Hi,
I am very inexperienced with tropical fish . If I say stuff wrongly, please forgive me!

I want to set up a guppie tank, I want the tank to be small, but big enough for the fish to swim in comfortabley. What size would you recommend? How many gallons per guppie? Can you tell me everything about guppies that I need to know, I really don't want to not know enough and then end up killing the fish!




Thanx!

http://guppyz.tripod.com/guppy_care.html

Hi and welcome to the forum! Above is a link to caring for guppies. It talks a lot about breeding them but keep reading and you'll find all the other info you need, too.

I have 5 males in a five gallon as they need at least one gal per guppy. My tank came with a whisper filter and it helps keep the water clean. I change about 30-40% of their water every week by using a gravel vacuum to take out all the poo. They like lukewarm water that's been treated with a water conditioner to remove chlorine, etc. My little tank stays warm without a heater so far but if your house is cold you may need a small heater for them. Probably set it at 75F at the lowest to make sure they are warm enough. You can get a tank thermometer to to see if you need a heater or not.

Have fun and show pics if you can.

hey ink fish

I replied on your other topic about some small fishies. You could also try some neon tetras, those are really cute too.

Hi,
Thanx for the info kristy, you're really nice!! I went on your site, I had no idea that too many water changes can damage mature fishes tails!! Great website!

Ya, neon tetras are pretty. I like them too.

In winter my house is so I think I'll need a heater then. My friends guppies were killed by her betta, obviously the betta thought the guppies were other males!

I am so exited about getting them I saw a rina one I liked, it holds 30 liters.
Thanx for being so helpfull, that site is great!! I found out loads.



Thanks again,
Best withes

Oh yeah,
I forgot to ask, are guppies alright with sand?
Apparently, goldfish suck it up and get sick, is this the same for guppies?
Sorry if this is a really silly question.

Hi Inkfish, Welcome to Koko's!

I've never heard of guppies having a problem with aquarium sand, but someone else may have experience with it.

You may want to consider a bag of the stones they have at petstores instead, they're easier to do gravel vacs and keep clean in a freshwater set-up.

And there are no silly questions That's why we're all here hun, so ask away!

Gravel can also be very very very colourful and I'm not sure you get the same 'pow' of colour with sand.

If you go with guppies which are very colourful fish (if you choose some that are... of course there are grey ones out there) and in my opinion it's a lot nicer to have a colourful tank to complement them.

I myself have some bright pink stones in my tank and I simply adore it. Of course you don't need coloured gravel, it's just a nice accent I think.

I don't know about sand... they're tropical fish so I can't imagine it would do any harm (tropics usually have very fine white sand,) but if you aren't sure I'd just go with gravel, it's easier to clean than sand anyways.

Sand is fine for guppies, eventhough Im sure black gravel would look great with them

That's great! I'm glad the article helped you.

Don't know about sand but here's a pic of my tank and the glass stones I used--



The plant on the left is glow-in-the-dark so it looks really cool when I turn out the lights.

I also have a cory catfish in there to clean up the food that the guppies miss. So far it's all working out good.

Hi,
I like biorbs but the surface area is tiny, so I'm definately not getting that, I like the look of biubes and want to get one. tell me if this is a !

I like gravel, but I the colour of sand, one thing I'm worried about, if I do gravel vac, will the sand shoot up the pipe?

Thanx everyone!

Yea, I think the way you gravel-vac sand is by hovering the pipe over the surface instead of digging down in it. The problem is that you don't have the benefit of microorganisims and the little sand-dwelling creatures that salt water tanks have to keep it clean and stir up the sand naturally. This may lead to a build-up of toxins in the sand. Again though, I don't have any personal experience with it.

They do sell natural colored stones, and if you buy the little pea-sized ones you might be able to accomplish the same look. I agree, sand would be a cool look though.

I don't know what size tank you're planning on, but perhaps a few of some type of fish that likes to burrow in sand would do the trick?

if you use one of those tiny gravel cleaners, it shouldnt suck up the sand, i still have a few pieces of sand in my goldie tank, cause some of the gravel was once in a tank with sand, but even my big gravel cleaner doesnt suck it up, except maybe 1 or 2 pieces, you could try it though.