Feeder Guppies

[IovaykInD]

Will feeder guppies do good for cycling a tank? I've heard that they are very hardy due to them living in harsh conditions already. I've also heard that they are very prone to disease. If the feeders survive the cycling of the tank, I will be able to add fancy guppies!!!

Isaac

 

[kimbowee]

Why not try fishless cycling? Then you don't have to worry if the fishies live and you can add fancy guppies anyway once its done cycling! There is a whole section on how to do a fishless cycle in the beginners section. Fishless Cycle Just click the link and you will be one your way to much happier fish.

 

[pica_nuttalli]

you don't want to cycle with diseased fish because putting sick fish in your tank puts fish pathogens in your tank. and who wants to spend a small fortune curing a fish you didn't even buy with the intention of keeping?

fishless cycling or tank cloning are the best solutions of all.

 

[IovaykInD]

Well...I do have a cycled tank but I forgot how to get media from it. I'm pretty sure the way it was, was to put the filter from the uncycled tank into the cycled tank for a couple of weeks. Then you just put the filter into the uncycled tank again..and add fish.

Is this how you do it, or was there some other way? Could you explain this to me a bit?

Isaac

*EDIT*
Also, if I get my water tested at Petco, what kind of results will they give me? Just ammonia, nitrites, and nitrates? Or also pH, water hardness, etc?

 

[OrkyBetta]

That is one way to do it. Or you could take a bit of the gravel from the cycled tank, put it in a nylon stocking or tights, wrap it up with a rubber band and pop it in your new tank. The bacteria will move out of the stocking and into your new tank and will speed thungs up.

 

[IovaykInD]

There isn't any gravel...or anything for that matter in the cycled tank. Just the filter and turtles...

 

[IovaykInD]

Well, I got fifteen feeder guppies and I put them into the cycled tank with the turtles. Not to let them get eaten, I put them into a 3 gallon tank, which I placed inside the 29 gallon. That way, the turtle can't eat them, and the guppies can have a cycled tank. Now the guppies range from 1/2" to 3/4", I was wondering if the female was pregnant. She looks like she's about to pop, and I can see the gravid spot on all the females. What should I do with the female that looks pregnant? Can 3/4" guppies already be pregnant, I'm not sure about the age of them yet.

Isaac

 

[Tokis-Phoenix]

Even if they are just feeder guppys, keeping them in a 3gallon is very cruel- when it comes down to it they are no different than your pet guppys and should at leat be shown some respect or given moderatly good conditions to live in IMO.

 

[IovaykInD]

I'm doing something wrong? Sorry, I didn't explain it clearly. I put them in DIFFERENT 3 gallon tanks, approxiamately 4-5 in each one. So do you think the guppy is pregnant?

 

[Tokis-Phoenix]

Knowing guppys, the females are always pregnant except when they've just given birth, but as to the tanks, a 5gallon is the very bare minimum- 10gallons being the accepted minimum for guppys.

 

[IovaykInD]

They're all inside a 29 gallon now. There are only 13 left because two died, and I fed them to the turtle.

Isaac