Male & Female Guppies

[simplysim]

Hi

I have 3 guppies at the moment, I have heard the general rule is to have 3 female to 1 male... is this correct?

I have had alook and it looks like i have 2 male and 1 female which worries me slightly that she is going to get stressed with the males..

I only have a 30l tank and I am just about up to my stock level with 8 fish. Do you think I should get another female? Iwould rather not as I dont really want to be over loaded with babies as i know i will need to find homes for them if they dont get eaten first.

Thanks for your help in advance

 

[lilfishie]

i would either swap the female for another male or swap a male for another female, with you not wanting to become over run with fry i suggest swapping the female

 

[Annastasia]

What other fish do you have in the tank right now? Depending on what fish you have, it might be better to swap for another male, though you need to be kind of careful as they can be agressive towards each other, especially in a small space. If you have lots of plants/decorations so they can all have their own little space, it can be fine.

 

[simplysim]

I have a castle in the middle and a big plastic plant behind that has loads of space. I am planning on getting another real plant as the one i had in there died.

The fish i have are:

3 guppies
1 male Platy
1 female Danio
3 not sure of the sex danio tetras

Thanks

 

[lilfishie]

Quite a bit for a 30l IMO defo swap the female for a male to avoid fry, danio tetras?

 

[simplysim]

Hi

Sorry i ment to write Neon Tetras.
I only have what i can have in a 30l... 1 inch of fish per Gallon i work that out to be 8 fish?

Thanks

 

[lilfishie]

not really, the inch per gallon uses the adult sizes and platies grow to 2-2 1/2 inch for a start

over all you total inches is 15.5 so technically your over stocked by nearly double

also now we know there neons an 8 gal is a bit on the small side for them and the danio

 

[simplysim]

So what do i do now, didnt relise the rule was for Adult, thats me being a new to this, What adults stay at 1inch?
Are my fish likley to die now that it is over stocked?

Thanks for you help and advice

 

[Annastasia]

I think in this case, it would be best if you got rid of the Tetras and Danio if you can. They like to be in bigger schools, and you are quite limited with that size tank and the other fish. If you stuck with maybe the three male Guppies and the Platy or even a couple more Platies, that could be OK.

I'm not going to say your fish are going to automatically die because you are overstocked, but it certainly doesn't provide the best living conditions for them.

 

[lilfishie]

I think in this case, it would be best if you got rid of the Tetras and Danio if you can. They like to be in bigger schools, and you are quite limited with that size tank and the other fish. If you stuck with maybe the three male Guppies and the Platy or even a couple more Platies, that could be OK.

I'm not going to say your fish are going to automatically die because you are overstocked, but it certainly doesn't provide the best living conditions for them.

i agree with what has been said, without the shoaling fish a few more male platies (or guppies for that matter) would bring you to your limit

 

[simplysim]

ok thanks for your advice.