How many guppies in a 30 gallon??

[Elisabeth83]

I know this question gets asked a lot and I know the 1 inch per gallon rule or well guideline but as guppies are more slim and slender compared to a lot of other fish I thought I'd ask.

I have aout 20 guppy fry who are all turning out to be very pretty. I was thinking a lot of them would be plain and I'd give them to my lfs but now that most of them have beautiful colors I am having a hard time choosing which ones to give away.

So right now I have 4 adult guppy males in my 30 gallon along with 4 cories and 2 SAE's as well as about 10-12 2-3 month old fry. How many adults could I keep without it becoming overcrowded?

 

[Cheese Specialist]

Well, is it going to be males or females you keep? You should really have at least 2 females to each male so the females are not harassed too much, meaning you'd need 8 females for the 4 males you currently have. This would be fine IMO for stocking.

What are you readings like? Does you nitrAte rise a lot between water changes? Thisis the only true way of knowing how well stocked you are in terms of bioload (not space though).

 

[Elisabeth83]

It's only going to be males in the tank as I am tried of all the fry and wont be able to keep the new ones anyways.

I just did a test the day before yesterday and my nitrAte was at 5. I actually can't remember what the reading was for nitrAte last time I tested but it's usually between 5-10. And that's with the 10-12 fry in the tank.

 

[sylvia]

Males only reach an inch so you have plenty of space for about 20-15 more. If your nitrAtes rise higher than 40 before you do a water change, reduce your stocking levels.

 

[Cheese Specialist]

It depends on what the level of you tap water though. I always judge it like this, as it works for everyone...

- Check level before change (say it's 5)
- Check before next water change

If it has risen to more than 5 then your water changes are not convering the waste being produced in the tank. If you change water weekly, for instance, and it's rising, to a bit higher than last week's reading, each week then you have a problem.

Simple.