How Many Guppies In A 8 Gallon?

[Sly13Cat]

I have a ten gallon and I wanted to give my Betta 2 gallons (who's currently in a .5 gallon... Yes i know but the pet store girl recommended it and i didn't know about Bettas). I wanted to put 5 male fancy guppies in the 8 gallon section. I just bought the tank with comes with filter, light and I need to buy the heater. The Betta has a good personality and the divider will have holes for filtration and I don't think he'll get too stressed and I'll give the entire tank spaces to hide. So would 5 guppies be good for the other side and 1 Betta for the other?

He's been in the .5 for a year. I wanted to give him a better home and I can't afford another tank.

 

[Man of fish]

Are you planning on bright male guppies or females?
If males the betta may become stressed by looking at them and MAY flare at them often. Or he could be nice and like them kind of a gamble. If you got females then you may be able to keep the betta with them vs. Separated

 

[Sly13Cat]

I plan on getting 5 Fancy guppies (Tequila Sunrise, Red cobra etc.)
He's a docile Betta so I think he'll be fine. Not like my new Crowntail who lives in a 1 gal. (I'll get him a proper home too). The Crowntail flares at everything.

Edit: I meant fine on the other side of the divider. But maybe i'll try with them as well.

 

[Man of fish]

Hmm I don't think he'd like them very much you may want an opaque divider so he's not stressed or if he does flare at them get an opaque divider but if he doesn't flare you could try him with them but I think he may rip their tails

 

[Sly13Cat]

Could others help shed some light?

 

[Fishy friend2]

With fancy guppies, you aren't gonna have much luck as the Betta will most likely see them as another make in there territory and seriously injure of kill the guppies, also I would go for more like 3-4 guppies in an 8 gallon tank

 

[Sly13Cat]

The tank is ten gallons but I want to give 8 for the guppies and 2 for the betta.

 

[Fishy friend2]

Honestly, 2 gallons is a bit small as if the tank is a standard 10 gallon then the fish will only have like 3-4 inches of length to swim. And with the other 8 gallons you should only get about 3 -4

 

[Sly13Cat]

Well it's more space then what he's currently living in. So 4 guppies is okay for the other side. Is there anymore fish I could add? Because at a inch per gallon maybe there's room for a slower moving fish?

 

[Fishy friend2]

You should never follow the inch per gallon rule, generally it doesn't apply to any situation, so no. You couldn't add an other fish besides the 3-4 guppies

 

[Man of fish]

The inch per gallon thing is just a general rule of thumb but means pretty much nothing. What is your filter and what is the gph or lph of it?

 

[Sly13Cat]

Alright then. I'll try the betta plus guppies thing for a while on a strict watch and if it doesn't work I'll try something different.

Not sure of the GPH but I can check tomorrow because it requires a bit of searching.

 

[Fishy friend2]

Okay, I ope all goes well mate!

 

[FishBlast]

Alright then. I'll try the betta plus guppies thing for a while on a strict watch and if it doesn't work I'll try something different.

Not sure of the GPH but I can check tomorrow because it requires a bit of searching.

You might not see it directly, but if your guppies suddenly end up with ripped tails or no eyes, then it means betta was hunting at night time. So it's a risk.

 

[Sly13Cat]

I'll watch him until around midnight to see if anything happens.

Btw the GPH of the AquaTech 5-15 Filter (Mine) is 105GPH.

I don't plan in doing this for a week or two because i still have some things to buy. I just wanted to confirm what i'll do.