Guppies...help Please!

[tamara]

well i already know that 9 guppies is way too much for a ten gallon tank, but they're happy! that's all that counts&&they're HEALTHY! so ya, but i wanted to get a female or some.. [6 would have been better..]
but i think they're all males unless if i missed 1 or 2..
and i wanted them to have abbies so i could convince my mom to buy me a larger tank, but now that probably won't be happening....
because i can't just get one female because the other 9 will haraesse her...and if i got 10-20 females then i would have way to many guppies!!!!
well this sucks pretty darn bad...

 

[fishdawg]

9 is all ready way to manny. you need 1m/4f and you will have literly hundreds of fry. you would need at least a 55g just for when the fry get bigger. so having 9 males is a bad idea. maby some one around you could take some off your hands in trade for females?

 

[tamara]

would it be alright to just have 9 males abd bi females???

 

[fishdawg]

not in a 10g
think of how big fully grown guppies are... 2"
now think about the fish/gallon rule....
really you could only have 5 guppies in a 10gal
1" of fish per gallon (rember to think of them as fully grown and not what size they are now)

ps: if you lived in usa i would trade you femals for males as i breed guppies. but canada has a rule that you cant ship live animals to or out of the country.

you would need to buy 36 femals then. rember 1m/4f

im my breeding setup i have 5m and 20f and i have like hundreds of fry right now.

 

[dwarfgourami]

9 males are not too much for a 10 gallon, not even if you follow the inch/gallon rule; they are a lot smaller than the females and usually only grow to about an inch (you don't count the tail). I would stay as you are, sounds a nice tank

 

[tamara]

thanks! they're all quite very happy, and i just got 4 guppies today..which were supposed to be females [forgetting that i had some already..they were just so pretty..lol!]
but then i ended up with all males..
because i didn't check..i just look at the "female tank"
but obviously that was wrong..!!

 

[dwarfgourami]

Ah! I missed your stocking list at the bottom. Though 9 male guppies are fine in a 10 gallon tank, that would be 9 guppies on their own, not with a cory and a bristlenose. Bristlies are messy little buggers and they do grow to about 5.5 inches, so he will need a new home eventually. If his waste starts getting too much for the filter to handle, it is likely that this will cause ill health in the guppies, things like bacterial finrot.

 

[omen666]

I think you are going to find yourself in a whole heap of poo if you get anymore fish for that tank. Overcrowding them is going to cause you some serious problems in future.

At the most 2 males and 3 or 4 females , but as she stated earlier you should have 3 or 4 to every male. The males will pester the life out of those females if you don't seperate them. Your water quality will also be a problem in such a small tank. You do realise that once they start to breed there will literally be hundreds of babies for you to take care of. I do not think filling your tank to it's maximum capacity is the answer to get you a larger tank. Keeping the males on their own will not hurt, but I don't suggest adding anything else to this tiny tank.

 

[tamara]

Bristlies are messy little buggers and they do grow to about 5.5 inches, so he will need a new home eventually. If his waste starts getting too much for the filter to handle, it is likely that this will cause ill health in the guppies, things like bacterial finrot.

i hoping that i'll get alarger tank within the next year, and the pleco is i'd say an inch and a half right now..
and also my filter seems almost...too good?
doesn't suck the fish in but it definetly sucks everything else in...

At the most 2 males and 3 or 4 females , but as she stated earlier you should have 3 or 4 to every male. The males will pester the life out of those females if you don't seperate them. Your water quality will also be a problem in such a small tank. You do realise that once they start to breed there will literally be hundreds of babies for you to take care of. I do not think filling your tank to it's maximum capacity is the answer to get you a larger tank. Keeping the males on their own will not hurt, but I don't suggest adding anything else to this tiny tank.

okay, so then they're fine the way they are. if i just leave them and within a year if i get alarger tank they'll be fine?



also another question..i checked to make sure they're all males...they are.
but one chases after another guy as if he's a female...but hee's got the colors of a male, but the size of a female and the stomach as a week preg. female.. now i'm super confused...

 

[omen666]

do you have anything to take photos of them? If so it would help us determine if you have females in the tank, and yes they will be fine as they are...until you get a bigger tank I would not let them breed if you can resist or prevent it.

 

[tamara]

well they can't breed anyways...unless if the one one is a female...but i don't think so....
and i do have a camera...but they never stay still enough to show there butt fin things...
but i'll try anyways.

 

[omen666]

most of us should be able to tell what they are even if the pic is a bit blurry.

 

[dwarfgourami]

also another question..i checked to make sure they're all males...they are.
but one chases after another guy as if he's a female...but hee's got the colors of a male, but the size of a female and the stomach as a week preg. female.. now i'm super confused...

The colours are nothing to go by- I have females that are at least as colourful as any of my males. The way to sex is to check the anal fin. In females it is fan-shaped, but males have a rodlike implement. This male gonopodium does not develop until they are about 3 months, or even later in some cases. With younger fish, it may be possible to tell females apart by their gravid spots (even non-pregnant females have this, and it is often visible from a very young age).

 

[tamara]

okay, well now it seems like he/she's belly has shrunk..
so i'm confused on for what is going on now...

 

[omen666]

when they say a picture is worth a thousand words...it's true LOL...we can tell you what it is just by looking at it, there won't be a need to guess then