater fish like mollies guppies other live barers the lack of calcium which they have evolved to use in biological process of growth in its absence can cause physical problems as well as the fish need that calcium to live.
In my experience soft water fish are more adaptable to hard water than hard water fish are to soft water. Maybe the build up of calcium/ magnesium takes longer to cause adverse effects in soft water fish than it does for the lack of calcium in hard water fish??? Not sure but put a molly in soft acidic water and it goes downhill pretty fast where as a neon in hard water may live a few years before showing any signs of disease. Keep in mind neons can live up to 10 years. Having said that some fish like plecos can adapt to a wide range of water where as a fish like a discus or rummy nose cannot. Personally i try to keep fish in water parameters that are closest to what their bodies have evolved to live in. For pretty much every tetra other than a silvertip that means soft water,for live bearers and african cichlids that means hard water. Now some will argue that most captive bred fish are bred in neutral water or maybe in water they arent suited to and kept in water in fish stores that may be the same so why not in my home tank? Keep in mind most fish spend a small amount of time in fish stores, most are very young when in fish stores and the best chance one has of keeping that fish as healthy as one can in a glass box in ones basement is by keeping it in water that its body has best adapted to live in over 1000s of years of evolution.
Good luck! Hopefully i made sense if not im sure some one will hopefully correct me.

Thanks for the explanation. I’m not saying I don’t understand but I’m not trying to force a discus to live in a 9.5 ph here. What would you do in my case since I’m dealing with tetras?