Questions about Guppies???

[MBfan465]

I am sorta new to the boards, but I have posted on here before. I posted manily in the Tropical Fish Emergencies section, since I lost all 4 of my platy to Ick. Anyways I learned now that the cause of the Ick was probably wayyy too many fish in a 5 gal. hex tank. (i.e. 4 platies) I have majorly started over, and want to know how many guppy I can safely have in my 5 gal. hex. Should I not get male and female, because my tank could not support the babies??? I dont want anymore fish to die this time, I think guppies are a good hardy fish from what I hear. Any help would be appreciated. Oh yah and I have a 25 watt heater as well. Whats a good temp. for them???

 

[Germyzero]

You could get males and females and when they have fry ship them to me. Where do you live? Temperature should be 78-82 or a little lower.

 

[MBfan465]

I live in Mission Viejo, CA. Anyone else know the limit of how many I should get in my 5 gal. Should I only get 2 max, one male, one female???

 

[Leigh1316]

If you get 1 male and 1 female, your male will swim her ragged. In a 5 gal you could get away with 1 male to 2 females, but I would go with 2 or 3 of the same sex. You have to have somewhere to put the fry, so unless you get another tank or just let the parents eat the fry, all of the same sex would be best.

 

[Raechal]

I suggest 2-3 females because if you get only 2-3 males there could be some aggression and the dominant one will always pick on the weaker one. I kept two males in a 10 gallon and the stronger male killed the weaker one. I would suggest all females. They may already be pregnant when you buy them so look out for that, if they do have babies, you can donate them to your LFS.

 

[MBfan465]

"Swim her ragged???" I have a 1.5 gal. tank for emergencies, so could I use that for fry?? I would prefer one male and one female, but if you think 1 to 2 is correct I will trust your advice. I just don't want too many at once again. Anyone else??

 

[Germyzero]

I have a question, is mission viejo close to LA County?

 

[MBfan465]

I live about 45-60 min. away from Los Angeles. I believe that L.A. county starts in Long Beach/Buena Park area, so from there like 30-45 mins. I hope that answers your question.

P.S. If you want a better idea of where in the O.C. Mission Viejo is, it is like 15-20 mins from Newport Beach.

 

[Germyzero]

MBfan465 I live about 50 minutes from you. Can you ship them?

 

[MBfan465]

I dont have any fish yet, and I won't get any until I can get some proper advice on how many. If I do ever get fry, I dont see why I couldn't ship em. Although I really like my LFS, and they appreciate all donations.

 

[Germyzero]

2 or 3 females will be fine.

 

[Raechal]

If you want an everlasting supply of fry I would go with one male, 2 females. If you want a chance of fry you can pick up 3 females (chances are one of them will be pregnant if your LFS keeps them in with the males) and they will have fry until they run out of witheld sperm from the male, which could be months!

 

[Germyzero]

1in of fish to 1gal of . That is a rule from a LFS

 

[MBfan465]

If you want an everlasting supply of fry I would go with one male, 2 females. If you want a chance of fry you can pick up 3 females (chances are one of them will be pregnant if your LFS keeps them in with the males) and they will have fry until they run out of witheld sperm from the male, which could be months!

Thanks for the advice!! I will probably go with one male two females, because as you said I dont want an endless supply of fry. Thanks again.

 

[Germyzero]

When you have fry MBfan465 PM me or e-mail me.