10G Stocking Help

[XeroTolerance]

So my brother is deciding to get a 10 gallon tank. I guess I must have influenced him . Anyways, he and I came up with the idea of stocking the tank like this

1x guppy
4x Bloodfin Tetras
2 or 3x Ghost Shrimp

Thanks . Do you think he should get 2 guppies or is one enough? If he gets two it might be a little over stocked though. Thanks for your help.

 

[Fishy friend2]

Male or female

 

[XeroTolerance]

Probably both female, because the males would be too aggressive, plus we dont want hundreds of eggs every month .

 

[Fishy friend2]

If female just get 1 or 2 more

 

[Smells a bit fishy]

I would not get the guppy and put 8-10 bloodfin tetras in there. Or 6 tetra and a betta. I'm sure guppies prefer company, there not schooling fish but they normally live in large numbers. Although I could be wrong.

 

[Joekoing]

I'd always say this but brown pencilfish are the ones for small tanks.

 

[willowstwin]

I'd say up the numbers of the tetras to 6/7, your shrimp don't really add to the bioload (as far as I've been told) and go for something like a betta or a dwarf gourami. I think guppies do like being in numbers, although I ould be wrong too.. this would be fine, if you go on the rule of 1" of fish (fully grown) per gallon (eg, my 10G tank has 6 neon tetras (6") and 2 dwarf gourami (2") so if the other tetras hadn't died, I would have been fine), and I have some amano's coming on tuesday for this tank and my new nano at work good work influencing

 

[fluttermoth]

Probably both female, because the males would be too aggressive, plus we dont want hundreds of eggs every month .

Guppies don't lay eggs, they're livebearers. There's every chance that any females you buy will already be pregnant in the shop (even if the shop keeps their males and females separate), so you could well still end up with a lot of babies (female livebearers can store sperm for up to six months).

 

[XeroTolerance]

I'd say up the numbers of the tetras to 6/7, your shrimp don't really add to the bioload (as far as I've been told) and go for something like a betta or a dwarf gourami. I think guppies do like being in numbers, although I ould be wrong too.. this would be fine, if you go on the rule of 1" of fish (fully grown) per gallon (eg, my 10G tank has 6 neon tetras (6") and 2 dwarf gourami (2") so if the other tetras hadn't died, I would have been fine), and I have some amano's coming on tuesday for this tank and my new nano at work good work influencing

Thanks . I think he'll do that. He is in tears right now because he really wants a guppy (only 9 years old). Thanks for your advice, although we still may go with the guppy. Good luck on your Nano Tank .

Probably both female, because the males would be too aggressive, plus we dont want hundreds of eggs every month .

Guppies don't lay eggs, they're livebearers. There's every chance that any females you buy will already be pregnant in the shop (even if the shop keeps their males and females separate), so you could well still end up with a lot of babies (female livebearers can store sperm for up to six months).

I was thinking of my flame tetras I was getting .

 

[fluttermoth]

You can have all male guppies! They may nip each others tails a little bit, but they won't kill each other or anything like that.

 

[XeroTolerance]

That is a good idea . Thanks for your help. I'm sure my brother will like that idea much more .

 

[fluttermoth]

I think I'd have all male guppies and some shrimp and forget about the tetras; a lot of the tetra species can be quite nippy towards long-finned fish, especially in small shoals.

 

[XeroTolerance]

Good idea . Thanks for your help. I'm going to tell my brother now. Hopefully he will be happier .

Is there any way to tell the sex of them? If so thanks so much .

 

[fluttermoth]

Ah, luckily for you guppies are a piece of p*** to sex; the males are smaller, more colourful, have long tails and a modified anal fin (that's the one on the bottom of the fish, just in front of the tail); in males it's rod-like structure called a 'gonopodium' that they use like a penis.

The females are larger, less brightly coloured and have a normal, fan shaped anal fin

Nerarly all LFS employees can sex livebearers, and after a few looks on a google image search, so will you and your brother (go on, show him; he can have a good giggle about being allowed to say 'gonopodium' in public )

 

[willowstwin]

the LFS should tell you which sex the guppies are, but as a general rule, males are prettier... they have a larger more fan-like tail and amazing colours