Successfully keeping guppies??

[shamanofsexy]

used to try to keep guppies in my old freshwater days but i could never manage keep them alive for more than 2 weeks.

But ive just fixed a 10 gallon hexagonal tank for my bedroom and i want to keep it as a guppy tank.

Any tips.

 

[mapleredta]

shamanofsexy;657920 wrote: used to try to keep guppies in my old freshwater days but i could never manage keep them alive for more than 2 weeks.

But ive just fixed a 10 gallon hexagonal tank for my bedroom and i want to keep it as a guppy tank.

Any tips.

My fancy tail guppies I kept as a kid in a 10 gallon bred like clock work. At one point I had about 100 guppies. I started off with one male and three females. I didn't do anything special other than a monthly water change.

 

[crew]

I have never had success with guppies even tho I have a very successful full reef tank.. On the other hand, my idiot friend who has literally never changed the water in 2 years, has about 200 and counting..

life is funny

 

[sleepyreef]

If they only survived for two weeks then it sounds like your tank wasn't cycled. Most novice mistakes I see are overfeeding. Guppies are usually hardy.

 

[hhughes]

It might depend on your source. See if you can get some from someone successfully keeping and breeding them. My [large chain store] can't seem to get a break on guppies; they die almost immediately when we get them, suspect something is up with the supplier. (And we've tried drip acclimating, salt cups in the guppy tanks, special feeding arrangements, everything. They die within 2 days.)

They are sensitive little things, but if you can get them established in a stable tank they will do great.

 

[stillfocus]

Guppies will literally thrive and multiply in a bucket on your back porch; I've seen it happen. A few weeks ago, my wife brings home a 20g aquarium kit and a bag with 7 guppies in it. The tank was set up, filled with water, and the guppies went in the same day. 6 of them are still alive and healthy, along with 3 neons, 2 mollies, and a ghost catfish.

Moral of the story: apparently everything we know about aquatics is wrong.

 

[rizmaher]

Guppies are pretty hardy, I used to throw feeder guppies in large pots that I use grow tropical water lilies in. They will last all season, plus I will have dozens more.

 

[hhughes]

Feeder guppies are nigh-unkillable; it's the fancy ones that can be tricky.

But still, as noted above, sometimes they thrive in unexpected conditions lol

 

[shamanofsexy]

SleepyReef;658015 wrote: If they only survived for two weeks then it sounds like your tank wasn't cycled. Most novice mistakes I see are overfeeding. Guppies are usually hardy.

Had the tank over two years before i put guppies in it because it was originally used for larger fish. then my catfish and pangasius got too large so i donated the pangasius to Bolton Museum Aquarium and took the catfish to LFS and swapped for guppies.