Is there a risk putting guppies in my community tank?

[utahfish]

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?

id get some RO water to lower the PH and GH or i wouldnt get tetras other than silver tips, but i dont like silver tips, nippy little buggers. Either way if one drops GH too much than its too low for live bearers. Either way one or the other water parameters arent going to be suitable for one or the other fish.
Most tetra do best in GH 0-6 and live bearers need above 10 some like african cichlids and mollies way above 10. Some will argue theyll just meet it right in the middle that way one can keep soft and hard water fish but then both fish suffer as the water isnt suitable for either. As i said some fish are highly adaptable to a wide range of water parameters so one could try stocking with those or one could just stick with hard water fish in current water or soften the water with RO and keep soft water fish. Keeping both in one tank though isnt worth the trouble for me.

 

[FishFinatic77]

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?

It doesn't matter what fish it is. You should always prioritize their needs. I would either soften the water or get new fish.

 

[wtusa17]

It doesn't matter what fish it is. You should always prioritize their needs. I would either soften the water or get new fish.

There is no point of me being in the hobby if I can just keep 2 types of fish and I already have them

 

[CassCats]

Theres a solution to your problem. And its the solution to every problem.

Get another tank.



Use RO for one, keep the other hard. Keep both species.


But yeah don't mix bettas and gouramis and don't mix gourami species. Once maturity hits... oof those can be bad. Sparklers are small but man they can be MEAN. (I've got lots of them, so I know lol)

 

[wtusa17]

Theres a solution to your problem. And its the solution to every problem.

Get another tank.



Use RO for one, keep the other hard. Keep both species.


But yeah don't mix bettas and gouramis and don't mix gourami species. Once maturity hits... oof those can be bad. Sparklers are small but man they can be MEAN. (I've got lots of them, so I know lol)

I mean I’m not really in the budget for an ro system and my house isn’t set up for it in the slightest. How long does it take for the gourami to reach maturity or at what size?

 

[CassCats]

I mean I’m not really in the budget for an ro system and my house isn’t set up for it in the slightest. How long does it take for the gourami to reach maturity or at what size?

Sparkling gourami get just over an inch, so expect some attitude as they get larger.

Ive got a female who beats the tar out of everyone else when she feels like it lol

Sparkling Gourami can handle some hardness, depending on your GH number. Could handle the lower end that livebearers need, but in my experience sparklers don't tolerate guppies at all. I raised a few fry with them, once they got to a decent size, the sparklers went to town terrorizing them... so its hard to say.

There are cases where they even turn on their own kind. I know someone who had their group kill one of their own just because. They can be fickle, though they're great little fish. But be warned they can be quite nasty when they feel like it

Especially should they choose to spawn. Then everyone nearby is enemy # 1 lol

 

[wtusa17]

Sparkling gourami get just over an inch, so expect some attitude as they get larger.

Ive got a female who beats the tar out of everyone else when she feels like it lol

Sparkling Gourami can handle some hardness, depending on your GH number. Could handle the lower end that livebearers need, but in my experience sparklers don't tolerate guppies at all. I raised a few fry with them, once they got to a decent size, the sparklers went to town terrorizing them... so its hard to say.

There are cases where they even turn on their own kind. I know someone who had their group kill one of their own just because. They can be fickle, though they're great little fish. But be warned they can be quite nasty when they feel like it

Especially should they choose to spawn. Then everyone nearby is enemy # 1 lol

Ok. Mine is about an inch or more and I’ve had him for like 4 months. Everyone gets along great

 

[ClownLurch]

A billion years of evolution can’t be overwritten in a couple of generations.

 

[PheonixKingZ]

You can get RO from your LFS, most LFS’ sell them in 5g jugs.

 

[Byron]

In post #14 utahfish summarized the issue quite well. There are several factors at play when it comes to fish "adapting" or not to differing parameters, and in this thread so far we do not even have the actual number for the GH; in one post it is termed "hard," but what exactly does that mean? I was looking for a GH converter yesterday and came across a site that termed GH 8 as "very hard." To me this is moderately soft, and it is no where close to being hard enough for any livebearers, so subjective terms have to be taken with a grain of salt.

Another misconception occurring in this thread from some is the assumption that if fish live, they must be happy and healthy. This is far from the truth--read Nathan Hill's comment in my signature block. Fish will attempt to manage in whatever water we force them to exist, but that does not mean they are healthy, nor happy. No one can talk to a fish to ascertain this. And unless you are a trained biologist who can perform a necropsy on a dead fish and determine the actual cause of death, you are not in a position to assume the fish are thriving. Scientific evidence clearly shows they are not thriving when the parameters are significantly outside the range for the species.

There are species that must have very soft water, there are species that must have moderately hard or harder water, and then there are species that can be healthy somewhere in between these two extremes. There are documented scientific reasons for all of these, it is not happenchance.