Planted Guppy Tank (54L)

[AdoraBelle Dearheart]

No back up tank right now... To be honest I've actually been banned from keeping any more tanks upstairs since the floor might cave in lol. Looking on-and-off for little tanks but they're all out of my price range. As for the pleco, I've got my 170L (that is, granted, quite overstocked) to move it to in the time being.

Are there any smaller alternatives to corys? I don't think either of my LFS carry dwarf ones, but I'd definitely swap the current cory plan out for dwarf ones if they do.

There’s two types of dwarf/Pygmy Corys. Pandas are also smaller than the rest.
Rosy Loaches are a bit Coryish and small.
I only know of em as the old boy on the corners son knows someone moving house who is breaking down a tank. They’re taking the Livebearers and I’ve been offered everything else!

The three dwarf species of cory (pygmy, habrosus, and hastastus) are softer water cories, needing the GH to be lower than guppies would like it.

Personally, having bronze cories myself, I wouldn't keep a school of them in a 14 gallon long term. The females especially can get really large and chunky, and the ones in my 57 gallon certainly use all of it. But again, that's my personal view, I think a 20 gallon could handle a school of six nicely, but 14 really is a little cramped.

I just think you should really consider what you want this tank to be. Do you want to breed guppies? Or do you want this tank to be fully stocked right away, and stable? A nano tank or a breeding tank? Just go back to basics and really think about what you want from it. Don't think of it as "how many fish can I cram into this sized box?" and start thinking of what you want from it, which species you truly want to keep, and work from there.

If you really want to breed guppies, you want to understock this at the beginning, because you'll have more fry than you know what to do with within a couple of months, and without a spare tank, and your other one being overstocked already, you'll be in trouble in no time. With 12 guppies, even if you go with a male/female ratio of 1:1, that's at least six females churning out 30-40 fry every month. With that, adding a pleco of any size to that tank would be foolish.

Rosey loaches are a great idea for a smaller tank, especially since I think they like harder water, if I remember rightly.

 

[PlasticGalaxy]

There’s two types of dwarf/Pygmy Corys. Pandas are also smaller than the rest.
Rosy Loaches are a bit Coryish and small.
I only know of em as the old boy on the corners son knows someone moving house who is breaking down a tank. They’re taking the Livebearers and I’ve been offered everything else!

Ooh, lucky! I'm only getting a bristlenose because a friend of mine has way too many.

 

[PlasticGalaxy]

The three dwarf species of cory (pygmy, habrosus, and hastastus) are softer water cories, needing the GH to be lower than guppies would like it.

Personally, having bronze cories myself, I wouldn't keep a school of them in a 14 gallon long term. The females especially can get really large and chunky, and the ones in my 57 gallon certainly use all of it. But again, that's my personal view, I think a 20 gallon could handle a school of six nicely, but 14 really is a little cramped.

I just think you should really consider what you want this tank to be. Do you want to breed guppies? Or do you want this tank to be fully stocked right away, and stable? A nano tank or a breeding tank? Just go back to basics and really think about what you want from it. Don't think of it as "how many fish can I cram into this sized box?" and start thinking of what you want from it, which species you truly want to keep, and work from there.

If you really want to breed guppies, you want to understock this at the beginning, because you'll have more fry than you know what to do with within a couple of months, and without a spare tank, and your other one being overstocked already, you'll be in trouble in no time. With 12 guppies, even if you go with a male/female ratio of 1:1, that's at least six females churning out 30-40 fry every month. With that, adding a pleco of any size to that tank would be foolish.

Rosey loaches are a great idea for a smaller tank, especially since I think they like harder water, if I remember rightly.

There's so many choices here. God, why does this have to be so stressful? I'd love to breed guppies but I'd also really like to "experiment" with new kinds of stocks. I just wish somebody could make a stock for me instead of having to make the hard choices ?

 

[ClownLurch]

Ooh, lucky! I'm only getting a bristlenose because a friend of mine has way too many.

Two of the three don’t suit our local water.

Though they were bought locally and have been kept in the same water as ours for over a year. If I don’t want them they’ll be offered to the two LFS again with the same water and no doubt sold locally to live in the same water yet again.
Which eases my dh related conscience somewhat......and they’re free! So I guess your right....lucky!

 

[AdoraBelle Dearheart]

There's so many choices here. God, why does this have to be so stressful? I'd love to breed guppies but I'd also really like to "experiment" with new kinds of stocks. I just wish somebody could make a stock for me instead of having to make the hard choices ?

You could try out the guppies. In your shoes, I'd start with just a trio of guppies, a male and two females. See what they produce, how you like it, how you manage stocking, especially with no spare tanks. It's easier if you can at least split males from females when they're old enough to sex, since they can reach sexual maturity much sooner than many expect, and really, much sooner than is healthy for the girls, since they haven't reached a healthy, adult size before they have fry draining their limited resources.

Or go for male only guppies, and put breeding plans on hold until you can set it up so you're not overwhelmed by fry numbers, and plan it out as a nano tank that you won't have to worry about the population exploding beyond capacity.

What is your tap water's GH, KH and pH? If you don't know, can look it up at your water suppliers website, or have a fish store check it for you by bringing a sample to them. That would rule out a lot of species based on your water supply alone.

Don't take in a bristlenose just because it's free/from a friend if you don't have room for it. Ordinary bristlenose are £4-6 each, so it's not saving you much money, and a 14 gallon is cramped for a pleco, and you'll have to do more water changes to keep the water from becoming horrible.

 

[ClownLurch]

There's so many choices here. God, why does this have to be so stressful? I'd love to breed guppies but I'd also really like to "experiment" with new kinds of stocks. I just wish somebody could make a stock for me instead of having to make the hard choices ?

Put your water parameters and tank size in your signature the way I have then the fish police can point out the error of your ways more easily!
Research your possible fish choices on seriouslyfish.com then you’ll have all your stuff in order APART from the in tank bickering angle which only comes from personal experience/trouble.

 

[AdoraBelle Dearheart]

Put your water parameters and tank size in your signature the way I have then the fish police can point out the error of your ways more easily!

Not trying to be fish police, just trying to help.

It's easier to navigate these things before having a tank that's teetering on overstocked, then having loads of batches of fry and the tank being horribly overstocked very quickly, and potentially losing the whole tank if you slack on testing or water changes for even a few days.

But I'm happy to back off and stay out of it.

 

[PlasticGalaxy]

You could try out the guppies. In your shoes, I'd start with just a trio of guppies, a male and two females. See what they produce, how you like it, how you manage stocking, especially with no spare tanks. It's easier if you can at least split males from females when they're old enough to sex, since they can reach sexual maturity much sooner than many expect, and really, much sooner than is healthy for the girls, since they haven't reached a healthy, adult size before they have fry draining their limited resources.

Or go for male only guppies, and put breeding plans on hold until you can set it up so you're not overwhelmed by fry numbers, and plan it out as a nano tank that you won't have to worry about the population exploding beyond capacity.

What is your tap water's GH, KH and pH? If you don't know, can look it up at your water suppliers website, or have a fish store check it for you by bringing a sample to them. That would rule out a lot of species based on your water supply alone.

Don't take in a bristlenose just because it's free/from a friend if you don't have room for it. Ordinary bristlenose are £4-6 each, so it's not saving you much money, and a 14 gallon is cramped for a pleco, and you'll have to do more water changes to keep the water from becoming horrible.

Right now I have 8 male guppies in my big/170L, and I'm planning on moving them (half if I get females) into the 54L, so I could have a little bit of a trial in that respect...

No idea what the hardness or pH of the tap water is, and I get no exact numbers when I try to look on the supplier's site...

Is it possible that I could substitute the corys and bristlenose for a few otocinclus catfish or something similar? Just out of curiosity.

 

[ClownLurch]

Not trying to be fish police, just trying to help.

It's easier to navigate these things before having a tank that's teetering on overstocked, then having loads of batches of fry and the tank being horribly overstocked very quickly, and potentially losing the whole tank if you slack on testing or water changes for even a few days.

But I'm happy to back off and stay out of it.

Wasn’t a dig at you. Wasn’t a dig at anyone.
I couldn’t agree with you more that researching before buying is the way to go. Researching even before putting forward stocking plans on here should be encouraged as much as possible.

 

[AdoraBelle Dearheart]

Right now I have 8 male guppies in my big/170L, and I'm planning on moving them (half if I get females) into the 54L, so I could have a little bit of a trial in that respect...

No idea what the hardness or pH of the tap water is, and I get no exact numbers when I try to look on the supplier's site...

Is it possible that I could substitute the corys and bristlenose for a few otocinclus catfish or something similar? Just out of curiosity.

Really need to know your water hardness before recommending anything. Otos like much softer water though, and a well established, stable tank.

Try again on your water providers website, look for a water quality report. That should give hardness in numbers. Need to know the measurements they used as well as the numbers, since there are a few different measurements they can use. If not, can you get to a store to test the GH and pH? @Essjay knows more about finding out water hardness, there are three places in the UK where the companies don't give exact measurements. Perhaps yours is one of those.

What's the current stocking in your 170 litre tank?

 

[PlasticGalaxy]

Really need to know your water hardness before recommending anything. Otos like much softer water though, and a well established, stable tank.

Try again on your water providers website, look for a water quality report. That should give hardness in numbers. Need to know the measurements they used as well as the numbers, since there are a few different measurements they can use. If not, can you get to a store to test the GH and pH? @Essjay knows more about finding out water hardness, there are three places in the UK where the companies don't give exact measurements. Perhaps yours is one of those.

What's the current stocking in your 170 litre tank?

Try not to cry when you read this, it's pretty bad in terms of overstocking.
In my 170L, I have:
8x male guppies
7x rummy nose tetra
7x black neon tetra (one died)
5x glowlight tetra
4x neon tetra
3x congo tetra
3x pearl gourami
3x bronze corydoras
3x albino corydoras (bronze)
3x kuhli loaches
1x giant fan shrimp
1x sailfin pleco
1x common pleco (VERY small)

Are there any tetras that I could move into the 54L without much issue? I know that guppies and tetras prefer different water hardness but they all seem to be very happy in the 170L. Thinking that I could just skip stocking the 54L with new fish and just transfer some from the 170L (which was the plan with the corydoras and guppies already). Just need to figure out what would work well together in the 54L.

 

[PlasticGalaxy]

Water level in the 54L is down by maybe 5-10%? No lid right now, so this was expected. Deciding whether to buy a lid or just make one from scratch.

 

[Advanced Aquarist]

I am reluctant to add Congo tetras to a tank with rummy nose tetras for fear of fin nipping. What's your experience with them so far?

and fan shrimp are quite fun to have.

 

[PlasticGalaxy]

I am reluctant to add Congo tetras to a tank with rummy nose tetras for fear of fin nipping. What's your experience with them so far?

and fan shrimp are quite fun to have.

The congos seem very passive and friendly, actually... Maybe since I don't have many, but they seem to just leave everyone else alone. But I think overall I'm just quite lucky with the fish I have. The rummy noses keep to themselves too, very active and all happy.

 

[PlasticGalaxy]

22.03.2021
Added fish yesterday! Using it as a temporary quarantine tank for the upside down catfish I got yesterday. Added salvinia and java moss as well as some elodea densa that I trimmed from the 170L. Tank now has six female guppies and two upside down catfish of unknown sexes. Their names are Dr. Strange and Mr. Backwards.

Here's a link to the thread where I spoke about my new stock.

Yes, the tank is quite ugly looking for now. Eventually I'm hoping that it'll take shape and begin to look nicer when it's all done up.

The upside down catfish won't be there forever, I'll be putting them into the big 170L tank once they're quarantined. After that, I'll be putting a few male guppies in and seeing if I get any guppy fry.

The equipment for my lid is slowly coming piece by piece in the post. Decided to DIY it since you can't really buy them anywhere.