I have an old 6 gallon Eclipse tank that was used ages ago to grow elodea for a science fair project. I have been dreaming about putting guppies into it, and now have finally found a source for a pair of guppies.

My question - guppies make many more guppies! Is it simply ridiculous to even think about putting a pair in a tiny 6 gallon tank? How much space do they need?

Another consideration - how often does a guppy's water need to be changed? Water, is, as always, a scarce commodity.

Guppies are so pretty and little!

well guppies are so small lol, but i believe it is 1 inch per gallon in tropical tanks.. but are you planning on using a breeder? (one of those plastic floating boxes) and what are you going to with the babies?

That is just it, I do not know! I would actually prefer it if I could use guppy birth control! I would rather just enjoy the little guys that I get, if I get them.

I suppose give them back to the person I am getting the original ones from. But that is not a guarantee.

Can just the pretty males live together?

lol i dont see why not... they look fine in petstores all together..

where are you that water is scarce, if I may ask?

Daryl, I just got a few guppies too for my empty 20 gl tank, decided to get 3 males and one female. On the way home in the bag, the female had one baby, so I already am a proud grandmother
The lady I bought the guppies from, a little independent store, said I could bring back any fry when they are pretty enough to sell, and she would give me either things from her store or plain ol green money for it. I guess you could sell your babies off to Petsupermarket or Petsmart, too....
At the rate they are going,that could become a nice little income!
Since the males are pretty heavy after the female right now, I bought one of those sheets from the craft store, where you usually do stitching work on. Not regular Aida, its the hard plastic kind. They come in sheets and start with just a few cents. I cut it to size and just prop it in there, supported by the gravel...Voila! Cheap devider!

You can keep just male guppies together and then never have to worry about babies if you dont want! I think 2 or 3 would be fine in that tank. Just do about 20% water changes every other week or so. They arent nearly as messy as goldfish and dont like as much water being changed at a time. Also they do very well with a little salt in their water as they can also be kept as brackish fish.

Thank you! I think I shall see if I am "allowed" to get three (odd number is best!) pretty males. I do not think I want to trust a store to take fish back or my friend, for..... if they do not, then I could be overwhelmed.

I live in a very dry portion of Idaho, where we have two wells, but neither has water that is suited for fish. I use RO water exclusively, but still do not have my larger processer installed. It takes about an hour to produce one gallon of fish quality water. This water is also shared with my orchid house! Needless to say, I do not waste a drop!

Daryl, I heard in the news yesterday, that a local couple is trying to sell *Florida flood water* on e-bay. I think you might need a bit of that!

I have often wondered why it would be so difficult to somehow ship water from the east to the west. There are so many places where water is as valuable as gasoline. Since I use so very little gasoline, in my case, water is far far more valuable.

But selling it on e-bay!

That is pretty gutzy!

amazing to think that in america there is a place where water is hard to come by - makes me think twice now when i see all the folks watering lawns here and it is not even pretty grass lol

Chelsea's betta, Dave, has given me the ideat that maybe a betta might be a good tank filler!!!!! I know that one betta would not breed.

The LFS does not want to sell just male guppies. They buy them as pairs and wish to sell them as pairs. I had hoped that maybe there would be more males tthan females and they would be willing.

But a pretty red betta sounds pretty good! I am reading books on bettas, now, thanks to Chelsea!

Bettas are wonderful fish. They have great personalities just like goldies and are very clean fish. They love attention and will follow you around the room in the tanks. Very easy to take care of as well. And with just one in a tank they seem to me to be less prone to diseases than the goldies. Good luck with your decision. I have guppies now as well as the goldies and bettas. Keep losing the females so I now have 3 male guppies in a 20 gallon tank. So it can be done.

hey wow! i just got around to reading this- so what did you decide on? im glad i (and dave) are so influential!

Just to point out that if you choose to mix the sexes of guppies, you need to have at least 2 females (3+ is preferable) per male to spread the breeding around. Otherwise it causes to much stress on the females.

I had 3 male guppies in a 5 gal. hex tank for quite a while. The male guppies are more hardy than the females. The females seem to be just good for one thing and that is breeding. The birth takes so much out of them. My heart broke everytime I lost one after the birth. The males are also larger and more colorful. :ph34r: