Is a 20g tall better than a normal 10g for guppies?

[kittyclown]

SO i recently have gotten back into the aquairum hobby as of last christmas, and due to space issues iv only had room for a 10 gallon at the moment.
I have had it up since christmas and i recently got some guppies for it, Right now i currently have 4 guppies (2 females, 2 males) and 3 guppy fry i am raising as one of the females i bought was pregnant and i didnt notice when picking them out.
I had planned to get all males as i didn't want to breed guppies and was told it would be all males but ended up with 2 pregnant female guppies anyways but THATS a whole different story.
My first aquarium i had was a 20 gallon long so this is my first 10g and iv noticed it does accumulate waste more and requires more upkeep w cleaning the gravel, and then theirs also the issue w stocking where i have to have less fish than i would a 20g.

Now i DO have a 20 gallon TALL in my basement with a bowed front i got at a garage sale a few years prior, but its very dirty and would need alot of cleaning it has ALOT of calcium buildup or something thats crusted all over the top of the tank from the previous owner. I originally bought it for my mom as a gift but it didnt work out for her and she ended up building a koi pond out back so its just sitting there empty at the moment.

I've heard the general consensus is a 20g tall isnt nearly as better for fish as a 20g long because it does not provide more space to swim as much as more height which alot of fish dont care about. I wanted to know if it would be easier to manage if i moved my guppies to this 20g tall? Im thinking it wont make cleaning easier because the floor space of the aquarium is probably the same and more water doesn't equal more space if its just taller.

Wanted to hear others thoughts on it though just in case! i have room for it since it isnt as long as a 20g long is, and also wondered if i could keep more guppies in a 20g tall.

Thank you in advance! : )

 

[Naughts]

Yes, the bigger volume of water will benefit the fish.

 

[kittyclown]

Yes, the bigger volume of water will benefit the fish.

Are you sure it would be worth it though? honestly my 10 gallon might have more "floor space" than the 20 g tall but i'll have to measure it maybe, it just seems like it might be harder to clean and maybe even worse off for the fish, iv read that its better to have a longer tank than a deeper tank but am unsure still, i know some species do better than others w height vs length.

 

[Naughts]

Yes. Longer is better than taller but if the footprint's are equal, bigger is better. It means that the water quality is better as everything (nitrates, toxins, pheromones etc.) is more diluted. Deep fish require deeper tanks but that is relevant to big tanks, like 55g + for angels. Here the benefit is the water volume.

 

[Retired Viking]

Like @Naughts said the benefit is volume. More water disperses any harmful chemicals that may find their way into you tank and dilutes them. Also more room to swim and if your guppies are like mine they will have plenty of fry unless you only have males. My guppy tank is a 30 gallon tank.

 

[AdoraBelle Dearheart]

Agree that if the footprint is the same, then the extra volume is helpful in terms of water quality. I wouldn't add more fish to it though, since they won't have any more horizontal swimming space. Besides, you're going to need to plan for what to do when more fry keep appearing... You have two females with two males - both females are going to continue to pop out fry every month.