My new tank -

[yellowsky]

recently set up my tank and such, water is aged, filter has been running for a while, and am thinking of buying 4 guppies for my tank on the weekend

its 170litres with gravel, i used some kind of bacteria starter but wanted to start with guppies just in case it was phony cos sum1 told me they were hardy,

right now my ph is at 7 and my water is at 25 degrees celcius,

is this the right time to do it? and if i get guppies is it betta to have 4m, 1m 3f or 2m,2f

also for all its worth its called NITRIVEC bio starter : for immediate introduction of fish, breaks down ammonium and nitrate:
the composition is nitrosomonas , sum bacteria cells (dunno wat) and aqua purificata

can someone help me out on this please?

oh and i wanna throw in some plants as well, is this a problem?

 

[Tenko]

If you keep male and female guppies you'll have a tank full in no time. Either make sure you have an outlet for all the surpless guppies, or just get males. I've heard that 2-3 females per male is a good ratio, but I've never tried breeding them so I'm not 100% sure.

I have also heard that the only decent bio starter is biospira, although it's hard to get hold of unless you live in the US. It also has to be refridgerated.

Living in the UK, a fishless cycle was almost out of the question due to limitations on the purchase of ammonia. Personally, I cycled my 180l tank with 6 guppies and a lot of water changes, 20% every day or two. Then I made sure I added fish in very small quantities once all levels of nitrite and ammonia are at 0. This minimised any exposure to harmfull toxins.

I think it's more important to match your water to that of your local lfs, especially if the fish you buy are not wild caught. I think that by the time you buy fish, they should be happy with the lfs conditions which if it is local to you, should also match your tapwater. Just my opinion though, could be wrong, I've only been keeping fish for 5 months. I'd welcome any corrections.

 

[guppymonkey]

You can do the fishless cycle without buying ammonia. I have no idea where to get pure ammonia every store I looked at only sold it as part of a cleaning product like glass cleaner. If you feed your tank with fish flakes you can easily start the cycle. The bacteria will start growing to break down the fish food.

Guppies are pretty easy to take care of but are probably the horniest creatures I have ever seen. I would go with all males unless you want to start a breeding project. Male guppies are more colorful and are actually better schooling fish than most fish of that type. They chase each other all around the tank but hardly ever do any harm to each other (I have had never had any of them do more than dance in circles around each other, no real fighting).

 

[yellowsky]

Thx, ill be getting them on saturday,
4 of them should suit fine im thinkinng of getting 2 males and 2 females, hopefully they dont become too many more in the months to come,
anyway, how long does guppy cycling take?
and should i add a pleco next?

 

[kgrehm]

I would imagine that with the tank size for it to get completely cycled is a good 4-6 weeks depending although you can really never tell. You can add a pleco next just wait a bit and make sure that your tank stays stable enough and not have any spikes.

 

[yellowsky]

thank you all so much,
how much should i feed them and if i buy 2 pairs and they go pregnant in my tank before itr is completely cycled, will this become a problem? and how big do they grow cos ive seen small ones and big ones and am never really sure,
thanx u all

 

[kgrehm]

You feed them the same as you do any other fish. Just watch and make sure that it eats the food, and if there is to much lying around after cut back. If they do get pregnant before the cycle is complete then we may have a little problem. You might want to separate them so nothing bad will happen.

Plecos depending of the breed get really big, so watch out. Just make sure that they dont become to aggresive if they are in a small tank. Depending on size of tank you may want to upgrade to a bigger aquarium.

You should do fine

 

[yellowsky]

thx,
ive added 5 males to my tank and they seem quite happy but are still schooling tightly and like swimming against the current at the top of the tank,
do they always hang around the top?

they are very beutiful and interesting fish, pariticularily the red one which i suspect is the leader... ( all the other fish follow it except for the blue one cos he likes to wander around) each of them are only 1 1/2 inches long,
how do you distiguish between male and female, and how much should i feed them

 

[yellowsky]

cos they eat everything i put in but i know that fish can kill themselves from eating too much, right now i feed them half a teaspoon and they eat it all ,

 

[Fordaz]

You feeding them flakes?

1 or 2 flakes each, per day is more than enough. If you're using pellets, 3 or 4 is enough.

5 Flakes in the morning when you get up, and another 5 before you go to bed is pleanty for the whole tank.

Overfeeding will mean more waste, and your newly-established bacteria may not be able to keep up with the demand.

 

[yellowsky]

they are lil ball like things the size of sand/salt,
and i feed them twice a day,
theyve settled down now and spread themselves around the tank more spaciously, but they still have a frequent hobby of swimming against the current, it's like theyre working out, 5 small guppies in a 170 litre tank isnt exactly overkill is it, so if i accidently feed a bit more it wont killem right?

 

[wrs]

DONT BUY MALE YELLOW FANCEY GUPPIES!!!!! THEY'RE EVIL!!!!!! Well if u have 2 females for them thery're ok. otherwise there mean.

 

[Silva_Fishy]

Have as many females as possible(you can get nice ones) and as little males. Do u have a heater in there?

 

[yellowsky]

yep i have a heater 25-6 degrees celcius, and i have a yellow guppy, and 2 yellow ones with leopard spots on them,
um what does a fancy tail look like, cos my one seems rather nice, but that might be because he is the second smallest -
i plan on getting 1 or 2 females, cos i dont want Too many of the same fish,
they also have settled now and now i have 2 rebels who dont school with the other fish, also they arent afraid of me now! and dont mind me putting my hands in the tank - they dont hide at the back in a tight school- indeed i suspect they think they think of the hand as a source of food,

oh and what should i do about the ammonia? this morning i had under 0.5 and did a 15% water change, now its at 0,

should i feed my guppies more if they start going to the bottom to peck at rocks for food?

 

[yellowsky]

where do guppies sleep?
and are their gills meant to be red?