What To Add To A Tank Of Guppies+Albino Plec

[snoozysusie]

Hey all!
I have a 50litre (10 UK gallon) tropical setup, with 7 guppies and an albino bristlenose pleco -so all pretty small in size.
It's been setup for years but now I have more time on my hands (and our 4yr old is taking an interest in it, yeay..!!) am wanting to add a few more.
Any thoughts? Something that won't nip the guppies' fins and what are 'friendly' A 'focal point' -eg. a bigger fish - gourami/angel might be nice ?? Some neons?? something colourful so great to look at and of interest to my little girl....
I had some tiger barbs a few years back, had to take them back to the petshop after (literally) a few hours, cos they were so 'nippy' to the others in the tank! You learn from yr mistakes I guess!

Thanks in advance for any advice, ps - great site btw! xx

 

[Kerri Gronow]

Hi there and welcome to the forum

You could maybe add some neons but the angelfish would be too large for that tank set up unfortunately! You could also add some platies as they are also smaller fish that would get on well with your guppies.

 

[snoozysusie]

Hi there and welcome to the forum

You could maybe add some neons but the angelfish would be too large for that tank set up unfortunately! You could also add some platies as they are also smaller fish that would get on well with your guppies.

Thanks for that. Won't bother with an angel fish then - but how about a gourami or siamese fighter fish ? Are these compatible with guppies/other similar community fish like neons etc, or would they attack them/be attacked... ?

 

[Kerri Gronow]

I would be worried the siamese fighter fish would get bullied or nipped by the guppies... you could maybe have a pair of gouramis although they should really be in at least 20 gallons to thrive ... but if you were to get a gourami I would get a pair as one may get pretty lonely or bullied.

 

[snoozysusie]

Sounds like gouramis need quite a bit of space (and can get q large+aggresive too..) so had a change of heart there also.
Someone has suggested Bolivian/German rams which look lovely (I'd never heard/seen them before) so that will probably be the way forward. Any thoughts on how many would go in the tank with them without overstocking ? and how big do they get ?do they need any special conditions or requirements do you know ??
cheers x

 

[amy1994]

Sounds like gouramis need quite a bit of space (and can get q large+aggresive too..) so had a change of heart there also.
Someone has suggested Bolivian/German rams which look lovely (I'd never heard/seen them before) so that will probably be the way forward. Any thoughts on how many would go in the tank with them without overstocking ? and how big do they get ?do they need any special conditions or requirements do you know ??
cheers x

Here's a pic of a bolivian ram http/www.google.co...iw=1311&bih=613
But you can get many other different types of rams, including electric blue.
I think you could only have a couple of them in there if you were going to.
I have heard that they need to have a lot of room though as they can be aggressive.
Maybe you could go with a more peaceful fish.
You could just get a couple platies, they get slightly bigger than guppies, can also be very colourful as there are lots of varieties, and they are the same care level. But like guppies, there should be 2 females to every male.

 

[Kerri Gronow]

What about a few rummy nose tetras! They are small fish that are very colourful and have a good personality ... they are also very active therefore may be a good option for you ... I have a couple of them in my 200L and they get on well with all my fish including my guppies.

Sorry I cannot upload images at the moment but have a look on google images ^^^

 

[Tony_essex]

was just about to say rummy nose's lol tbh theres a few diff tetras you could add that are small on size and will get on with the guppys

 

[StandbySetting]

As far as M.ramirezi(Blue Ram's, Electric Blue Ram's, Gold Ram's, Balloon Ram's) and Guppy's go, the two are incompatible, Guppy's require hard alkaline water whilst Blue Ram's require soft acidic water. Bolivian Ram's will be fine however, providing you have a sand substrate.

 

[Stephan]

I love my cremecicle lyretail mollies. Very nice and active.

 

[snoozysusie]

Many thanks everyone for all your comments. In the end, I went with 3 mollies (2f 1m) and 3 swordtails (2f 1m) of varying colours - black, white, black+white, pineapple, gold and gold/black so hopefully will get nice results if/when they may ever produce fry.

Thanks again and best wishes to everyone. Very helpful site cheers xx

 

[joefish72]

Many thanks everyone for all your comments. In the end, I went with 3 mollies (2f 1m) and 3 swordtails (2f 1m) of varying colours - black, white, black+white, pineapple, gold and gold/black so hopefully will get nice results if/when they may ever produce fry.

Thanks again and best wishes to everyone. Very helpful site cheers xx

Just so you know the mollies and swords will inter breed. Also they multiply like rabbits so see if your LFS will take the extra babies or make a lot of friends and give them away.

 

[StandbySetting]

Many thanks everyone for all your comments. In the end, I went with 3 mollies (2f 1m) and 3 swordtails (2f 1m) of varying colours - black, white, black+white, pineapple, gold and gold/black so hopefully will get nice results if/when they may ever produce fry.

Thanks again and best wishes to everyone. Very helpful site cheers xx

Just so you know the mollies and swords will inter breed. Also they multiply like rabbits so see if your LFS will take the extra babies or make a lot of friends and give them away.

That isn't true, Molly's and Swordtails are from a different genus, and have different numbers of chromosomes, hybrids are impossible.