New To Tropical Fish, Need Advice On Many Questions

twistedlink

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Okay, I know its annoying when a new member comes onto a forum (whatever the subject on whatever forum) and makes so many mistakes, asking questions etc, but please bear with me lol.

Basically, I want to do a study on fish breeding (mainly guppies) and using chi square techniques figure out all the dominant ressecive alelles etc for my university project, among other fish too.

While doing this, i may as well take it up as a hobby, I enjoy watching fish, and love the colourations of well made tanks.

Basically ive bought books and im well read up on general tank making and how to do things with the tank (obviously people have personal preferences of how they do things, but im sure i'll pick parts up and get better as i go along)

My main problem is books never say "never mix this exact species with this exact species"

it just states "occasional nipping to particular fish"

And i sit there thinking

"right...what fish? lol"

So basically ive made a list of fish i wish to keep (good livebearers along with hard egg laying ones to give myself a challenge)

I do understand not to add all these fish at once, and i know the process will be slow, im not planning on getting to terms with any major league stuff until at least 1-2 years-i do understand that.


Okay heres a list of starter fish i wish to keep and will add within a 3-5 month period of each other

Guppies (Obviously, as this is what i mainly want to study)
I don't know how many of these i want to keep, chances are the tank size im going to get is in the region of 30-40 gallons, and the amount of fish is based on sq cm from my understanding (or sq inches) so i wish to make sure the dimensions are suited towards more fish than less.

How many could i realistically keep?
I mean they have 20-40 babies in a good brood apparently, which will grow big and fill the tank quickly
I am of the knowledge that purchasing a good 3-5 mini tanks for quarantine/hospital/brood purposes is a very good idea, which i most definitely will do.

I also wish to keep mollies-easy livebearers, and adds nice monochrome to the colour so its balanced out.

Neon tetras
Swordtails
Platys
Possible 1 male siamese fighting fish
Zebra catfish (as the fish ive listed so far are all middle tank shoalers, need some activity at the bottom)
Dwarf neon Rainbowfish



Okay, theyre the ones i want to keep after i set the tank up and leave it to mature, and thats probably the order il buy them in every 3 week gap or so (maybe smaller gaps with the easier species like neons, swordtails and platys, guppies etc)

All different enthusiasts have different ideas as to what works best, but can as many people here critique if this set-up will not work for fighting reasons.

From my knowledge i can keep the water in a particular way that allows all fish to live happily, not all of them will live in optimum conditions, but for a mixed tank i doubt thats ever truly the case unless you have mostly same species.


Longterm i wish to add these species, again, critique and suggest which ones are big no no's with certain particular fish
I will probably get these once my tank has had a lot of time to mature, along the 7 month region at the shortest time, maybe wait til 9-10 months


Royal whiptail
cockatoo cichlid
Angel fish
Purple cichlid
Glass catfish
Gold zebra loach
Flying fox
scissortail
Harlequin


From my knowledge i can fit a good 45-60 2in average fish into a 30-40 gallon tank, I may also invest in a bigger tank, or two tanks this size.

Please code which fish are best kept together and which ones ive made a certain doomed mistake on.

I apologise for my newbie ways if i have posted cliche mistakes.

I do know cichlids fight on territory but the books state if there is little female competition, and the tank is big enough, they can live without fighting to any worrying amount.

Also please add more into the list, id be delighted to look up more species onto what i can add.

Thankyou very much for reading such a large post
 
Hello and :hi: to the forum. I'm sure you will find lots of answers here.


Cichlids generally need more hard water than most fish. They are also known for being agressive.

45-60 2in average fish into a 30-40 gallon tank would NOT be a good idea. That would be WAY overstocked. you're talking 120 inches of fish in a fourty gal. The general rule of thumb is one inch of fish to every gal of water.

I'm not exactly sure about the other things but I do know those two things.
 
cool cool, The tank ive set my eyes on is 180 litres which is 40 gallons, i guess il drop the amount to 30 fish then lol.

Does that take into account bottom/middle/top dwellers? I mean if i get say 25 middle shoalers, thats the middle maxxed out, would it hurt to get 10 top dwellers and 3-4 bottom dwellers?

Im glad cichlids like hard water because i live in a hard water area (not extreme, on the lower end of the scale) because guppies prefer harder water too.
Yeah cichlids are aggressive usually, but some sources say if the tanks big enough and not much competition is around the fighting never yields fungal infections and the fighting is uncommon in comarison to the usual fighting amount.

I mean i have no idea really, they might be talking rubbish in these books, but meh, id like to keep a nice set of different species and different colourations of fish, all mixed.

I know some of them wont be in there optimum tank conditions, but ive figured out the general condition to make the tank so they can all live happily without too much problem.

Im pretty sure i cant keep all them species ive listed all in the same tank, but there the kind of ones i want, just wondering which ones will work best really, thanks for the post! and thanks for the welcome!
 
hiya and welcome to the forum, don't feel silly for asking questions, we all had to start somewhere!!

you're doing your research before going in and the deep end, and that's something which will get you a lot of respect around here. So Kudos to you for such a positive start.

OK, before we get into fish compatibility, have you done some research into cycling? The most important part of sucessful fishkeeping is keeping your water clean, without understanding the nitrogen cycle you've no hope. So if you haven't already then read the links in the beginners resources section which start you off.

OK, regarding the fish for you to start off with

Guppies
Mollies
Swordtails
PLatys

We'll start with the livebearers, all of these are easy to keep and can be kept together, the mollies prefer hard alkaline water and without it will be prone to bouts of fungus and fin rot. If you keep them in slightly brackish (salty) water this will keep the levels how they like and should keep them healthy, all of the fish above can tolerate the salty water but some of your other choices won't be able to. Generally most catfish, plecs and loaches will not tolerate salt at all.

Some of the species above will cross breed (guppies and platys do i believe but i get this a bit muddled up) so unless you want to get into hybrids (a much debated topic) then best to research the cross breeding and keep them seperate.

Neon tetras

Neons, to be blunt about it, you'll have a hard time breeding, they require quite specialised conditions, and for such a common fish, very few hobbyists manage to breed them. By all means try, but just to give you some forewarning! Neon's used to be one of the hardiest fish around but years of over and in breeding have left them v weak and now you need to have a nice mature tank to keep them.

Possible 1 male siamese fighting fish

The Betta (siamese fighter) is not called a fighting fish for no reason, they are v aggressive for such small fish and are generally not suitable for community set up's. They will attack anything that looks similar to them, so brightly coloured fish or those with long fins will be a target... there's your guppies gone for starters! Generally it is advised to keep a single male in a small tank of their own, and femal'es are often kept in sorority tanks. However plenty of people manage to breed bettas so check out the betta forum for more info on this, you may want to set up a seperate breeding project just for them.

Zebra catfish (as the fish ive listed so far are all middle tank shoalers, need some activity at the bottom)

can you clarify which species you mean (scientific or latin name), lots of catfish could go by this common name.

Dwarf neon Rainbowfish

quite hardy, shouldn't be too aggresive with your other fish, no experience breeding them though so can't give any pointers or indication there.

now for the more advanced fish

Royal whiptail

i'm not brilliant with catfish, can't help here, think they're peaceful but best to check in the catfish forum

cockatoo cichlid

lovely little fish, the problem you'd have putting these in a community tank is feeding, they can be a little shy and if you've lots of greedy top feeders (your livebearers) the cockatoo's may struggle to compete for food, manageable but you'd need to be careful. They're also fairly territorial for such small fish, so you'd want to make sure the decor is arranged appropriatley.

Angel fish

Angels need a nice tall tank, generally 18" tall is the minimum so check your tank dimensions. Angels can be aggressive (but not always), they will eat any fry that are in the main tank.


Purple cichlid

Clarify species please


Glass catfish

v shy fish, may be bullied by angel/cockatto's

Gold zebra loach

should be fine with everything

Flying fox

not v familiar with flying fox so can't help here

scissortail

clarify species please

Harlequin


fine, lovely little community fish

realistically, bearing in mind you need to keep a lot of the fish in groups, you'd need a big tank to accomodate them all. I'd advise you to start off by working out what the biggest tank you can afford and have space for is, then refining your species to fit.

assuming you keep the above fish in their minimum numbers (for breeding) you'll need this

Guppies - 3 x 1" = 3"
Mollies - 3 x 3" = 9"
Neon tetras - 6 x 1" = 6"
Swordtails - 3 x 3" = 9"
Platys - 3 x 3" = 9"
Possible 1 male siamese fighting fish - 1 x 3" = 3"
Dwarf neon Rainbowfish - 5 x 2" = 10"
Royal whiptail - 2 x 4" = 8" (guess)
cockatoo cichlid - 5 x 2" = 10"
Angel fish - 2 x 5" = 10"
Glass catfish - 6 x 3" = 18"
Gold zebra loach - 3 x 2" = 6"
Flying fox - 3 x 3" = 9" (guess)
Harlequin - 6 x 1" = 6"

so that's a 120 gallon tank for all of the above... without the unidentified species

scissortail
Zebra catfish (as the fish ive listed so far are all middle tank shoalers, need some activity at the bottom)
Purple cichlid
 
lol - if you put 2 males and a female guppy in a tank, normally once a month you will have 20 babies. This doesnt stop so be very wary that as soon as the babies can breed they will...so be careful, as most lfs will not take them off you. If you put them in a breeding tank they will all survive nearly and will breed again.

In a community tank its hard to get leg layers going, but with a few guppies and cichlids you should be OK.

Guppies generally swim around the top of the tank, cichlids go everywhere except the top.

The more species of fish you add to the tank the less likely the cichlids will breed though, but again that depends on how much cover you give them.
 
OK, before we get into fish compatibility, have you done some research into cycling? The most important part of sucessful fishkeeping is keeping your water clean, without understanding the nitrogen cycle you've no hope. So if you haven't already then read the links in the beginners resources section which start you off.

Yep, i've read about the cycle, ammonia-nitrites-nitrates-taken up by plants


I would be interested in cross breeding actually, I havent asked whether it is "difficult" enough yet but i wish to make a genetic experiment of these fish as my last year project for my degree in Biology, cross breeding would certainly make things interesting!

Neon tetras hard to breed?
Shame, but luckily theyre cheap and live 10 years, so i might put a few in for colour and not worry with breeding, but might seperate them at a later date and try-thanks for the info!

Awww damn bettas out the question then, shame, them things are LOVELY!

As to zebra catfish

Hypancistrus zebra

http://www.auburn.edu/academic/science_mat...panc/hypan.jpeg

Rainbowfish good choice then.


The books state royal whiptails are peaceful, but...well...i came here because i know books arent the best, as all professionals and talented enthusiasts have different experiences, so im going for experience over textbook lol

cockatoo cichlids, are there any live foods i could feed them which would go near the bottom of the tank? These are gorgeous fish, id love to have one

From my knowledge the tank i have my eyes on is only 15" up, so i will give angel fish a no-go, could i buy any miniature forms of angelfish that dont grow too tall?

scissortail is

Rasbora trilineata

rasbo's are apparently a bit nippy, so might give them a no-go.

In general my main focus is on liverbearers and the tank MUST contain cuppies (and now platys lol) but i just want to add colour and variation.


I typed my original post badly, i didnt want to add too many of each species listed, i just wanted all them fish classified, il only pick 40% max of them when it comes to population time.


Yes the guppies are going to be a bit of a problem...I want to do 15-20 generations worth too, which means exponential population growth...and i dont have the money for 5-6 tanks, not just that but they all need to be together to simulate natural breeding grounds...hmmm...bit of a problem there lol...


Thanks for all the help guys its certainly got me to a finer selection of what ones i can keep together!
 
easiest to answer all this in bits

I would be interested in cross breeding actually, I havent asked whether it is "difficult" enough yet but i wish to make a genetic experiment of these fish as my last year project for my degree in Biology, cross breeding would certainly make things interesting!

Theres a lot of debate as to weather it's apprpriate to hybridise or not, few people on here have bred 'muppies' (guppys and mollies) but i don't know of any where the fry have suirvived, check out the hybrid forum for some threads on it. You need to make sure you use female mollies nad male guppies though, imagine the poor female guppy trying to give birth to molly fry which are significantly bigger than guppy fry! :unsure:

Neon tetras hard to breed?
Shame, but luckily theyre cheap and live 10 years, so i might put a few in for colour and not worry with breeding, but might seperate them at a later date and try-thanks for the info!

aye, nice bit of coolour, nothing wrong with them for that!


lol, wallet at the ready then.... zebra plecs are one of the most saught after species, you'll need a good couple of hundred quid for these babies and because they're endangered then most breeders will only sell to people wanting to breed them and with specific set up's just for that purpose. but if you wanna make some money from breeding at a later date... this is a definate way to go!!

Rainbowfish good choice then.

i think so, some of my personal favourites

The books state royal whiptails are peaceful, but...well...i came here because i know books arent the best, as all professionals and talented enthusiasts have different experiences, so im going for experience over textbook lol

:nod:

my view is that no one person or book can be right all the time. here you have thousands of people with first hand experience, so you will get differing views on topics, but generally you have enough responses to reach a consensus

cockatoo cichlids, are there any live foods i could feed them which would go near the bottom of the tank? These are gorgeous fish, id love to have one

yes, plenty of sinking foods are available (both live and pellet type foods) it is definatley possible to keep them in a community tank with success, just need to be a tad careful that's all. To get them breeding you're best keeping them in a species tank (although this can apply to basically everything except livebearers!)

From my knowledge the tank i have my eyes on is only 15" up, so i will give angel fish a no-go, could i buy any miniature forms of angelfish that dont grow too tall?

no, there's 3 species of angels, scalare (what we usually get in the shops), altum (bigger and not often seen in the hobby)... and ummm i've forgotten the third but you don't see them in the shops either really.

sometimes shops will advertise them as 'minature' or 'dwarf' species. they're just juvi's.

scissortail is

Rasbora trilineata

rasbo's are apparently a bit nippy, so might give them a no-go.

could be nippy, wouldn't expect major problems though, if you really like them you could try it.

In general my main focus is on liverbearers and the tank MUST contain cuppies (and now platys lol) but i just want to add colour and variation.

I typed my original post badly, i didnt want to add too many of each species listed, i just wanted all them fish classified, il only pick 40% max of them when it comes to population time.

ha ha ok

Yes the guppies are going to be a bit of a problem...I want to do 15-20 generations worth too, which means exponential population growth...and i dont have the money for 5-6 tanks, not just that but they all need to be together to simulate natural breeding grounds...hmmm...bit of a problem there lol...

v simple solution, keep the guppies in their own tank while you're experimenting with breeding, when you're done breeding keep them in the community tank, particularly if you keep something like cockatoo's in there then you'll get v v few fry surviving.
 
Ah...Yes it is logical to assume that form of hybridisation isnt good genetics wise, ive been skimming the forums a tad and i didnt realise how many fish went through purposeful cross breeding or specific breeding to get prettier fish meaning less life-span and less hardy.

Colour is nice, but id prefer something less colourful and more hardy with a longer lifespan.

lol, wallet at the ready then.... zebra plecs are one of the most saught after species, you'll need a good couple of hundred quid for these babies and because they're endangered then most breeders will only sell to people wanting to breed them and with specific set up's just for that purpose. but if you wanna make some money from breeding at a later date... this is a definate way to go!!

Holy......lol...

Damn...Maybe in 1.5-2 years once im more experiences il buy a male and female and try to breed them, couple of hundred per fish?


Hmmm...I might think about getting 2 30 gallon tanks and making both varyingly different to suit the needs better, that way i can have cockatoo cichlids and livebearers seperate.



Im sure this is a very stupid question and im sure the answer is "yes, well, they cant afford to seperate them more"

But how come fish sellers keep 30-40 of a particular fish in 3-5 gallon "cubicle" tanks?

They seem healthy and sure, they get bought quickly, but are also replaced quickly so there always a large amount in there.

I mean if i overfill my tank (I doubt i will, i want to make sure conditions are appropriate) whats the worst that can happen?
 
Oh also, i grow sea monkeys (brine shrimp) and basically i get free brine shrimp food from my uni, can all these fish live just on live brine shrimp i grow myself?

I mean right now ive only got 35-50 brine shrimp middle sized, im sure if i get a 5 litre tank i can get them up to 400-600 in a matter of months, them things breed like wildfire.

How many brineshrimp per fish per day?

Its just that flake food can get quite expensive when you add it all up, especially on the tank sizes and fish sizes im considering.

One last question, brine shrimp are obviously brackish organisms, ive decided not to keep mollies community (or do the two tank idea) as i want other fish that wont like the salt, but how do i introduce the brine shrimp without adding continuous amounts of salt to the water?

I have plastic pipettes i can suck them up with, but it will contain salt water too.
How does this process work? will i have to buy them instead?

Its just culturing a constant food supply for the fish would be a fun activity.
 
Some of the species above will cross breed (guppies and platys do i believe but i get this a bit muddled up) so unless you want to get into hybrids (a much debated topic) then best to research the cross breeding and keep them seperate.

Endlers and guppies will obviously interbreed. .

Swordtails and platies will interbreed thus creating a variatus platy.
Xiphophorus helleri(swordtail)+Xiphophorus maculatus(platy)= Xiphophorus variatus(variatus)

Mollies will interbreed regardless of what strain they are. Balloon mollies are just an abnormal strain of mollies. Take note that there are species of mollies commonly available: Poeciliid spheneops, latipinna and velifera. Spheneops is a cross of latipinna and velifera.
 
Ah...Yes it is logical to assume that form of hybridisation isnt good genetics wise, ive been skimming the forums a tad and i didnt realise how many fish went through purposeful cross breeding or specific breeding to get prettier fish meaning less life-span and less hardy.

Colour is nice, but id prefer something less colourful and more hardy with a longer lifespan.

nature produces beautiful fish by itself.... we don't need to mess around to get colour and variety, it's all there already :nod:

lol, wallet at the ready then.... zebra plecs are one of the most saught after species, you'll need a good couple of hundred quid for these babies and because they're endangered then most breeders will only sell to people wanting to breed them and with specific set up's just for that purpose. but if you wanna make some money from breeding at a later date... this is a definate way to go!!

Holy......lol...

Damn...Maybe in 1.5-2 years once im more experiences il buy a male and female and try to breed them, couple of hundred per fish?

can be, i've seen them sell for as 'little' as £75 per fish and as much as a couple of hundred, i believe for a breeding group you need 5/6 fish.


Hmmm...I might think about getting 2 30 gallon tanks and making both varyingly different to suit the needs better, that way i can have cockatoo cichlids and livebearers seperate.

might be a wise idea

Im sure this is a very stupid question and im sure the answer is "yes, well, they cant afford to seperate them more"

But how come fish sellers keep 30-40 of a particular fish in 3-5 gallon "cubicle" tanks?

They seem healthy and sure, they get bought quickly, but are also replaced quickly so there always a large amount in there.

they have a v high turnover, fish are generally in fish shop tanks for a few days or weeks, not long term. for a short while fish can cope with cramped or stressed conditions. however fish shops also have a comparativley higher mortality rate than most fishkeepers too.

there is also the inevitable answer, that with any business, the more stock you can fit into the space you have, the more profit you can make. cynical, but in some cases true.

I mean if i overfill my tank (I doubt i will, i want to make sure conditions are appropriate) whats the worst that can happen?

there's really two routes in which you can experience consequences

1 - if the fish you have are too large for the tank, the consequence is they will become stunted and die

2 - if the fish are the right size for the tank but you have too many of them, firstly the water will become polluted (although a good filter can offset this to some extent), with poor water quality the fish will pick up diseases and can die. Also with not enough space fish will become stressed, a stressed fish can develop health problems... and die

whatever way you look at it, it's best to stock sensibly!!


Oh also, i grow sea monkeys (brine shrimp) and basically i get free brine shrimp food from my uni, can all these fish live just on live brine shrimp i grow myself?

I mean right now ive only got 35-50 brine shrimp middle sized, im sure if i get a 5 litre tank i can get them up to 400-600 in a matter of months, them things breed like wildfire.

How many brineshrimp per fish per day?

Its just that flake food can get quite expensive when you add it all up, especially on the tank sizes and fish sizes im considering.

One last question, brine shrimp are obviously brackish organisms, ive decided not to keep mollies community (or do the two tank idea) as i want other fish that wont like the salt, but how do i introduce the brine shrimp without adding continuous amounts of salt to the water?

I have plastic pipettes i can suck them up with, but it will contain salt water too.
How does this process work? will i have to buy them instead?

Its just culturing a constant food supply for the fish would be a fun activity.

fish need a varied diet, feeding them on just one thing is a bad idea. so you'll need to get various flake and pellet foods as well as feeding veggies. individual fish have individual dietry requirements so you'll need to do some research on each species.

when you fish the brine shrimp out in your pipette, squirt it out into a tea strainer, then dump the brine shrimp from the strained into the tank, hey presto, no salt water.
 
Okay, I've spent a few hours deciding on this community, hopefully i've chosen good ones and the correct amount.

Tank-180Litres/40gallons (ive got enough money for a 60-80 gallon tank, but lack the room...shame)

Male guppies
Female guppies
Neon tetras
swordtails
Platys
endlers
Rainbow fish
Harlequins
Royal whiptail

From my knowledge that was about 60% of all the ones i wanted, though i added endlers.

From my knowledge these lot should get on together, i want slightly above minimal numbers so i might try and stretch a 60 gallon tank (I'll try to get a high one as the room i lack is more length than depth or height).

I'll probably keep 2 20 gallon tanks for breeding
3-5 5-10 gallon tanks for quarantine and hospital tanks and maybe extra few for breeding if i somehow manage to get more livebearers than planned.


When i mean overstock...I mean...about 10-20%, i mean i dont know how you members here would react to that, but in general from learning about populations at uni most organisms can have a 10-20% increase and not cause too much trouble.

I mean lets say i had 45"-50" in a 40 gallon tank, would it really do much damage?

Also if i had 2-3 filters running in one tank would this help the slight overstocking problem?



Money isnt too much of a problem tank wise, its more not wanting to purchase an expensive fish for it to die or be bullied, because tanks last ages, unless you break them if youre not careful lol.

I have a £1500+ budget here, so im not too worried about lacking equipment or goods.
 
sounds like a nice mix of fish, obviously the larger tank you can get the better

regarding stocking, the 'guideline' you'll get told is 1" of fish (adult size) per us gallon of water.

This guideline is basically there becase it's easy to remember and work out and provides a sensible level of stocking for an immature tank and for a newbie to manage without serious problems. In new tanks the levels will fluctuate which means you need to keep a close eye on things, the more fish you have the easier it is for these fluctuations to get out of hand and cause serious problems. Also any newbie to fishkeeping needs time to settle into the routine, to learn to spot problems before they arise etc, and inevitably they will make some beginner mistakes (we've all done it!), that level of stocking allows for margin for error on the part of the novice fishkeeper.

So what I'd recommend is that you stick to 1" per gallon for the first 6 months while the tank matures and while you get the hang of fishkeeping, then once everything is running smoothly you can push the boundaries a little bit.

There's three ways in which you can be overstocked really

1 - fish that grow too large for the tank (not the case for you so we can ignore that one)

2 - fish produce more waste than your filter can handle

3 - fish don't have enough swimming space

So for number 2 you can expand your stocking capacity to some extent by using a better filter. Get a really good filter rated for quite a bit more than your tank size, and it'll process waste from a larger body of fish and as such will allow you to overstock slightly. If you've got a decent budget to play with then really getting a good filter should be top priority.

But always be mindful of number 3, overcrowding in the tank can lead to aggression problems even between peaceful fish.

A good way to monitor your filter capacity is to monitor nitrate levels. (e.g) If your tap water has nitrate of 10ppm and your tank is fully stocked, then by the end of the week your nitrate levels will have reached around 30/40ppm, a water change should take it back to around 10/15ppm.

So monitor the increase in nitrate levels over the course of a week, if it goes up by about 30ppm then you're tank's full.
 
Okay, I've spent a few hours deciding on this community, hopefully i've chosen good ones and the correct amount.

Tank-180Litres/40gallons (ive got enough money for a 60-80 gallon tank, but lack the room...shame)

Male guppies
Female guppies
Neon tetras
swordtails
Platys
endlers
Rainbow fish
Harlequins
Royal whiptail

From my knowledge that was about 60% of all the ones i wanted, though i added endlers.

From my knowledge these lot should get on together, i want slightly above minimal numbers so i might try and stretch a 60 gallon tank (I'll try to get a high one as the room i lack is more length than depth or height).

I'll probably keep 2 20 gallon tanks for breeding
3-5 5-10 gallon tanks for quarantine and hospital tanks and maybe extra few for breeding if i somehow manage to get more livebearers than planned.


When i mean overstock...I mean...about 10-20%, i mean i dont know how you members here would react to that, but in general from learning about populations at uni most organisms can have a 10-20% increase and not cause too much trouble.

I mean lets say i had 45"-50" in a 40 gallon tank, would it really do much damage?

Also if i had 2-3 filters running in one tank would this help the slight overstocking problem?



Money isnt too much of a problem tank wise, its more not wanting to purchase an expensive fish for it to die or be bullied, because tanks last ages, unless you break them if youre not careful lol.

I have a £1500+ budget here, so im not too worried about lacking equipment or goods.

If you mix guppies and endlers together your going to spoil the endlers strain when they breed (although you can get some nice looking fish off them)

Also be prepared for a huge population boost once the endlers get going as they can drop fry every 23 days on average (although mine are consistently dropping every 17 days)

Some fry will surely get eaten but you will find over the months, many do survive and popup from nowhere.
 
What if i just add males into the tank?

Including guppies, and keep a seperate smaller tank with female guppies and add the males for fry at a later date for the project (which might not go ahead anyway as I might be doing something else, not keeping all my eggs in one basket)

So with just male guppies, endlers, swordtails and platys (all the livebearers) i shouldnt have any trouble, thing is do these fish get "upset" from lack of females?
 

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